Activities

• According to its website, Al Mezan “envision[s] a Palestinian free, sovereign society where all women, men and children enjoy the benefits of social justice, human rights, the merit of the rule of law and good governance fully and equally.”
• Consistently refers to the Israeli army as the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF), delegitimizing Israeli self-defense, and erases the context of Palestinian terror, Hamas’ use of human shields, and illegal rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

Al Mezan’s Ties to Terrorism

• In 2017, Al Mezan director Issam Younis participated in a panel discussion on “The requirement for supporting and the success of the national [Palestinian internal] reconciliation.” The panels included multiple representatives of Palestinian terror groups, such as PFLP Political Bureau member Kayed Al- Ghoul, PIJ Political Bureau member Khaled Al-Batsh, and Hamas Political Bureau head in Gaza Yehya Al-Sinwar. Issam Younis addressed the panel together with Yehya Al-Sinwar.
• In October 2016, Al Mezan CEO Issam Younis led a meeting hosted by the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) concerning Palestinian reconciliation. The meeting included representatives from several terror groups, such as senior Hamas official and spokesperson of the Hamas government Taher Al-Nunu and then-leader of the PFLP in Gaza Rabah Muhanna.
• On April 6, 2015, Al Mezan organized a conference on the International Criminal Court (ICC), featuring speakers from terrorist groups including senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya and Islamic Jihad political bureau member Khaled Al-Batash.
• On November 21, 2013, Al Mezan organized the “Transitional Justice in Palestine” conference, featuring Hamas Legislative Council member Yahya Al-Abadseh, Islamic Jihad official Khaled Al-Batash, and PFLP Central Committee member Kayed Al-Ghoul.
• For more information on Al Mezan’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Al Mezan Center For Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”

Al Mezan Staff Ties to Terrorism

• A number of Al Mezan board members, officials, and employees appear to have direct affiliations with Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organizations.
• Nafiz Al-Madhoun, member of the Al Mezan Board, serves as Director General of the Hamas–controlled Palestinian Legislative Council. A number of Arabic-language sources have referred to Al-Madhoun as a Hamas leader, or the head of Hamas’ parliamentary bloc in Gaza. Palestinian government sources have also noted his co-hosting of a September 2011 event for Gaza security personnel with Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri.
  • In March 2023, al-Madhoun participated in  “Jurists Confronting the Occupier,” a legal event organized by the Hamas-affiliated International Center for Law Studies. Speakers included Hamas political bureau members Mahmoud Al-Zahar and Musa Abu Marzouq, as well as Hamas Palestinian Legislative Council member Mohammed Faraj Al-Ghoul.
• In April 2019, Kamal El-Sharafi, Chairman of Al Mezan’s Board, participated in the memorial service for prominent PFLP figure Ali Darwish. The official PFLP website labels Darwish a “comrade, national leader and historical fighter,” who according to the PFLP, had been arrested by Israel and incarcerated 3 times, for a total of 20 years.
  • On February 24, 2019, El-Sharafi paid condolences upon the death of a prominent PFLP figure, Maher Al-Yamani, who helped plan the hijacking of an Israeli plane in Greece in 1968 and served as the associate secretary of PFLP founder George Habash.
  • On October 13, 2018, El- Sharafi participated in a memorial service for the PFLP’s Rafat Al-Najjar (“Abu Uthman”). The PFLP described Najjar as “one of the pioneers who took up arms through his membership in the first military apparatus of the PFLPin the Gaza Strip, and was one of the first fighters in the front and revolution who lived the experience of detention… and repeated arrests… A role model.” Sharafi also wrote a short obituary, “To you the solace and the glory… you will remain an eternal national symbol.”
• Jamil Sarhan, Al Mezan Treasurer, is part of the Democratic Union of Lawyers and Jurists, which the PFLP defines as a “PFLP union framework.”
  • An August 2009 Palestinian Information Center article refers to Sarhan as a “member of the central committee of the PFLP.”
  • Sarhan regularly shares PFLP posts and press releases on his personal Facebook page. On December 9, 2017, Sarhan shared a post concerning a PFLP rally in Gaza, which said; “first pictures of the PFLP march today, More than 100 thousand participants anger for Jerusalem. The blood is coming from Gaza.”
• In August 2016, Samir Zaqut, Director of Al Mezan’s Monitoring, Awareness and Documentation Unit, spoke at a rally in support of Bilal Kaid, a PFLP member, who was sentenced in 2002 to 14.5 years in prison by Israel for perpetrating and planning terrorist attacks.
  • In October 2014, the official PFLP website referred to Zaqut as a “comrade” and detailed his participation in a PFLP-organized event, in solidarity with PFLP secretary general Ahmad Saadat and PFLP terrorist George Abdullah, who was convicted for his role in the 1982 murders of Israeli diplomat Yaakov Barsimantov and US Military Attaché Charles R. Ray.
• In May 2017, Hussein Hammad, North Gaza District Officer and Delegate to the Mobilization and Technical Assistance Unit, received an awardfrom a PFLP branch in honor of his receiving his M.A. According to the PFLP website, Abdullah Mheisan, joined “the PFLP at the beginning of the First Intifada and played a fundamental role in the uprising by resisting the occupation in all forms, and participated in many military operations that hurt the enemy, believing that armed struggle against the Zionist enemy is the shortest way to achieve victory.”
• In December 2018, Wa’el Mohammad Ahmad, Al Mezan’s accountant, posted a picture of himself with a PFLP flag, adding: “The revolution is strong as steel… red as embers… steadfast as an oak… deep as our brutal love for the nation” – Che Guevara. Happy anniversary to my brothers and comrades, long live our resistance and we will remain in the pledge of the martyrs.”

