We stand firmly against injustice in all its forms. Nothing can justify the current war crimes committed by Israel in occupied Palestine. Equally, nothing can excuse the continued support offered by other nations to this apartheid regime. If you believe in human rights, dignity, and justice, then we urge you to boycott this rogue state. Silence is complicity, do what’s right.
Blair on July 13, 2023, in London. Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
There was a time when Donald Trump believed the issue of Israel and Palestine could only be solved by Jared Kushner. “If you can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can,” he told his son-in-law on the eve of his first-term inauguration in 2017, before bizarrely appointing the then-36-year-old property developer to lead on the issue.
Now, nine months into his second term, Trump is pinning his hopes for peace in the Middle East on a much more experienced but even more controversial figure: 72-year-old Tony Blair.
Yes, that Tony Blair.
In his 20-point “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” released by the White House on Monday, the ninth point jumps out from the text:
“Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”
Sorry, what? Putting Tony Blair in charge of any kind of peace effort in the Middle East is like making the arsonist the head firefighter; the burglar the chief detective.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three leaders of Hamas, on the grounds of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the prosecutor’s office announced on Monday.
Alongside Gallant and Netanyahu, the Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, its military wing’s commander-in-chief Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif, and its political leader Ismail Haniyeh were named in a statement by chief prosecutor Karim Khan.
Gallant and Netanyahu face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges over the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; wilfully causing great suffering; wilful killing; intentional attacks on a civilian population and extermination, alongside several other charges.
In his statement accompanying the charges, Khan wrote: “My Office submits that the evidence we have collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”
He added: “Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population. That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any State of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.
The Hamas leaders also face charges related to extermination, murder, the taking of hostages, sexual assault and torture, alongside several more charges.
Regarding the charges, Khan said: “My Office submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that [Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh] are criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas (in particular its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades) and other armed groups on 7 October 2023 and the taking of at least 245 hostages.”
“The Nazis also spoke in the name of “morality” even then there was nothing there but good old antisemitism as we have experienced in all generations. Haters of Israel come and go, Israel’s eternity will not lie.” Smotrich said.
“I would like to strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense. Their arrest warrants are the arrest warrants for all of us.” He added.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has also condemned the ICC decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as “beyond outrageous.”
Diplomatic setback
The arrest warrants sought by Khan will be presented to the judges who sit at the ICC and they will decide whether to grant them.
Monday’s announcement is the most significant diplomatic setback for Israel in decades and comes as it tries desperately to protect its international reputation amidst its devastating war in Gaza.
More than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Israel began military operations there on 7 October. The majority of those are women and children.
ICC condemns retaliation threats after Israeli arrest warrant reports.
For weeks there has been speculation amongst Israelis that ICC arrest warrants were in the works.
In late April, the Israeli media outlet Ynet reported that Israeli leaders were worried about arrest when travelling to Europe on the basis of secretly issued arrest warrants.
Another Israeli newspaper, Maariv, reported that Netanyahu was “frightened and unusually stressed” about the prospect of the ICC issuing a warrant for his arrest and was seeking US help to pressure the organisation.
Israel has threatened to retaliate against the Palestinian authority should the ICC issue warrants, while Republican members of Congress have threatened Khan directly with sanctions should he proceed with the case.
The state also faces separate charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after South Africa filed a case over the conduct of its war on Gaza
Musicians call on Keir Starmer to accept that genocide is taking place in Gaza in a video projected onto the entrance of the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool
A Palestinian girl reacts as she waits to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 22, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Children carry kitchen utensils as they walk toward a food distribution point in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 7, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by AFP)
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB A man carries the body of Palestinian baby Zainab Abu Haleeb, who died due to malnutrition, according to health officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA – JULY 27: Hamza Mishmish, 25, suffers from severe malnutrition and bone loss in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza amid worsening hunger in the region, on July 27, 2025. The deepening food crisis in Gaza affects people of all ages, from young children to adults, with nutrition-related health problems on the rise. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A drone view shows Palestinians walking past the rubble of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes during the war, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
TOPSHOT – People search for survivors and the bodies of victims through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***
TOPSHOT – People search for survivors and the bodies of victims through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***
Phalapoem editor, 27/09/25
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem, have concluded that Israel’s system of governance in the occupied Palestinian territories meets the international legal definition of apartheid—a term derived from the 1973 U.N. Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
These findings are based on documented patterns of systematic segregation, land thefts , restrictions on movement, and discriminatory laws that privilege Jewish population group over Palestinian.
U.N. agencies report tens of thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths , widespread destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and infrastructure by Israeli occupation army.
Blockades restricting food, water, and medical supplies by Israeli occupation army have been described by U.N. experts as measures that amount to war crimes and genocide, a term used by several independent legal scholars and supported by South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2024–2025.
Repeated strikes by Israeli occupation army on schools, refugee camps, and medical facilities have prompted calls for investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
International Response: Condemnation Without Consequences
United States vetoes six times in the U.N. Security Council have repeatedly blocked binding resolutions aimed at enforcing ceasefires or imposing sanctions on Israel’s apartheid .
European Union divisions have prevented a unified approach, leaving only symbolic statements of concern. Hungary and Germany and Italy are the main pro-genocidal countries that prevented ceasefire and sanctions.
International courts move slowly, and their decisions often lack enforcement mechanisms when powerful states choose non-compliance.
The absence of significant consequences for the war crimes of Israeli occupation emboldens continued violations, deepens Palestinian suffering, and undermines the credibility of the international human-rights system.
Experts warn that when grave breaches of humanitarian law go unpunished, they set a dangerous precedent for other conflicts worldwide.
Whether one describes Israel’s actions as apartheid, genocide, or “serious war crimes,” the pattern is clear: systematic discrimination and large-scale violence continue largely unchecked. Until the international community moves beyond rhetorical condemnation to enforceable measures—sanctions, arms embargoes, or binding court rulings—the cycle of impunity is likely to persist, with catastrophic consequences for Palestinians and for the rule of international law itself.
Please do not to stay neutral or silent towards the Israeli onslaught on Palestinian children in Gaza. Please stand up and join the voices to demand an immediate ceasefire.
Silence speaks volumes, but let it not say, That in the face of oppression, you turned away. Oh, western world, the time is now, To question the oppressor, to justice bow.
For humanity’s sake, for values held dear, Let empathy rise, dispel the fear. Be Nobel in spirit, in action profound, Stand against the oppressor, let compassion resound.
