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International Law

International Institutions Failing Palestine, People Must Stop Genocide

This week marks two years since the launch of Al Aqsa Flood and the beginning of the Israeli Occupying Forces' escalated genocide of Palestinians and forced displacement throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Clearing the FOG speaks with former senior United Nations official, human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber, about the United Nations leadership's recent efforts to suppress criticism of Israel, which led to his resignation, and the failure to take effective action to stop Israel's crimes. Mokhiber discusses the history of the United Nations, what the General Assembly can do to hold Israel accountable and, given the failures of the UN to uphold international law, what people are doing to support Palestinian liberation.

The UN Is Failing To Protect Palestine Despite Demands To Take Action

Margaret Flowers: You left the United Nations on October 28th of 2023, the same month that Palestinians broke out of Gaza, which has been referred to as the world's largest open-air prison. Can you talk about how that impacted you and your decision to leave the United Nations? Craig Mokhiber: 2023 was a particularly disturbing year for the world and also for me. When this new government took control in Palestine and Israel in the beginning of 2023, it immediately announced that the gloves were off and that the country's policy of incremental genocide that had gone on for decades would be replaced with an expedited form of attacking Palestinians. In the spring, there was a violent upsurge in racially-based attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, including full-scale pogroms in villages like Huwara, by Israeli settlers backed up by Israeli soldiers.

Last Boat In Gaza Humanitarian Flotilla Intercepted By Israel

The Israeli military has dismantled an entire humanitarian flotilla seeking to break its siege on war-ravaged Gaza, arresting hundreds of activists from dozens of vessels. Livestream video showed Israeli forces forcing their way onboard the last vessel Friday morning. The Polish-flagged Marinette, which reportedly has a crew of six, was the final boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla – once a 44-strong fleet – to be seized by Israel. The International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza also announced in a statement that several detainees arrested by Israeli forces had “entered an open-ended hunger strike from the moment of their detention.”

Global Sumud Flotilla Updates Following Illegal Interception And Abductions

Mediterranean Sea – After Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla —a peaceful, non-violent convoy carrying food, baby formula, medicine, and volunteers from 47 countries to Gaza—hundreds of participants have been abducted and reportedly taken aboard the large naval vessel, the MSC Johannesburg. This was after they were assaulted with water cannons, doused with skunk water, and had their communications systematically jammed in yet more acts of aggression against unarmed civilians. Additionally, several boats were reportedly stopped by a chain-like barrier in international waters where Israel has no jurisdiction, just as they have no jurisdiction over Gaza’s waters and shoreline, compounding Israel’s continued war crimes and illegal blockade.

Global Sumud Flotilla Boats Being Stolen By Israeli Occupying Forces

Below are Instagram posts from the Global Sumud Flotilla regarding their interception by the Israeli Occupying Forces. This is an evolving situation. Below those is an article from The Cradle about an earlier failed attempt to intercept the Flotilla. In response to this illegal attack on the Flotilla, masses of people are protesting throughout the European Union. Here is a call to action for people in the United States from Veterans For Peace (VFP). Members of VFP are on the Global Sumud Flotilla. Veterans For Peace has put together a Rapid Response toolkit, and we encourage EVERYBODY to start taking action NOW, or to be preparing your chapter to take action. VFP members have prepared THREE levels of Rapid Response- Green, Yellow and Red.

Trump Continues US Violation Of UN Charter’s Limits On Use Of Force

In his inflammatory September 23 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump expressed contempt for the UN, falsely claiming he had ended seven wars and stating, “I realized that the United Nations wasn’t there for us. I thought of it really after the fact … that being the case, what is the purpose of the United Nations?” If Trump studied history, he would know the answer to that question. Eighty years ago, after two world wars claimed millions of lives, nations around the world — including the United States — came together and established the UN system “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The UN Charter requires that all states settle their disputes peacefully and refrain from the use of armed force except in self-defense under Article 51, after an armed attack against a UN state by another state, or when the Security Council authorizes it.

The Most Urgent Priority Is To Create A New International Order

As we deliberate here, 2.2 million human beings in Gaza are condemned to starvation by the actions of genocide, extermination, and ethnic cleansing carried out by the Zionist regime, which has the military and financial supplies and impunity guaranteed by the United States government. On behalf of the government and people of Cuba, I reiterate our strongest solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause for freedom, independence, and an end to the Zionist occupation. If the Security Council proves powerless due to the veto that the United States exercises or threatens to exercise, and is unable to take effective measures to stop the barbarism, this General Assembly has the duty and the capacity to promote concrete measures without delay.

