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Gaza Tribunal in Sarajevo probes Israel over genocide and war crimes
- The New Arab Staff
- May 27
- 3 min read
In the Bosnian capital, an independent "people's tribunal" is holding Israel accountable over genocide and war crimes in Gaza.
The Gaza Tribunal, a civil society-led initiative, began its first public session on Monday at the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Over four days, it will hear from a global roster of legal scholars, human rights experts, journalists, and survivors in a bid to bring attention to what organisers describe as a grave breach of international law and human conscience.
Led by Professor Richard Falk, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton, the tribunal hopes to offer a moral and political reckoning for what it says is the world’s systemic failure to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza.
In his opening remarks, he said: "The Gaza tribunal is devoted to bearing witness to Israel’s crimes against the peoples of Gaza. Beyond this, the purpose of the tribunal is to add whatever it can to the torment and outrage of people around the world to bring the Gaza ordeal of death and destruction to a rapid end by urging action to be taken in the name of our common humanity."
Although it lacks official legal authority, the Gaza Tribunal follows the tradition of previous "people's tribunals" held in response to perceived failures by international institutions, including Vietnam to Iraq.
Professor Falk told the audience that such initiatives emerge "only when governments and their institutions fail or refuse to address severe injustices, especially bearing upon war and peace."
Jury of conscience
The Sarajevo session focuses on a wide range of themes, including the political economy of genocide, the weaponisation of starvation, the criminalisation of dissent, and the destruction of Gaza's civilian infrastructure.
One of the opening speakers, Dr Nimer Sultany, a law professor at SOAS University of London, condemned what he described as a global reluctance to name Palestine’s colonial reality.
He told the tribunal: "Palestine is a clear case in which the naming of the colonial condition has been delayed, or avoided, for so long. For too long.
"This lack of naming exposes an uneven application of principles and human rights. This lack of naming prolongs injustice and delays the application of human rights standards. We are here today to name the genocide."
Sultany accused Western governments of complicity in Gaza’s destruction by failing to act, and warned against revisionist narratives that portray recent Israeli statements as anomalies.
"Israeli officials have not suddenly become extreme," he said. "They have long shaped and supported the war policy."
He responded to comments by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who recently said: "Within a few months, we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed."
Another testimony came from Dr Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American physician who worked at Nasser Hospital in Gaza earlier this year. He described "mass casualty events happening multiple times a day", with most victims being women and children.
Dr Ahmad said: "There is no hospital in the United States, no hospital in Chicago, that would have been able to function had they seen the same volume that was being seen at Nasser hospital."
He also shared his experience with treating victims of airstrikes, building collapses, and gunfire, noting that much of Khan Younis was being "systematically levelled".
Following its Sarajevo session, the Gaza Tribunal will continue gathering testimonies and expert statements. Its final hearing is scheduled for October 2025 in Istanbul, where a "Jury of Conscience" will present its findings.
The tribunal, first launched in London in November 2024, is a response, organisers say, to "the total failure of the organised international community to implement international law."
(c) 2025, The New Arab
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