The Chicago-based human rights group Justice For All has filed a submission with the International Criminal Court (ICC) arguing that the Israeli army’s partial destruction of the Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City final October constitutes a struggle crime.
Situated in Gaza’s Old City, the Saint Porphyrios Church is taken into account one of many oldest functioning church buildings on the planet, characterised by its thick limestone walls and an ornately embellished inside that includes painted ceilings and gold-leaf iconography. Consisting of a chapel, seven buildings, and a courtyard, the church advanced is just not solely an necessary home of worship for Palestinian Christians, however has additionally traditionally functioned as a sheltering area for displaced Palestinians.
On October 19, the compound was focused by Israeli airstrikes, killing at least 16 people and injuring approximately 20 others. In a statement, an related order of the church confirmed that the strike “hit the two church halls where the refugees, including children and babies, were sleeping.” It is considered one of dozens of buildings together with mosques, museums, universities, and heritage sites which were broken or outright eviscerated by the Israeli army since Hamas’s October 7 assault. Over the previous six months and counting, Israeli hostilities have killed upwards of 34,000 Palestinians throughout Gaza.
“The destruction of Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church is not just an attack on a building but an assault on the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Palestinian Christian community, contributing to their genocide,” Justice for All President Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid mentioned in a assertion, including that “if this church had been anywhere else in the world, there would have been a global uproar.”
Now, Justice For All is demanding that Israel’s assaults on the church and Palestinian cultural heritage be investigated by the worldwide neighborhood for allegedly violating the Rome Statute, the decision that led to the ICC’s creation in 2002. The ICC particularly offers with probably the most severe crimes in regards to the international neighborhood as a entire, similar to crimes towards humanity and genocide.
The deliberate destruction of cultural websites was acknowledged as a war crime in 2016 through the ICC’s trial focusing on heritage demolishment in Timbuktu, Mali. The following yr, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the “unlawful destruction” of heritage websites and illicit smuggling of cultural artifacts.
Hena Zuberi, Justice For All’s advocacy director, defined to Hyperallergic that the group’s current submission concerning the destruction of Saint Porphyrios is only one in a “series of filings” despatched to the ICC. In February, the group filed a submission arguing that the deliberate destruction of the Al-Omari Mosque in Gaza City additionally constituted a struggle crime.
While these circumstances usually take a very long time for the ICC to course of, Zuberi mentioned that she suspects there was “some movement” given the Israeli authorities’s recent public comments elevating issues that the courtroom could challenge arrest warrants for Israeli officers, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It’s imperative that the international community stands firm in protecting the places of worship of minorities, ensuring these sanctuaries are preserved amidst conflict,” Mujahid mentioned.
