On August 30th the International Campaign to demand accountability for US/Israeli war crimes is to hold a tribunal outside the United Nations building in New York. Witnesses to Occupation war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza will be speaking and campaigners, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, will be presenting a body of evidence.
The International Action center explains that âResearch will be gathered in many areas to support the charges, including inhumane treatment of civilians and prisoners, and deliberate destruction of the Lebanese and Palestinian economy and infrastructure.
The presentation of evidence at public hearings will present an opportunity for many people to learn the true story of the Palestinian and Lebanese people and to understand their right to resist colonial occupation.â
The recent destruction of Lebanon has further strengthened the drive towards courts and popular tribunals to indict the real war criminals and expose the real aims of their ruthless wars and policies. These calls have further strengthened the call for accountability for the Zionist regime, and more importantly, its international backers. Yet, where courts and popular tribunals can issue verdicts, it is the struggle of the people to achieve justice and freedom.
A form of direct accountability is called for by activists at Michigan University. The solidarity groups are holding a divestment vigil at its Ann Arbor campus on September 7th kicking off a new season of campus divestment action. Activists will be drawing attention to the parallels between the previous Apartheid regimes in South Africa and the current Apartheid Zionist regime. The University of Michigan and Ann Arbor City divested from Apartheid South Africa and pressure is building for them to divest from âthat racist slaughterhouse of a stateâ that is Apartheid Israel.
In a day of coordinated actions across the US on August 22nd the call for an end to support to Zionist crimes was brought into the streets by âdie-insâ staged in New York and San Francisco and banners that were dropped in Philadelphia by Jewish solidarity groups protesting against continuing Occupation aggression in Lebanon and Gaza.
In New York over 20 protesters unfurled large banners and lay down on the ground during rush hour outside Penn station to demand an end to Occupation atrocities and US support and funding for the Occupation military machine.
In San Francisco over 30 protesters blocked the entrance to offices of Jewish organizations that offer political and financial support to the Zionist regime. Six of the protesters locked themselves together with tubes outside the entrance and exit to the building. Fourteen protesters were arrested.
Meanwhile in Philidelphia banners were dropped from highway bridges and in the city centre condemning Occupation war crimes.
These actions follow a similar âdie-inâ held in Boston on August 1st.