More than 20 countries are convening in Bogotá, Colombia next week, in an “emergency summit” to declare “concrete measures against Israel’s violations of international law,” Middle East Eye reported July 10. The meeting, co-hosted by the governments of Colombia and South Africa as co-chairs of The Hague Group and set for July 15-16, is to coordinate diplomatic and legal action to counter what they describe as “a climate of impunity” enabled by Israel and its powerful allies.
The Hague Group is a bloc of currently eight states, launched on January 31 in The Hague with the stated goal of holding Israel accountable under international law. “The Hague Group’s formation in January marked a turning point in the global response to exceptionalism and the broader erosion of international law,” Roland Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, told MEE. “That same spirit will animate this Bogotá conference, where the assembled states will send a clear message: no nation is above the law, and no crime will go unanswered,” he added. “Together, we will work to introduce concrete legal, diplomatic and economic measures that can urgently halt Israel’s destruction of the Palestinians.”
Colombia’s Vice-Minister of Multilateral Affairs Maurico Jaramillo Jassir told MEE: “The Palestinian genocide threatens our entire multilateral system. Colombia cannot be indifferent in the face of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. In Bogotá, the assembled states will not only reaffirm our commitment to resist the genocide, but devise a series of specific measures to move from words to collective action.”
