The Palestine Question: The Nuremberg trials and the urgent need for accountability and consequences

During, not following, World War II, the Allied powers (the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France) sought a mechanism to hold senior Nazi officials accountable for unprecedented crimes, including the Holocaust. The resulting International Military Tribunal (IMT), held in Nuremberg in 1945–46, was the first international court to prosecute individuals for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

While the debate of the continued slaughter of Palestinians is being dragged along to discuss whether this be a genocide or not, the ICC and ICJ being threatened by Zionist backed nations with defunding and  marking intellectuals, academics and activists with either denying work opportunities or job losses (see www.canarymission.org), it cannot be said that sanity should not prevail amongst those who have the moral courage and bravery, young and old,  to speak truth to power. 

Professor Ilan Pappe states this very clearly: 

“When genocide is televised live and the world debates its terminology instead of halting its execution, you realise how far we’ve drifted from moral clarity.”

To the billions who continue to condemn the slaughter at great cost, being a distance from the theatre of massacre, there must be a signal sent to the perpetrators that they will not be free to roam the world no matter what the outcome of this tragedy. That they will be held responsible for their deeds and be hunted, put on trial and sentenced. 

This was the decision of the Global North when Nazis were hunted from the mid-1940’s, found responsible and executed. The days are now far gone when black and brown people are to be regarded as lesser beings -slaves of global predatory capital. While global protests in the millions continue to express disgust and dismay, more action must and will be taken. 

A look at the history of the formation of the Internation Military Tribunal sheds light on how the conscience cleansing exercise was laundered by the Zionists. 

The Legal and Political Foundations of seeking and holding to account the Nazis, were laid in the following manner: 

• First, the London Charter (August 8, 1945): The legal basis for the IMT, signed by the four Allied powers.
• Then the Jurisprudential Innovations: Individuals, not just states, could be held accountable under “international law”.
• And then, Fair Trial Standards: The Charter guaranteed the right to counsel, the right to present evidence and protection from self-incrimination.

There had to be some criteria for prosecution at the IMT. These were where the London Charter of the IMT defined three major categories of crimes:

• Crimes Against Peace:

Planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression in violation of international treaties or agreements.

• War Crimes:

Violations of the laws and customs of war (e.g., killing of prisoners, slave labor, plunder of occupied territories).

• Crimes Against Humanity:

Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations before or during the war, including the persecution of individuals on political, racial, or religious grounds.

• Conspiracy to Commit the Above Crimes:

High-ranking Nazis were also prosecuted for participating in a common plan or conspiracy to commit these crimes.

There were a number of Nazis who were prosecuted and some of the outcomes of the Nuremberg Trials (IMT, 1945–1946) were as follows:

• Defendants: 24 top Nazi officials indicted.
• Verdicts:
• 12 sentenced to death.
• 3 acquitted.
• 7 received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life.
• 2 were not tried (one deemed unfit, one committed suicide).

There were of course subsequent Nuremberg Trials (1946–1949) where 185 individuals were tried in 12 subsequent trials (e.g., doctors, judges, industrialists, SS members). Here the verdicts were: 12 executed, 8 life sentences and various other sentences.

Who were the most prominent Nazi hunters? Here is a list: 

Simon Wiesenthal: Holocaust survivor who documented over 1,100 Nazi war criminals and helped locate Adolf Eichmann. 

Beate and Serge Klarsfeld: Known for tracking Klaus Barbie and others.

Tuviah Friedman: Helped locate and arrest Eichmann.

Isser Harel (Mossad): Directed the Israeli operation that captured Eichmann in Argentina (1960).

So simply put, there is a strong case to be made for the establishment of a New International Tribunal for Palestine. 

Let us examine the contextual comparisons:

Just as the Holocaust represented the industrial-scale extermination of a population based on identity, the long-standing Israeli occupation of Palestine, particularly the current 2023–2024 military campaign in Gaza, televised live to the world, has resulted in:

• Mass civilian deaths (including thousands of children).
• Now starvation of trapped Palestinians
• Systematic targeting of hospitals, schools, journalists, and humanitarian workers.
• Forced displacement and starvation tactics.
• Genocidal rhetoric by Israeli leaders and their supporters.

While the Holocaust was quantitatively different, international criminal law does not require a body count to prove genocide, intent and systemic execution of a policy of destruction are sufficient under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Both the ICC and ICJ has limitations and already officials have been sanctioned for supporting a case of accountability. These bodies are now rubber stampers with no real executive capability. 

So, the ICJ is facing noncompliance, defunding threats and stalling tactics by Israel and allies especially with the strong power of lobbying by AIPAC who many would now argue are actually driving global policy; 

It is important to note that the IC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has sought arrest warrants, but political intimidation and refusal by Western states to enforce them renders the ICC ineffective. Microsoft has disconnected his access even to his emails. 

Here is a proposal for a New Tribunal:  International People's Tribunal for Palestine The Legislative and Legal Framework

The Founding Document should declare it as: "The Palestine Justice Charter"

It will be drafted and signed by representatives of civil society, non-aligned nations, legal scholars, and survivor communities.

As for its jurisdiction, should be any individuals and entities involved in:

• Direct war crimes.
• Genocide and ethnic cleansing.
• Aiding, abetting, financing, and legitimizing such acts.
• Suppression of dissent and silencing of witnesses.

There are enough Legal Sources extant that would, amongst others be: 

• Geneva Conventions (1949) and Additional Protocols.
• Rome Statute of the ICC (1998).
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).
• Customary international humanitarian law.

Structural Components of such a body could be but not limited to:

The examples of perpetrators and accomplices to be listed will and must include:

• Israeli officials: Prime Ministers, Defence Ministers, IDF generals.
• Foreign actors: Politicians, arms manufacturers, media figures and lobbyists complicit in enabling or justifying war crimes.
• Corporate entities: Arms companies, tech surveillance firms and financial institutions directly benefiting from or enabling occupation.

Tied to the above, there should be various enforcement mechanisms with powers to issue: 

Global Arrest Warrants: Symbolic initially, but reinforced by national courts in sympathetic countries. 

Travel Bans and Asset Freezes: Coordinated by civil and governmental campaigns.

Universal Jurisdiction Claims: Filed in countries allowing it (e.g., South Africa, Spain, Chile and BRICS+ countries).

Truth Hearings: Modelled on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

What then is the moral imperative? If the international community could form the IMT to prosecute crimes committed by Nazis, including genocide, then it is morally and legally consistent to do the same for Israel's actions against Palestinians, particularly when:

• There is ample evidence of war crimes and genocidal acts.
• Perpetrators act with impunity due to geopolitical protection.
• Existing bodies are undermined by threats and inaction.

Just as post - WWII tribunals helped build the foundation of international human rights law, a new tribunal, formed by states of conscience, civil society and legal experts, can hold those accountable who enable the continued suffering of the Palestinian people. 

Silence and inaction today, is to be complicit.

* Shabodien Roomanay is the board Chairman of Muslim Views Publication, founding member of the Salt River Heritage Society, and a trustee of the SA Foundation for Islamic Art. 

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.