The Gaza Tribunal, led by Richard Falk, has called for immediate international armed intervention through the UN General Assembly to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, warning that silence in the face of genocide amounts to complicity.
Aug 22, 2025
The Gaza Tribunal has urged an urgent international armed intervention to halt what it described as Israel’s “most lethal phase of genocide” in Gaza, warning that inaction would amount to “an historic failure of humanity.”
At a press conference in Istanbul on Monday, tribunal president Richard Falk—professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories—called on governments to bypass the UN Security Council and authorize intervention through the General Assembly.
“If we do not take action of a serious and drastic kind at this time, anything done in a more moderate fashion will be too late, too late to save the surviving people who have already been traumatized by more than 22 months of genocide,” Falk said.
He argued that the world is witnessing “the transparency of genocide carried out in real time,” even more visibly than the Holocaust, and accused Western democracies of “complicit behavior.” Still, he noted a growing shift in public opinion.
“We are trying to address the conscience of all people and encourage the kind of activism that will produce changes in government ahead—particularly an arms embargo and various forms of sanctions … including the kind of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle that proved so effective in the anti-apartheid campaign,” Falk added.
‘Time to Act’
The tribunal’s emergency statement, titled Time to ACT: Mobilizing Against Israel’s Planned Conquest on Gaza City and Central Gaza, highlighted Israel’s Aug. 7 National Security Cabinet decision—opposed, Falk said, by Israel’s own military high command—to advance into Gaza City, where nearly one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
Calling the decision a turning point, Falk urged UN member states to act immediately under the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolution and the Responsibility to Protect framework adopted in 2005.
Quoting Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour’s appeal for protection forces, the tribunal warned: “We, as the Gaza Tribunal, join with those who treat silence in the face of genocide as complicity.”
Falk also condemned efforts to silence journalists and rights defenders, pointing to sanctions against UN rapporteurs and “the August 10th assassination of Assas al-Shafir and his Al Jazeera colleagues in another violent deliberate effort to silence truth tellers.”
“Part of the Gaza Tribunal is to strengthen the role of truth,” he said. “That is of strategic importance not only for Gaza but for the well-being of the world.”
The tribunal announced it will press the issue at the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York next month.
‘Faith in People, Not Governments’
During a Q&A, Falk acknowledged the difficulty of realizing a UN protective force given repeated Security Council deadlocks and Western contradictions.
“It’s as realistic as the political will that is present,” he said. “The situation in Gaza is sufficiently desperate that only unlikely initiatives have any chance of rescuing the population from near certain tragedy.”
Falk emphasized that public activism could transform political realities. “Realism reflects the political atmosphere, and that could be changed by people,” he said, recalling how the US anti-war movement shifted government policy during Vietnam.
What is the Gaza Tribunal?
The Gaza Tribunal was launched in London in November 2024 by nearly 100 academics, human rights advocates, and civil society leaders, citing the international community’s “total failure” to enforce international law in Gaza.
It has since held multiple sessions, including a February 2025 chamber in London, a May session in Sarajevo that produced the Sarajevo Declaration accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid, and strategy meetings in Istanbul.
A final hearing is scheduled for October in Istanbul, where the tribunal’s “Jury of Conscience” will issue a moral verdict based on testimony and evidence.
Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians. The enclave faces famine, while international courts continue proceedings: the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
(PC, AA)
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