Phyllis Bennis on the United Nations, ICC, ICJ
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Dear Mark,
Please join us this Friday to hear from Joyce Ajlouny, who will share with us about her experiences leading work for peace and justice in Gaza over the past year!
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Phyllis Bennis on the United Nations
On Friday, we hosted Phyllis Bennis, who gave us all a mini lesson on the recent actions of the United Nations and the international courts. She explained that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) deals with disputes between governments and the International Criminal Court (ICC) deals with holding individual people accountable for crimes like apartheid and genocide. The U.S. and Israel are not signatories to the treaty that created the ICC and are therefore not bound by it, but the ICC has jurisdiction over territories that are signatories, like Palestine.
Phyllis first explained a major development with the ICJ. The UN General Assembly asked the ICJ for an opinion on the legality of the Israeli occupation, which the ICJ finally gave in July 2024. The July ICJ opinion stated that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories was illegal and that the settlers should be evacuated.
Since the ICJ has no power to implement its advisory opinion, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution on Sept 18, with recommendations on how to implement the ICJ opinion and end Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories. While this resolution is also not considered binding, it does have important political consequences, and its overwhelming passage demonstrates global support for the end to Israel’s occupation. Our ongoing advocacy and activism are important in encouraging the U.S. and other countries around the world to implement this UN General Assembly Resolution.
Phyllis also told us about the protest of Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly last Friday morning. She said that while UN representatives and UN staffers are normally very formal and procedural, on Friday they acted like activist protesters, walking out of the hall ahead of and during Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech, leaving the UN General Assembly almost empty.
Phyllis encouraged us to continue our work for peace and justice, saying that the extent of the institutional protest among staff of the State Department, US agencies, and Congressional staffers was encouraging to her, especially the many high profile political resignations. You can learn more from Phyllis through her primers for Interlink Publishing!
Updates from Gaza
You can find Yousef’s weekly updates each Friday on our Gaza Unlocked website. From there you can easily share the updates with friends, family, community members, and your elected representatives. Find the full update from our Friday call and the weeks before here.
Artist Corner
On Friday, we featured our AFSC colleague Pedro Rios, who along with being AFSC’s San Diego Program Director, is an incredible photographer. He’s had recent exhibitions in Tijuana and San Diego featuring photos he took while visiting Gaza. His exhibitions highlight how photography can expose injustices as they occur within communities facing untold violence. You can find a photo Pedro took of our friend Ahmed Abu Artema’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border at the beginning of this email.
How to Take Action Today
Contact your representatives. Last Friday, we called to thank the 103 Senators and Representatives who signed a letter led by Rep. Adam Smith, demanding an independent, thorough, credible, and transparent investigation into the killing of American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi. You may phone the United States Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. If your member of Congress’ mailbox is full, email them here using the script at the very bottom of our agenda.
Write the White House to demand a cease-fire now and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. Send a message to the White House or the Office of the Vice President. On Friday, we sent messages to Vice President Harris calling for an arms embargo on Israel. You can find this message at the very bottom of the agenda!
More Resources and Ways to Take Action
Read Joyce Ajlouny’s new article on the International Day of Peace.
See if your member of Congress has taken action to support conditioning aid to Israel here.
Tell Congress: Save lives and act to prevent the spread of a regional war.
Donate today to support AFSC’s Gaza emergency response. See our new resource for peer-to-peer fundraising at afsc.org/fundraise.
In solidarity,
Jennifer Bing
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