Political Advocacy

• Regularly describes Israel’s policies as “apartheid,” accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes,” promotes the “nakba” narrative and refers to Israeli security measures as “collective punishment.”
• In May 2024, following the ICC Prosecutor announcement to seek arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, alongside three Hamas leaders, Al Mezan director Issam Younis declared, “I am of the opinion that even if this decision to request arrest warrants against Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh is unacceptable to some Palestinians, this is an opportunity for any defendant to stand before the court, defend their narrative, put things into context, and present evidence. In the end, even if warrants are issued, those charged are still innocent until proven otherwise.”
• In December 2023, FIDH, on behalf of its members including Al Mezan, published a resolution accusing Israel of the “ unfolding crime of genocide and other crimes in Gaza and against the Palestinian People.” (Read NGO Monitor’s analysis, “FIDH Declares Total Political War Against Israel.”)
• In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement calling for “Immediate Action from the International Community to Stop Israel’s Reprisals against Palestinian Civilians.” According to the statement, “On Saturday, 7 October 2023, Palestinian armed groups engaged in an operation in response to escalating Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people…We call on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to expedite the investigation into the Situation in Palestine…we call upon the UN Security Council, Third States, and UN Member States to immediately intervene with all necessary means to cease Israel’s attacks against the Palestinian people, and to impose sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel. … and the dismantling Israel’s apartheid regime.” (emphases added)
• In May 2023, following comments by the EU Commission President celebrating Israel’s Independence Day, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement accusing the president of “using racist anti-Palestinian tropes and denying Palestinian history and the atrocities of the Nakba.”
• In April 2023, Al Mezan was a signatory on a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General urging the UN to reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. According to the letter, the IHRA definition “opens the door to labeling as antisemitic… findings of major Israeli, Palestinian and global human rights organizations that Israeli authorities are committing the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.”
  • The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, adopted by nearly 30 countries and counting, represents the international consensus definition of antisemitism, as well as how to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. An example of the latter includes denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
• In February 2023, Al Mezan, alongside Addameer and Al-Haq, published a submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s permanent “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel” (COI) accusing Israel of “Policies to Maintain and Entrench its Settler-Colonial Apartheid Regime: Violent Suppression of Demonstrations and Ensuing Wilful Killing and Injuries, Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Smear and Delegitimisation Campaigns against Human Rights Defenders and Organisations.” In their submission, in addition to the false accusations regarding Israel, the NGOs whitewash acts of violence by Palestinians, omitting core evidence linking Palestinians to terrorist organizations.  
• In May 2022, Al Mezan was a signatory to a flagrantly antisemitic report submitted to the UN HRC’s permanent Commission of Inquiry against Israel. The submission presented a blatantly false historical account that denied Israel’s right to exist, categorized Israel’s very existence as illegal, and labeled Zionism as a form of racism, demanding that the Commission “Recognise and Address Zionist Settler Colonialism and Apartheid as the Root Causes of Israel’s Ongoing Violations.”
• In September 2022, Al Mezan was a signatory on a call to the UN General Assembly to “Take Immediate and Effective Action to End Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians.”   According to the call, “Dismantling Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians must be central to the UN’s commitment to end racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance worldwide.”
• In August 2022, following criticism of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s use of antisemitic rhetoric, Al Mezan signed a joint statement “extend[ing] their full support and pledg[ing] their ongoing cooperation with the UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine.” The statement affirmed that “the present Commission is a crucial step toward the recognition and remedy of Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid regime as the root cause of Israel’s perpetual violations of international law in Palestine.”
  • In July 2022, Commissioner Miloon Kothari made antisemitic comments on a podcast, claiming that the “Jewish lobby” controls social media and questioned whether Israel should have UN membership. In a letter to UNHRC President Federico Villegas, Commissioner Navi Pillay refused to condemn Kothari’s remarks, stating his comments “have deliberately been taken out of context…[and] deliberately misquoted.” Dozens of countries, UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed, and HRC President Federico Villegas condemned these remarks.
