Ex-UN rapporteur states international community enabled Israel’s genocide in Gaza

(MENAFN) A former UN rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories said Israel’sgenocide in Gaza could not have been sustained without the complicity of the international community.

Speaking at The Genocide Tribunal, a two-day gathering focused on alleged war crimes in Gaza and “the UK’s role in the genocide,” Richard Falk voiced support for the initiative. Falk also leads The Gaza Tribunal, a separate effort designed to mobilize civil society against what he described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

He explained that The Gaza Tribunal will hold its concluding session in Istanbul from Oct. 23–26, and noted that his group draws encouragement from the UK-based initiative.

"(The UK tribunal) places for the first time, a proper emphasis on the complicity of a major, liberal, democratic country," Falk said. "I cannot overstate the importance of such an undertaking, because without that complicity, Israel could not have done what it is doing."

Falk criticized London as a "shameful government," and argued that Washington goes even further by offering "without ambiguity or ambivalence," full support to Israel, acting not just as an accomplice but as a direct agent of its destructive policies in Gaza.

Highlighting conditions in the enclave, Falk said residents are facing the risk of mass starvation, referencing last month’s formal declaration of famine by the International Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). "If the world waits much longer, it will have waited too long, and history will remember the failure to meet this salient crisis of our time," he warned.

He also argued that ongoing diplomatic recognition of Israel amounts to complicity, given the state’s alleged violations and disregard for binding international court rulings. Treating Israel as a “normal state,” he said, enables its actions in Gaza.

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