Advice | Anti-genocide students fulfill their duty to prevent war crimes; Will you?

The “obligation of the individual” to stop war crimes

The Nuremberg Tribunal declared after World War II: “Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity” is “a crime under international law.”

In the Zykon B case, the Nuremberg Tribunal ruled that “the provisions of the laws and customs of war are addressed not only to combatants and members of the state and other public authorities, but to everyone who is in a position to support their violations. ” In the Flick case, the Tribunal ruled that international law “binds every citizen, just as ordinary municipal law does.”

This legal principle of the responsibility of citizens to oppose war crimes is an essential part of the rule of law. When a government violates international law with impunity, it is up to its people to impose legal restrictions on it. As Judge Bernard Victor A. Roling of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal explained, the world must “trust individuals to resist the government’s criminal orders.”

In a world order in which the great powers and many smaller ones are turning to war and genocide, the popular enforcement of international law is one of the few means to protect ourselves and the world from a cataclysmic plunge into unlimited military destruction.

Under the US Constitution, international law and international treaties are explicitly part of US law. U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg Prosecutor Robert Jackson stated: “The essence of the Nuremberg Charter is that individuals have international duties that transcend national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state.” Obligations under international law are therefore also obligations under American law.

Students protesting genocide and other war crimes in Gaza and American complicity in them are fulfilling their duty to oppose the criminal acts of their government.

If it sounds like a war crime…

The Israeli attack on Gaza is the most visible genocide in history. The murder of more than 35,000 people, most of them civilians and many children, should be sufficient proof. But there is also deliberate starvation of the entire population; the bombing of electricity and water infrastructure; and the destruction of homes, farms and infrastructure.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s actions in Gaza may constitute genocide, contrary to international law. (Of course, they can’t make a final ruling until they hold hearings and take defense statements—a process that will likely take years.) The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which finds a credible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that the US backing its actions, stated: “It is the duty of every individual to confront the current siege in Gaza.”

When word leaked that the International Criminal Court might issue war crimes arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, the US and Israel responded by threatening the court with unspecified “consequences” if arrest warrants were issued. That in itself can be a crime. As the International Criminal Court said in a statement, its independence and impartiality are undermined “when individuals threaten to retaliate against the court or against court personnel if the office, in fulfillment of its mandate, decides on investigations or cases within its jurisdiction.” It added that the Rome Statute, which outlines the structure and areas of jurisdiction of the ICC, prohibits threats against the court and its officials.

Protesting war crimes is not a crime

Since the Vietnam War, arrested anti-war protesters have used international law as the basis for a “necessary defense,” claiming that their actions were not crimes but rather acts of civic responsibility to prevent their government from committing war crimes. Although courts often ignore such claims, juries have sometimes acted on them. For example, in 2003, Catholic workers in New York State entered a military recruiting office and poured their own blood on the walls, windows, posters, cardboard mannequins of soldiers, the door, and the American flag to protest the war in Iraq. They were charged with criminal mischief and damaging property. They said in court that their actions were legal under international law because they were trying to stop an illegal war. The jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquittal.

Students arrested for protesting American and Israeli war crimes in Gaza could well use such an international legal defense in court. Whether or not courts will accept such a defense, they will make a powerful point in the court of public opinion: If our government is committing or complicit in war crimes, we all have “international duties” to oppose the criminal acts of our government. .

Will student demonstrations against American complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza have any effect? They are already helping to force the Biden administration to pause. According to news reports, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently told Netanyahu that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to the US publicly opposing it and would negatively impact US-Israel relations. When Netanyahu said the Rafah attack would proceed no matter what, the Biden administration reportedly halted a shipment of American ammunition to Israel. American policy is at stake, but there can be little doubt that the student protesters have shifted the balance from war crimes to peace. That is enforcing international law through citizen action.

In a world order in which the great powers and many smaller ones are turning to war and genocide, the popular enforcement of international law is one of the few means to protect ourselves and the world from a cataclysmic plunge into unlimited military destruction. In that context, the student protest against war and genocide in Gaza is not just an expression of political opinion, but an attempt to pull the world order back from its current slide into criminal wars, genocide and catastrophe.

The statement by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that “it is the duty of every individual to confront the current siege in Gaza” has a message for the rest of us: Opposition to war and genocide is not only the duty of the students, but of everyone.