• In November 2021, Al Mezan published a report titled “The Gaza Bantustan – Israeli Apartheid in the Gaza Strip.” The report called to “Allow for and facilitate the activation of universal jurisdiction mechanisms to prosecute the alleged perpetrators of Israel’s crime of apartheid and its associated violations,” as well as to “Consider imposing individual sanctions, such as travel bans or assets freezes, on suspected perpetrators of internationally recognized crimes and grave breaches.”
• In October 2021, Al Mezan was a signatory on a joint statement condemning the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. The statement called for “the international community, especially the European Union and its member states who are key supporters of and donors to Palestinian civil society, [to] ensure that banks and financial institutions in their jurisdiction are notified Israel’s designation of Palestinian organizations is unfounded and inapplicable.”
• In February 2021, Al Mezan published a report falsely claiming that Israel uses dams and floodgates to “redirect the flow of natural water away from the Gaza Strip,” and that when the dams are at risk of overflowing, Israel “open[s] their gates-without prior warning- resulting in sudden flows of water into Palestinian farmlands in the ARA, causing huge damages not only to crops but also to houses as well as other properties.” This claim has been proven demonstrably false. In 2015, Al Jazeera and Agence France Presse (AFP) were forced to retract stories that repeated the allegation after it became clear that there are no such dams in all of southern Israel that can be opened. A 2015 AFP news report shows that the “dam” in question is, in fact, a short step that is barely one meter high.
  • In November 2021, Al Mezan accused Israel of “control[ing] rainwater, preventing its natural flow in the Gaza Strip. Ultimately, this has posed a risk to the plants and trees on the banks of Gaza’s valleys and has appeared to cause the migration of wild birds from these areas.”
• In February 2021, Al Mezan published a joint policy paper titled “United States Policy on Palestine: 2021 and Beyond” calling for the “US to reevaluate its past blanket support of Israel” and “end the decades long environment of impunity that it has enabled for Israel to entrench its settler colonization and apartheid in the Palestinian territory.” The policy calls to “ban the import of all Israeli settlement products and services” and “End all military aid to Israel.”
• In November 2020, Al Mezan published a press release falsely claiming that the IHRA definition “seeks to suppress activism and public speech promoting Palestinian freedoms and rights as well as critical assessments of Israel’s policies.” According to the press release, “These actions constitute not only an attack on Palestinians’ rights but also the rights of people and organisations in the US and worldwide that stand in solidarity with Palestinians.”
  • The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, adopted by nearly 30 countries and counting, represents the international consensus definition of antisemitism, as well as how to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. An example of the latter includes denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
• In March 2020, Al Mezan, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) published a report titled “Chronic Impunity: Gaza’s Health Sector Under Repeated Attack.” The report dealt with 2018 protests along the Israel-Gaza border, yet ignored and whitewashed the context of Hamas terrorism, repeated assaults on Israeli civilian communities, and attempts to sabotage the border fence and infiltrate into Israel to commit violence.
  • The report also refers to Sajed Mizher, a 17-year-old Palestinian killed by the Israeli security forces, as  a “first aid volunteer.” The NGOs neglect to mention that Mizher was a “comrade“ of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the U.S., EU, Canada, and Israel. Mizher’s funeral procession featured many individuals wearing military gear, PFLP paraphernalia, and PFLP banners. Mizher’s body was also adorned in PFLP paraphernalia.  (For more details, see NGO Monitor’s blog “Palestinian NGO Medic Killed in Bethlehem Clashes Had Ties to PFLP Terror Group.”)
• On May 18, 2019, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement referring to all of Jerusalem as “occupied,” and called for the UN to “take a firm stand against…unlawful unilateral measures to be taken by the U.S. in favor of an unveiled attempt at legitimizing Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, occupation and colonization.” The statement further called to “Ban Israeli settlement products” and “Impose individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, on individuals that are identified as responsible for or complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
• Al Mezan’s highly unreliable statistics on civilian casualties and building demolitions were cited in the discredited Goldstone report, as well as the UNHRC Commission of Inquiry into the 2014 Gaza war. Al Mezan’s director has also “testified” before UN committees, “especially [about] the willful killing of civilians committed by the IOF [sic].” Al Mezan, together with a number of other highly biased and politicized NGOs also issued a statement repeating the Goldstone report’s highly inflammatory conclusions and called on states to “re-evaluate their relationship with Israel” because “normal relations [could] not be conducted with it.”
• During the 2014 Gaza War, Al Mezan was designated by UN-OCHA to provide casualty statistics. These statistics originated with the Hamas Ministry of Health, and many individuals identified by Al Mezan and others as “civilians” killed during the conflict were actually found to be combatants and members of terror groups.

