‘It didn’t start one year ago’: Amnesty International release statement for anniversary of Oct.7

Amnesty International UK accused Israel, on Sunday, of escalating attacks on Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group have launched attacks against Israel since October 8, in a video addressing the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

The video claims that the conflict didn’t start on October 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered over 1200 people and abducted over 250 more, but started 76 years ago - with the establishment of the Jewish state. 

It didn’t start one year ago.#CeasefireNow #StopArmingIsrael #EndIsraeliApartheid pic.twitter.com/CjZy3s9Ryk

— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) October 6, 2024

The video accused Israel of enacting apartheid, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “and also an end to 76 years of displacement, discrimination and devastation.”

The video ended with a call for the UK government to “act” and ban arms sales to Israel.

In addition to the video, the group’s Israel branch issued a statement “to commemorate the anniversary of the atrocious October 7 massacre. We shall not forget the many victims, and of course, the men and women who are still kept hostage in Gaza in harsh and life-threatening conditions. Entire communities were in danger of being eliminated on that day by a murderous attack that resulted in some being uprooted and other communities experiencing severe damage to their fabric of life.

Amnesty International Israel

“Our heart goes out to those impacted by the events - the many who were physically or mentally wounded and who carry the scars of October 7, especially the children. “

While the branch acknowledged “The massacre [was] perpetrated by Hamas and its accomplices,” it drew attention to “Israel’s subsequent devastating attacks on Gaza.” After Hamas breached the ceasefire on October 7, Israel launched a military campaign with the war goal being to free Gaza from Hamas’s leadership and to return the hostages Hamas kidnapped during its terror campaign. 

“[War] crimes must be investigated, and to the extent that they turn out to be true - they should be acknowledged, and those who gave the orders should be singled out and put on trial,” Amnesty International Israel said, referencing both Israeli and Hamas officials. “This is the very least that humanity owes to the victims and their loved ones. We should acknowledge that intentionally targeting civilians cannot be justified, even in the context of a struggle against oppression and occupation, and that it is prohibited under international law. One injustice does not justify another.”

The branch acknowledged Israel’s right to defend its northern communities as “like other countries, [Israel] has the right and even the duty to allow its residents to live safely within its borders. 

“This certainly applies to dealing with the intentional, continuous, and serious damage that Hezbollah inflicts on the civilian population and the fabric of life of entire communities and localities, and to the danger involved in a potential invasion of those localities and the targeting of their residents.”

The group stressed, however, that the actions taken by Israel “must be restricted under the rules of International Humanitarian Law… — first and foremost refraining from targeting civilians — and not just as lip service to the international community.”

“In a climate saturated with hate, dehumanization, and the negation of the existence of the other, strict adherence to universality in interpretation and a lack of bias is a supreme moral command for victims from all sides and for the sake of rehabilitating and building co-existence and mutual understanding for all the inhabitants of the region,” the branch concluded.