Spain’s social rights minister, Ione Belarra, has backed a legal initiative to bring the Israeli regime before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes” in Palestine.
Belarra on Wednesday asked any dual-nationals from Palestine and European countries and their family members who are victims of war crimes to contact French lawyer Juan Branco to bring Israel’s crimes before the national jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court, “free of charge.”
Branco earlier wrote on X platform (formerly known as twitter) that he agreed to represent “any victim of war crimes or crimes against humanity as well as any member of their family” free of charge.
We’ve been asked to represent dual-nationals from Palestine and European countries, both in national jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court.
We have agreed to represent pro-bono any victim of war crimes or crimes against humanity as well as any member of their…
— Juan Branco ✊ (@anatolium) November 6, 2023
Belarra is one of the European politicians who speaks out against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
“Bombing hospitals, refugee camps, children, defenseless elderly people, Israel is demonstrating the worst of humanity. How long will European leaders make us accomplices of this barbarism,” she wrote earlier.
She has also demanded that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu be brought before the ICC for war crimes and urged European officials to put economic sanctions on Netanyahu and break off ties with the Israeli regime.
“We need exemplary economic sanctions on Netanyahu and all those responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. We also need an immediate arms embargo. Europe can and must act with autonomy and seek peace,” she said in an interview last month.
We need exemplary economic sanctions on Netanyahu and all those responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. We also need an immediate arms embargo. Europe can and must act with autonomy and seek peace. pic.twitter.com/asNERZwVuF
— Ione Belarra (@ionebelarra) October 18, 2023
This is while other European officials have also urged their respective countries to adopt sanctions against Tel Aviv. In the recent acts, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutte has demanded sanctions against Israel over its bloodshed in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Moreover, UK’s media outlets reported on Wednesday that Shadow Minister for the New Deal for Working People Imran Hussain has resigned from the main British opposition party, mounting pressure on the party leader Keir Starmer over his refusal to back a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7, after the territory’s resistance movements Hamas carried out a surprise attack against the occupying entity, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, in response to unrelenting Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, the death toll from indiscriminate Israeli bombardments has surpassed 10,500 people, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women, while over 30,000 have been either injured or remain unaccounted for.