AS ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the podium at the United Nations general assembly today, 34 states convened to co-ordinate legal and diplomatic measures aimed at halting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The Hague Group ministerial meeting, co-chaired by Colombia and South Africa, brought together governments from across the world that are committed to turning international law into enforcement. 

In their chairpersons’ closing statement, Colombia and South Africa declared: “The choice before every government is clear: complicity or compliance. History will judge us not by the speeches we delivered but by the actions we took.”

States presented legal, diplomatic and economic measures to consolidate the growing wave of national policy responses into “a co-ordinated global strategy,” according to the statement by Colombia and South Africa. 

They also committed to prevent military and dual-use exports to Israel, refuse Israeli weapons shipments at ports, bar vessels carrying weapons from sailing to Israel under their national flags, review all public contracts to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation and pursue justice for international crimes and support universal jurisdiction to hold perpetrators accountable.

The group also said it would halt military procurement from Israel, have public institutions divest from complicit companies and institute an energy embargo.

In their statement, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio and South African Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Ronald Lamola said: “Such co-ordination strengthens the global response to Israel’s ongoing crimes, setting a model for all states to immediately fulfil their legal obligations and creating robust mechanisms for accountability at the national, regional,and international levels.

“History will judge us not by the speeches we delivered but by the actions we took. 

“The people of Palestine cannot wait — and The Hague Group will not rest until it has rallied the world to defend the international laws that protect them.”