“Together, we have begun the work of ending the era of impunity. These measures show that we will no longer allow international law to be treated as optional, or Palestinian life as disposable.” -Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia
On July 15, 2025, representatives from over 30 countries met in Bogotá to strategize for an end to the Israeli genocide in Palestine. Discussion included sanctions, severance of diplomatic relations, and other measures. Twelve nations have already taken action.
“The Bogotá conference will go down as the moment in history that states finally stood up to do the right thing,” said Francesca Albanese, the Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights who serves as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Twelve nations—Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa—have agreed to implement six measures immediately, and they are calling on others to join by September 20, 2025, at the 80th U.N. General Assembly meeting.
The six measures are:
- Prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel.
- Prevent the transit, docking, and servicing of vessels at any port…. in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel.
- Prevent the carriage of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel on vessels bearing our flag… and ensure full accountability, including de-flagging, for non-compliance with this prohibition.
- Commence an urgent review of all public contracts, to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory and entrenching its unlawful presence.
- Comply with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law, through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
- Support universal jurisdiction mandates, as and where applicable in national legal frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
In response, a spokesperson from the US Department of State said, “The United States strongly opposes efforts by so-called ‘multilateral blocs’ to weaponize international law as a tool to advance radical anti-Western agendas.”
However, a former foreign affairs officer at the US Department of State, Annelle Sheline, who resigned in March 2024 due to US support of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, replied, “These are sovereign states who have every right to uphold their obligations as U.N. members, including under the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already announced sanctions on Francesca Albanese. She responded, “It’s not about me. It’s about the Palestinian people.” Albanese, who earlier this month had said that “Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history,” also stated, “For too long, international law has been treated as optional—applied selectively to those perceived as weak, ignored by those acting as the powerful.”
Currently, Israel’s overt and well-documented war crimes and human rights abuses, with its genocidal actions and declared intentions in Palestine, have provoked widespread international revulsion. However, Israel will probably be able to continue as long as the US maintains financial and military support, regardless of the actions of other nations. It is up to us, as those “born in the belly of the beast,” to take every possible action to make sending weapons and funds for war to Israel politically as well as morally unacceptable.
In the US House of Representatives, H.R.3565, which aims “to provide for a limitation on the transfer of defense articles and defense services to Israel,” is also known as the Block the Bombs Act. Rep. Delia Ramirez introduced the bill, and it has 33 co-sponsors.
Additionally, twenty-eight senators, led by US Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi calling on the administration to conduct an independent investigation into the death of Saifullah Kamel Musallet, an American citizen recently killed near the West Bank town of Sinjil. The senators point to the repeated lack of accountability in the deaths of other American citizens killed in the West Bank since January 2022, including Amer Mohammad Saada Rabee, Shireen Abu Akleh, Omar Assad, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Ahmed Mohammad Khdour, and Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. Given that, the Senators also ask for an update on the status of any investigations into the killings of these six other Americans.
Is your legislator among the co-sponsors for H.R.3565? Were your senators among those who voted for SJ REs 34 and 41, blocking weapon sales to Israel? Did they sign onto the Van Hollen letter?
I have to answer NO to all these questions—the senators from California outrageously failed to support either the resolutions or the letter. We can hold those who are supposed to represent us accountable. We can let them know that we will note and remember their votes. It’s time for action.
