On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its opening words are: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world...”
An installation symbolises a baby Jesus lying amidst the rubble in a grotto ahead of Christmas at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on December 5. | Reuters
Does the idea of universal human rights mean anything today? It is a question that comes to mind this December 10 on Human Rights Day amid the images and news coming out of Gaza.
This Human Rights Day, the declaration is dead.
But even back then, it was clear that the rhetoric of human rights was a weapon for the wealthy, Western countries to further their foreign policy objectives. A few months before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the state of Israel came into existence with the help of these same Western countries driving 750,000 Palestinians out of their homes and land. Over 80% of the population in what would become Israel was expelled or fled to become stateless residents of neighbouring countries.
A day after an attack by Hamas militants on October 6 killed scores of Israelis, (NB: Not scores, but hundreds, maybe 1200: DS). Israel declared war on the densely populated Gaza strip. Since then, at least 15,000 Palestinians have been killed due to Israeli air strikes and bombardment with an estimated 6,000 of them being children…
A Palestinian child in the Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, which was hit by Israeli air strikes on Thursday 7 December 2023. Photograph: Adel Al Hwajre/Imageslive/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock
International Day of Commemoration for the Victims of the Crime of Genocide
Right now, the rules-based global order doesn’t seem to matter. Major powers have responsibilities and must take them seriously. Today, the United Nations marks the International Day of Commemoration for the Victims of the Crime of Genocide.
The designation of genocide as an independent crime under international law – alongside war crimes and crimes against humanity – was in reaction to the horrors of the second world war, when Nazi Germany, driven by ideas of “Aryan superiority” and a desire for “racial purity”, pursued an extermination campaign against several peoples they deemed inferior.
Roma and Sinti, Slavs and, most extensively, Jewish people, were brutally persecuted. Millions died in concentration camps – starved, worked or gassed to death – alongside political opponents such as communists, trade unionists and socialists.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/09/mass-murder-gaza-world-watching
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United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Israel wants to slay the monster next door, but with this lethal bombardment, it is feeding it
Repeal the Exclusionary Nation-state Law, for the Sake of All Israelis
The Guardian view on Gaza’s devastation: don’t look away. See the bigger picture too
Do Palestinian lives matter to the world?
Chris Hedges: Letter to the Children of Gaza
Is it too much to ask people to view Palestinians as humans? Apparently so
Dogs of war / New acronym in Gaza: WCNSF – Wounded Child No Surviving Family
Patrick Lawrence: Deeper Into Depravity
A Conspiracy of Silence / The Killing Floor of Gaza
Michael Brenner: Europe-Jews-Muslims
After the truth-shower 