Israeli PM Gets A New York Welcome Outside The United Nations

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a half-empty room at the UN General Assembly, thousands of protesters were gathered in Times Square to condemn his presence in New York City. Netanyahu was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2024, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Gaza since October 2023. All members of the ICC, which includes the United States, are legally obliged to enforce the warrants, though Hungary, an Israeli ally, has officially begun the process of withdrawal from the ICC. The Israeli prime minister gave a combative speech to a nearly empty UN General Assembly hall on Friday, where he portrayed himself as the standard-bearer of mainstream Israel in rejecting the creation of a Palestinian state and denouncing Israel's genocide in Gaza as “a joke”.

Global Sumud Flotilla Receives Warnings Of Imminent Israeli Attack

Several governments have warned their citizens participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla of an imminent Israeli attack, according to statements by the flotilla’s organizers on 25 September. The aid convoy, made up of dozens of ships attempting to break the blockade on Gaza, sailed overnight through Greek waters and is expected to enter international waters within hours.  Activists reported that drones hovered over one of the ships, the Omar al-Mukhtar, which carries a mobile medical clinic, and confirmed that the fleet had already been targeted in 12 drone strikes that hit nine vessels. Flotilla organizers say the mission will continue despite the threats, insisting on the need to deliver humanitarian supplies directly to the besieged strip and into the hands of its starving people.

Momentum Builds For Sweeping United Nations Reforms

In March of this year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the UN80 Initiative, a system-wide reform effort. UN80 proposals center around reshaping how the United Nations works, including goals which are intended to make the body more efficient and cost-effective. There are more ambitious proposals, including plans to move major UN agencies including UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN Women from western cities such as New York to Nairobi, Kenya.  But some are calling for an even more transformative agenda of reform, which could shift long-standing power imbalances in the UN from the West and towards other regions. “The agenda set by the UN is focused on its own organisational weaknesses and does not address the largely political questions that scuttle the UN’s work,” writes Vijay Prashad.

Global Sumud Flotilla Boats Attacked By Israeli Drones

As the Israeli government continues unabated its horrific genocide of Palestinians and the destruction of housing and infrastructure in Gaza, in the third attack on the 42-ship Global Sumud flotilla, drones attacked multiple boats in international waters south-west of the Greek island of Crete, this morning September 24, 2025. In May 2025, another flotilla ship, the Conscience, was attacked in international waters off Malta. It  was damaged by Israeli bombs that blew holes in the deck of the ship’s bow causing severe damage in the hold in the bow of the ship.

Italy Redirects Navy Ship To Assist Global Sumud Flotilla After Attacks

Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a statement on 24 September that an Italian navy ship has been redirected towards the Global Sumud Flotilla to provide it with “possible assistance,” after it came under a series of Israeli attacks overnight. The Italian defense minister strongly condemned the overnight drone attacks. Activists on board several of the flotilla’s boats reported at least 10 explosions after witnessing drones launch several attacks early on Wednesday. The boats were situated off the coast of Greece. “Multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed, and explosions heard from a number of boats. We are witnessing these psychological operations firsthand, right now, but we will not be intimidated,” Global Sumud Flotilla said.

Can The United Nations General Assembly End Israel’s Occupation?

With illegal settlements rising and settler violence surging in the West Bank and with famine and relentless bombing killing more than 64,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, most of them women and children, the world is looking to see what, if anything, the General Assembly can do to ensure that there are meaningful consequences for Israel’s blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention. Just days before the Sept. 18 deadline established by the United Nations General Assembly for Israel to comply with the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, in which it confirmed the unlawful nature of the Israeli occupation, annexation and settlement of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Israel has failed to comply.

Venezuela Denounces US Navy For Illegal Boarding Of Fishing Boat

Venezuela reported that a US destroyer illegally boarded a Venezuelan fishing boat carrying nine fishermen and detained them for eight hours. According to the Venezuelan statement, issued on Saturday, September 13, the vessel was in Venezuelan waters, “48 nautical miles from Blanquilla Island.” The incident occurred on Friday, September 12, in Venezuela’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Under international law, an EEZ is a maritime area adjacent to a country’s territorial sea, extending up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline. The coastal state has sovereign rights to explore, utilize and preserve natural resources there, and has jurisdiction over economic and research activities in the region.

SanctionsKill Demands An End To US Aggression Against Venezuela

We condemn the escalating US attacks on Venezuela that have been ongoing since the Bolivarian Revolution began in 1998, including pressuring the country to bend to US interests through the imposition of unilateral coercive measures (“sanctions”) since 2015. These illegal measures are deliberately designed to cause inhumane suffering to destabilize the country and compel regime change. It has always been clear that the sanctions on Venezuela are a ploy to gain access to the country’s vast natural resources, including the world’s largest oil reserves. While the coercive measures imposed on Venezuela “succeeded” in causing over 100,000 excess deaths, the imperial objective of regime change was thwarted by President Nicolás Maduro in concert with the people of the country and in firm alliance with their military.
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