- Experts highlight ICC and UN shortcomings, complicity of global powers, and Israel’s use of historical narratives to justify ongoing oppression in Gaza

ISTANBUL

The final session of the international forum Gaza Tribunal opened Thursday in Istanbul, marking the culmination of a year-long effort by international jurists, scholars, and civil society figures to document and evaluate alleged crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

The four-day public session, held from Thursday to Sunday at Istanbul University, builds on earlier hearings in Sarajevo and other global forums, aiming to consolidate findings across its three chambers: International Law, International Relations and World Order, as well as History, Ethics, and Philosophy.

Presided over by Richard Falk, former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, the tribunal aims to produce a comprehensive “people’s record” of what participants describe as genocide, apartheid, and systemic violations of international law in Gaza.

The jury of conscience includes Kenize Mourad, Christine Chinkin, Chandra Muzaffar, Ghada Karmi, Sami Al-Arian, and Biljana Vankovska.

- Chamber 1: International Law

Chamber 1, led by Susan Akram, a professor of law and the director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University School of Law, focused on gaps in existing international legal frameworks, including those of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Akram said the tribunal’s goal is “to identify the weaknesses in the existing legal tribunals and the frameworks within which they operate,” particularly in framing issues of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the targeted use of technology against civilian populations.

The chamber presented extensive testimony from Palestinian, regional, and international civil society organizations, detailing the root causes of genocide and the ongoing oppression in Gaza, she added.

Experts connected patterns of genocide to apartheid and the denial of Palestinian sovereignty. They documented arbitrary detention, torture, and the deprivation of basic needs including food, water, and medical aid during the Gaza siege.

Highlighting the extreme targeting of children, Dr. Jill Stein testified, “Over 80% of the children shot in Gaza were under the age of 10,” emphasizing the compounded effects of lack of medication, electricity, and anesthesia on young victims.

“Our overall challenge is to the international ecosystem itself that has utterly failed in its most critical task, preventing and halting the worst of international crimes, that of genocide,” Akram stressed.

- Chamber 2: International Relations and World Order

Chamber 2, chaired by Craig Mokhiber, American human rights lawyer and former senior UN official, examined the response—or lack thereof—of the international community.

“Despite the fact of live streaming of the Israeli regime's crimes, the open declaration of the international system has failed to stop genocide in Palestine,” Mokhiber said.

He criticized systemic inaction and complicit powers, noting that international institutions have reinforced Israeli legitimacy, “the very legitimacy that is a key root cause of the regime's hysteria on the ground.”

The chamber explored decades of colonial dispossession and the ongoing impact of global political structures, he added, noting that the chamber highlighted the entrenched nature of settler-colonial power.

Research by Gianni Pinoni revealed the complicity of global powers, including the US, in preventing effective ceasefire measures, while Phyllis Bennis drew parallels between Israeli policies and apartheid-era South Africa, emphasizing the potential of civil society to pressure governments.

Mokhiber concluded that despite these institutional failures, “it is the collective of global civil society, the movements, the unions, the human rights defenders, the peace activists, the people … who provide a light,” underscoring civil society’s role in confronting systemic injustice.

- Chamber 3: History, Ethics, and Philosophy

Chamber 3, under Cemil Aydin, a Turkish professor of global history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, analyzed the historical and philosophical foundations of the conflict.

Aydin emphasized that the imposition of colonial rule in Palestine was “an unexpected and undeserved imposition from outside,” contrasting the cosmopolitan, multi-religious society under Ottoman governance with the subsequent violence under British colonialism.

Experts detailed the long-standing logic of genocide underpinning Israeli policies, noting the erasure of Palestinian homes, schools, and cultural sites.

“Genocides always happen with a security logic,” Aydin said, explaining how Israel justified mass destruction as a necessity for state security.

Chamber members also examined the use of archaeology and education to erase indigenous Palestinian history and the instrumentalization of Holocaust narratives to shield the state from accountability.

The chamber rejected the framing of the conflict as a “clash of civilizations,” highlighting it instead as a continuation of systemic dispossession and colonialism.

Aydin concluded: “Never again should be never again, regardless of who the victims are,” stressing the tribunal’s commitment to documenting crimes and advocating for justice.

- Sarajevo meeting recap

The tribunal also shared a recap of a prior meeting held on May 26-29 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, contextualizing the global significance of Palestine’s struggle.

Penny Green, a professor of law and globalization and head of the Law School at Queen Mary University of London, emphasized the central role of civil society.

“Civil society has proven itself to be a much more effective force than international law in identifying, gathering, analyzing, naming, and challenging the devastating violence of states.”

Green stressed the failure of the UN and other institutions to prevent genocide: “Israel’s ongoing genocide reflects the abject failure of the UN system thus far to prevent and punish war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.”

She highlighted decades of documentation by Palestinian NGOs and independent journalists that have exposed the ongoing colonial, apartheid, and genocidal policies in Palestine.

The Sarajevo Declaration, a product of the tribunal’s prior work, had called for immediate action, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the resumption of unrestricted humanitarian aid, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners.

“The challenge of justice now falls to people of conscience everywhere, to civil society and to social movements, to all of us. Palestinian lives are at stake. The international role and legal borders are at stake. We must not fail,” Green declared.