Palestine Justice Campaign
A NEW GOFUNDME PAGE HAS BEEN SET UP TO SUPPORT THE ZIADA FAMILY IN ITS NEXT STEP TO BRING THE CASE BEFORE THE DUTCH SUPREME COURT. PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING VIA THE NEW PAGE WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE AND AT THE LINK BELOW.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/palestine-justice-campaign-supreme-court
The Case in Short
On July 20th, 2014 the Ziada family home in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza was bombed by Israeli military forces. It was a targeted attack that reduced the three storey building instantly to rubble and left everyone inside it fatally wounded. Amongst the dead lay Ismail Ziada’s mother, three brothers, his sister-in-law, a 12-year-old nephew and a visiting friend. In search of justice and accountability, Ismail Ziada, who holds Dutch nationality, brought Israeli military officials responsible for the attack, Benny Gantz and Amir Eshel before courts in The Netherlands.
The case was initially heard before The District Court of The Hague in September 2019 and subsequently before the Appeals Court of The Hague in September 2021. In both the first instance judgement and the appeal, the Court ruled that Gantz and Eshel were immune from prosecution because the act of bombing the Ziada family home was an official act of the state of Israel, meaning they were entitled to immunity. The initial case and the appeal were funded and supported by our original crowdfunder "Palestine Justice Campaign". Now, Ismail Ziada is taking Gantz and Eshel to the Dutch Supreme Court for which a new, dedicated crowdfunding campaign has been established.
Background
On July 20th, 2014 the Ziada family home in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza was bombed by Israeli military forces. It was a targeted attack that reduced the three storey building instantly to rubble and left everyone inside it fatally wounded. Amongst the dead lay Ismail Ziada’s mother, three brothers, his sister-in-law, a 12-year-old nephew and a visiting friend.
Over 2,000 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) during “Operation Protective Edge”. The vast majority were non-combatants and over a quarter of all people killed in the operation were children under eighteen years of age.
In the fall of that same year Ismail Ziada, a Dutch citizen resident in the Netherlands, contacted Liesbeth Zegveld, a prominent lawyer, specializing in support for victims of war crimes and human rights violations. Ziada was committed to holding those responsible for the killing of his family accountable.
Saad Ziada standing in the ruins of the family home where six family members were killed
Papers were served on both the Chief of General Staff of the IDF at the time of the bombing, Benny Gantz and the Commander of the IDF Air Force, Amir Eshel. The working assumption was that neither officer would respond to the writ and the court proceedings would take place in absentia. However, just before the 3 month time period for submission of a response expired, both Israeli military officers appointed a lawyer to represent them. In November 2018, they finally submitted a response.
The original suggestion of initiating a criminal case was soon put to one side as previous experience indicated that it was highly unlikely that the public prosecutor would initiate criminal proceedings. However, Zegveld pointed out that the Netherlands upholds a system of universal jurisdiction in civil proceedings for Dutch citizens who are unable to gain access to justice elsewhere.
While the Ziada writ was focused on the fact that the bombing of the family home was illegal and a war crime according to international law, the response of the defendants focused exclusively on their alleged right to immunity and the Dutch court’s alleged lack of jurisdiction based on the argument that Ismail Ziada would have access to justice in Israel.
The recent Israeli court ruling against Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, who filed a compensation suit against the Israeli state over the killing of three of his daughters in IDF shelling in 2009 is proof, if proof were needed, that this is most certainly not the case.
Public pronouncement
The first step in the quest for justice was the court hearing in the Hague in September 2019. The panel of judges made a public pronouncement on January 29th, 2020. In this first instance, the court found that it was not competent to hear the case because of the diplomatic immunity offered to Gantz and Eshel as agents of the Israeli state. On April 23rd, 2020, Ismail Ziada issued a notice of appeal against this decision, stating that the court erred in its decision to offer immunity to the defendants as such immunity is not enjoyed for war crimes.
Information relating to the court hearing is available here and includes Ismail Ziada's opening statement.
Funding is essential
The Ziada family has been using their own personal funds and some generous contributions from friends and supporters to pursue their case on behalf of all the victims of Israeli war crimes. If justice is to be gained for the Palestinian victims, the case needs our moral and financial support. It is important to stress that the case is not being taken for personal gain. Should the case be successful, any compensation received will be dedicated to a specially established fund for Palestinian war crime victims in general and children in particular.
Every donation large or small helps the Ziada family struggle for justice for the Palestinian people. Please contribute what you can and encourage others to do the same. All money donated will be transferred to the Nuhanovic Foundation, a registered non-profit charity that assists war victims who seek access to justice to obtain a remedy in the form of reparation, restitution or compensation. 100% of funds raised go towards the legal fees incurred in the litigation of the case including the first instance judgement, appeal judgement and supreme court challenge.
This GoFundMe page has been established by the Palestine Justice Campaign which is an international single-issue group of concerned citizens, trade unionists and human rights workers who volunteer to assist the Ziada family in their pursuit for justice. If you prefer to contribute directly to the bank account which is managed by the Nuhanovic Foundation. Please visit our website here.
Ismail Ziada's personal statement to an attentive world media on January 29th
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A personal statement from Ismail Ziada - the Hague, January 29th 2020
Dutch court rejects Ziada case against Israeli Generals for Gaza war crimes
Following this morning’s verdict by the district court in The Hague, denying Mr Ismail Ziada access to pursue justice in the Dutch court system, Mr Ziada released the following statement:
“The verdict presented by the Court today is unacceptable for me and my family. Since 2014 we have pursued access to justice for the terrible loss we have suffered. This quest has come at a price - impacting us financially, emotionally and security wise. I am sure you can understand the disappointment I feel after all we have been through.
Having said this, there is not a doubt in my mind about continuing this fight for justice. I owe it to my own conscience but even more so to my mother, my brothers Jamil, Omer and Youssef and my sister in law Bayan and her son Shaban.
Beyond that and more important, I owe it to all the Palestinians who have suffered and continue to suffer the same fate, to continue this struggle to achieve what is denied to them: access to independent justice and accountability for the unspeakable crimes committed against them.
As long as the international community is unwilling to put a stop to the war crimes continuing to be perpetrated by Israel it is up to individuals like myself to do what can be done.
So again, despite the sadness and disappointment, I am standing in front of you today with my head held high and ready to continue the quest for justice. I want to thank all of those prominent figures who have endorsed the campaign and the many organisations and individuals, too numerous to mention, who contributed their time, effort, energy and financial resources to allow us to continue.
Thank you for your practical support, but even more so for continuously reminding us of the tremendous amount of kindness, solidarity and compassion humanity is in fact capable of.
Tonight I will breathe in and out, deeply - and from there we move forward.”
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On 7 December 2021, Appeals Court of The Hague ruled in the Ziada case that Benny Gantz and Amir Eschel were immune from prosecution because the bombing of the Ziada family home was an official act of the Israeli state.
We will keep you updated on the developments of the case and the fight for justice in the coming weeks
For more information on the legal teams arguments please visit the Nuhanovic Foundation's Ziada case page here: http://www.nuhanovicfoundation.org/en/ziada-case/
