US enforces sanctions on Palestinian rights groups
The United States has enforced sanctions on Palestinian rights groups that requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates Israel over accusations of genocide, Al-Monitor via Reuters reported on September 4th.
The sanctions have been imposed upon three Palestinian human rights groups – the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Al-Haq. These groups were listed by the US treasury under designations related to the ICC.
In November 2023, all three of the Palestinian groups had requested that the ICC investigated Israel for its bombings on densely-populated civilians parts of the Gaza Strip, continued encroaching of Palestinian land and for displacing the Palestinian population.
In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-defence chief Yoav Gallant, and for Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri – citing purported war crimes and crimes against humanity as the cause for the warrants.
The new sanctions on the Palestinian human rights groups are part of a wider crackdown by the US on those who challenge Israel.
On June, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the ICC court judges involved in creating the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. The US stated that the ICC were unfairly targeting Israel, ultimately failing to acknowledge the warrant against al-Masri.
In the following month, the administration would again turn to sanctions to penalise UN official Francesca Albanese who filed a damning report which accused US companies of complicity, in what she terms, Israel’s “economy of genocide.”
The US also implemented sanctions on Palestinian officials on July 31st, hindering their ability to travel to the UN headquarters in September – where some member states are set to announce their recognition of the Palestinian state.
The new sanctions have emerged after the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution stating Israel’s military campaign in Gaza now meets the legal criteria for genocide.
Al-Monitor via Reuters, Maghrebi.org
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