Lawfare

• Highly active in anti-Israel lawfare campaigns, exploiting courts and international legal bodies to seek arrest warrants against Israeli government officials, file lawsuits against companies and governments doing business with Israel, and lobby for cases against Israelis at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
• In 2009, Al Mezan partnered with Al Haq in an attempt to secure an arrest warrant against Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in the UK for “war crimes” allegedly committed during the 2009 Gaza War.
• In April 2024, Al Mezan “supported” a lawsuit by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) at the Administrative Court of Berlin against the German government for exporting weapons to Israel for use in Gaza. The lawsuit called on the court to “suspend export licenses issued by the German government for arms shipments to Israel,” particularly for anti-tank weapons. Following the suit being filed, the German government announced that the anti-tank weapons had already been delivered in full.
• In May 2024, Al Mezan, alongside Al-Haq and PCHR, published a statement titled, “Netanyahu and Gallant Charged with International Crimes of Extermination, Persecution and Starvation in the Situation in Palestine.” According to the NGOs, “While we welcome the issuing of charges for crimes against humanity, there is also a public catalogue of genocidal statements of intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, including through the intentional denial of aid. For these reasons, genocide as an additional crime should be included in an amendment to the charges… For the last nine years, our organisations have submitted numerous communications to the ICC….”
• In January 2024, Al Mezan CEO Issam Younis served as an advisor for the South African delegation to the International Court of Justice during proceedings against the State of Israel, alleging that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. 
• In November 2023, Al Mezan, Al-Haq, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) filed a lawsuit with the ICC to “Consider the inclusion of crimes against humanity, notably apartheid, and the crime of genocide, in the ongoing investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine” and “Issue arrest warrants expeditiously for those suspected of these crimes within the Israeli political, military, and administrative apparatus, especially President Isaac Herzog, prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant and others” (emphasis in original).
• In October 2023, Al Mezan was a signatory on a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to “Issue Arrest Warrants, Investigate Israeli Crimes and Intervene to Deter Incitement to Commit Genocide in Gaza.”
• In January 2023, Al Mezan “welcome[d]” the UN General Assembly resolution calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to render an advisory opinion on the “legal status of the occupation,” stating that “its adoption is a significant milestone in the struggle against Israel’s apartheid settler-colonial regime.” 
• In November 2022, Al Mezan was a signatory on a letter to the ICC Prosecutor to “Urgently expedite his investigation into the Situation of Palestine, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.” 
• On February 6, 2021, following the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I ruling that the Court has jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, Al Mezan, alongside Al-Haq and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), published a press release stating, “…it is imperative that the Prosecutor include acts of apartheid in the scope of her investigation…The decision confirmed the State of Palestine… as a full and legitimate State Party to the Rome Statute, and the entirety of the oPt as within the scope of territorial jurisdiction for investigation into international crimes…” (emphasis added). The organizations stressed that they will continue their “tireless” cooperation with the ICC, having submitted “six substantial communications and thousands of eyewitness files to the Office of the Prosecutor…”
• At a June 2017 CEIRPP conference, “United Nations Forum to Mark Fifty Years of Occupation,” Al Mezan International Advocacy Coordinator Nuriya Oswald remarked, “Al Mezan cooperates with the office of the prosecutor at the international criminal court and we also coordinate and work with the UN. We have cases in third states in Europe and we do exhaust all of the legal avenues available to us to achieve accountability and justice for Palestinians.”
• Conducts “legal training” courses emphasizing “the important role of lawyers in achieving justice and the need for lawyers to be knowledgeable in international humanitarian law and human rights law in order to be able to confront the flagrant violations committed in the context of the Israeli occupation.”
• Al Mezan has submitted various documents to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • In August 2024, Al Mezan, alongside PCHR and Al-Haq, submitted an amicus brief to the ICC claiming that “the present arrest warrant application is unjustifiably restricted in its scope,” and “called for the inclusion of the Rome Statute crimes of genocide, apartheid, and crimes related to settlements including direct or indirect transfer of settlers into the oPt to the charges against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Minister of Defence, Gallant,” and the crime of genocide is “being perpetrated without pause or remorse.”
  • In March 2020, alongside Al-Haq, Al-Dameer, and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan submitted an amicus brief “welcom[ing[ and support[ing] the findings of the Prosecutorthat there is a reasonable basis to believe that international crimes have been committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, comprising the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.”
  • In December 2017, Al Mezan, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Haq, and Al-Dameer submitted a document to the Prosecutor of the ICC  examining “Israel’s inability and unwillingness to conduct effective investigations ” and called for “investigation into the serious international crimes committed during the July-August 2014 Israeli military offensive.”
  • On September 20, 2017, these NGOs submitted a “substantive communication” to the Prosecutor of the ICC alleging that “high-level Israeli civilian and military officials have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.”
  • On November 22, 2016, the four NGOs delivered a submission to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, “Requesting Investigation and Prosecution of The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip.”
  • In February 2016, the NGOs claim to have “provided evidence of the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity” and concluded that “high-ranking Israeli military and civilian officials committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during Operation Protective Edge.”
  • On November 23, 2015, the four NGOs submitted a document claiming evidence and testimonies of alleged Israeli “war crimes” perpetrated during the 2014 Gaza war.

