The international community has a legal and moral duty to deny Israel “the tools of genocide”, the Malaysian foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, said at a meeting in New York of the Hague Group, the growing alliance of countries dedicated to coordinating practical economic and legal steps to isolate Israel over the war in Gaza.
The group, co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia, has become a central exchange for practical steps to try to pressure Israel, including stepping up collective action at ports and airports to prevent the transfer of weapons and goods to Israel, including dual-use heavy machinery.
Hasan said states also needed to identify the multinational companies found to be enabling Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
The group, meeting as world leaders were in New York for the UN general assembly, heard calls to support the aid flotilla trying to break the Israeli siege of Palestine and for Israel to be blocked from international cultural events.
The Brazilian foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, said: “We must turn indignation into action, law into justice and justice into peace.”
Brazil last week joined the South African action in the international court of justice accusing Israel of a genocide and said Israel’s claim of self-defence had no application in the context of an occupation. Chile, another group member, has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel.
Vieira said: “International law requires a state not only to refrain from genocide but also to prevent it. Failure to do so may give rise to state responsibility including complicity with genocide. The time has come for states to fulfil their obligations under the genocide convention, by adopting effective measures to ensure that they do not, directly or indirectly, collaborate with its perpetrators.”
Brazil has called for an international mission on the model of the UN special committee against apartheid, a body established in 1962 to coordinate action to end South Africa’s apartheid government.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestine envoy to the UN, said “the Hague Group represented an inflection point in the struggle to secure accountability and to prevent Israel receiving arms and services. Much more needs to be done, and fast.”
Zane Dangor from the South African foreign ministry said proving a genocide is hard due to the issue of intent, but a consensus had grown that a genocide is taking place. He said stopping a genocide is not discretionary but an obligation.
A report from UN experts this month concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the general assembly on Friday denied Israel was committing genocide, saying it had frequently dropped leaflets in Gaza and sent text messages telling the civilian population to leave areas under attack.
