World must deny Israel ‘tools of genocide’, says growing alliance of activist states: New York meeting of Hague Group warns of shared responsibility to prevent genocide and proposes steps to isolate Israel

Protesters outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, as Malaysia’s foreign minister told the Hague Group that states should identity companies enabling Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. Photograph: Fazry Ismail/EPA

Patrick Wintour in New York

Fri 26 Sep 2025

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 Chile, another group member, has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel.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... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/26/world-must-deny-israel-tools-of-genocide-says-growing-alliance-of-activist-states 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]  

US visa refusal for Palestinian delegation prompts calls to move UN meeting to Geneva. General assembly session about two-state solution for Palestine and Israel due to start in New York on Tuesday

The UK, France, Australia, Canada and others are expected to recognise a Palestinian state if certain conditions are met. Photograph: Haitham Imad /EPA

The US’s refusal to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation to the UN general assembly has led to calls for a one-day conference on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to be moved from the UN’s headquarters in New York to its other main site in Geneva.

Donald Trump’s White House has already refused to grant a visa to the Palestinian Authority (PA) president, Mahmoud Abbas, and 80 other Palestinian officials for the general assembly session, which begins on Tuesday.

There is now speculation that, citing anti-terrorist laws, he will also ban diplomats from Brazil, Iran, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

In 1988 the US debarred the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), Yasser Arafat, from travelling to New York.

But the White House is going further than before by withholding visas from the entire travelling Palestinian delegation to probably the most important diplomatic event for Palestine since the Oslo accords – a one-day event at which the UK, France, Australia, Canada and others are expected to recognise a Palestinian state if certain conditions are met, which has infuriated Israel.

Such a blanket ban has never been attempted in the history of the UN. Per Clausen, a Danish MEP who is a member of the Left group, has called for Europe to propose a temporary transfer to Geneva “both to uphold the Palestinians’ right to be represented and to... READ MORE    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/08/us-visa-refusal-for-palestinian-delegation-prompts-calls-to-move-un-meeting-to-geneva

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]