The acting Minister of Social Rights and leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, the head of Equality, Irene Montero, the ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián and the former leader of the British Labor Party Jeremy Corbyn have promoted, together with 77 other political officials, a letter sent to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court where they demand the arrest of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, so that he can be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Palestinian people.
The petition, which is directed against members of the Israeli Government such as Defense Minister Yoav Galant, is also signed by the deputies of the purple party Lilith Verstrynge (also acting Secretary of State), Javier Sánchez Serna, Martina Velarde and Noemí Santana, as well as by the party’s co-spokespersons Pablo Fernández and Isa Serra.
They are joined by MEPs María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, Idoia Villanueva, Miguel Urbán (Anticapitalistas), Pernando Barrena (Bildu), Manu Pineda (IU), Diana Riba (ERC), the leader of ERC in Barcelona City Council, Ernest Maragall. They are joined by regional deputies such as Oihana Etxebarrieta (Bildu), Jenn Díaz (ERC) or Alejandra Durán ( Podemos).
At the international level, the document is signed by officials such as the general secretary of the Belgian Workers’ Party, Peter Mertens, several deputies from Chile, Mexico and Bolivia, as well as various MEPs from progressive forces.
The request to try Netanyahu is formulated under Article 15 of the Rome Statute and specifically requests the Court to expand the investigation that began in 2021 against Israel for war crimes in light of the events that have occurred since last October 7. , in response to the Hamas attack, including armed actions against refugee camps, the use of white phosphorus and the bombing of the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza.
In addition, the document provides documentation to respond to the request for support made by the prosecutor of the International Court, Karim Ahmad Khan, on October 29, when he visited the Rafah border crossing (Egypt) and asked for “cooperation” and ” assistance” to the international community to ensure that international law is respected in the area.
According to the document and sources from the purple party, Netanyahu and his political leadership have committed acts indicatively constitutive of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, contemplated in the aforementioned Rome Statute.
For example, they cite attacks against civilian objects, the forced transfer of the civilian population by an occupying power or the “persecution of a group or community based on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious reasons.”
Belarra herself has broadcast a video through her social networks, where she defends that in the face of Israel’s crimes in Gaza we must “take action” against this “live genocide” to “promote a ceasefire and end this barbarism”.
“We are not going to allow a genocide with our silence and our complicity,” underlines the leader of Podemos where she encourages all citizens to support this judicial initiative aimed at ending impunity with their signature on the ‘justiceforgaza.info’ page. From Israel.