BDS Activities

• In November 2023, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement calling for states to “take all available measures to avoid complicity in Israeli conduct through the provision of materials, arms, economic and diplomatic support to a regime responsible for ongoing and persistent widespread and systematic violence and abuse of the Palestinian population amounting to genocide.” The statement also called to “apply and impose economic sanctions, arms embargo, and other countermeasures until Israel adheres to its obligations under international law.”
• In November 2023, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement urging states to issue a “Two-Way Arms Embargo on Israel,” demanding that “The US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and other States that authorise the continued transfer of arms, and other forms of military support to Israel to immediately bring an end to such transfers…and immediately halt the provision of any materiel, equipment or other commodity that may foreseeably be used in the commission of serious international law violations including international crimes.” 
• In September 2022, Al Mezan was a signatory on a letter to the European Union to “review its decision to revive the Association Council Meeting, stop the recently signed gas deal and review its bilateral cooperation programmes.” According to the call, “Instead of allowing Israel to entrench its colonial enterprise and apartheid regime, rewarding it with further economic cooperation and trade of harmful military equipment and technologies, the EU and its Member States have an obligation, and interest, to hold Israel accountable and put an end to impunity.”
• In August 2021, Al Mezan signed a letter to the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty calling to “put an end to Israel’s notorious use of arms and military equipment…by immediately imposing a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel.” According to the letter, “This systematic brutality, perpetrated throughout the past seven decades of Israel’s colonialism, apartheid, pro-longed illegal belligerent occupation, persecution, and closure, is only possible because of the complicity of some governments and corporations around the world.”
• In July 2021, Al Mezan was a signatory on a letter to President Biden to “Halt Weapons Sales to Israel.”
• In May 2021, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement calling to “Ban arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspend free-trade agreements with Israel,” and “Ensure that individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid are brought to justice.”
• In 2020, Al Mezan has lobbied intensively in support of the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel. Al Mezan has published numerous statements and letters to the UN calling to “make public the database of businesses illegally operating in and profiting from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem” (emphases added).
• In July 2020, in response to the “Report of the Special Rapporteur addressing Israel’s Collective Punishment Policy,” Al Mezan called on “Third States to adopt effective measures to put an end to Israel’s illegal and inhumane policies of collective punishment, including sanctions and countermeasures, to bring the illegal situation to an end” (emphasis added).
• In May 2020, Al Mezan was a signatory on a statement calling for “Immediate targeted sanctions to stop Israel’s annexation and apartheid.” The statement further called for “A ban on arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspension of trade and cooperation agreements with Israel,” and “Investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid.”
• Signatory to the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS,” which calls for an end to Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” and promotes the right of “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.” These goals undermine the fundamental right of the Jewish people to self-determination and would effectually mean the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.