Philadelphia People’s Tribunal finds Israel, U.S. guilty of war crimes and genocide in Gaza

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On Wednesday, jurors from the Philadelphia People’s Tribunal found that Israel is guilty of war crimes and genocide in Gaza, and charged the United States government and elected officials, including Pennsylvania U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick, with complicity in those crimes.

The jurors, whom organizers said represented diverse identities and backgrounds within the Philadelphia social justice movement, compiled a 56-page report based on testimonies from Palestinians in Gaza, human rights attorneys, international law experts, journalists and humanitarian aid workers.

“We find that war crimes, as defined by various conventions, international law, and US domestic law, are being committed by the State of Israel on the people of Gaza,” the charging statement in the report reads. “Furthermore, we find that acts of genocide, as defined by the Geneva Convention and other sources, are being committed by the State of Israel on the people of Gaza.”

In addition to Sens. Fetterman and McCormick, jurors also found the Biden and Trump administrations and former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey to be complicit. 

The offices of Fetterman and McCormick did not respond to WHYY News’ request for comment. 

On Tuesday, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Gaza and the West Bank, called on delegates from 30 countries to take action to stop what she called the “genocide” in Gaza. Last week, the United States issued sanctions against Albanese, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the U.N. investigator and human rights lawyer is conducting a “campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel.”

“We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense,” Rubio said in the post on X. “The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.”

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas militants crossed Israel’s southern border and killed 1,200 Israelis while taking more than 240 people hostage. Ministry officials said more than half of those killed in Gaza, a figure which includes both combatants and civilians, are women and children. 

Israel has rejected allegations of genocide as antisemitic, and repeatedly denied reports of “genocidal acts” in Gaza. Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis are protesting the ongoing war, including some family members of the hostages who are still being held captive by Hamas.

Philadelphia tribunal participants say they hope report spurs international action

King Downing, lead prosecutor of the tribunal and director of healing justice for New York and New Jersey for the American Friends Service Committee, said people’s tribunals have historical precedent.

“It is a hearing that is put together by a community outside of the normal processes, and usually because of a lack of justice in those processes,” he said.

The hearing, held May 31, was co-sponsored by Fridays at Fetterman’s, a grassroots advocacy group that has held weekly peace vigils for Gaza outside of Sen. Fetterman’s Old City office since December 2023. American Friends Service Committee and Friends of Sabeel North America, two international peacemaking organizations, were co-sponsors.

Downing said the Philadelphia tribunal’s focus on the local community, including the emphasis on selecting jurors who live in the area, is aligned with an often-repeated injunction for organizers to “think globally, act locally.”

“Almost all the change that has ever happened anywhere, including on the international level, has started in communities that build a groundswell,” Downing said.

Eric Hammel, a West Philadelphia resident and member of Jewish Boomers Against Occupation in Palestine, attended the announcement of the jury’s findings on Wednesday morning at the Friends Center in Center City. He said he has a personal connection to people in Gaza from his time volunteering there in 2002 with the International Solidarity Movement.

“I hope that this, these findings, will be of help in promoting awareness about what’s happening,” he said. “And that we will be able to gradually, hopefully move public policy toward something that is more cognizant of the human rights of Palestinian people and also hopefully help encourage the development of ties between people in Philadelphia and people in Gaza and Palestine.”

Lisa Sharon Harper, a juror in the tribunal and a theologian, storyteller, playwright and organizer from South Philadelphia, said she hopes the tribunal’s findings will “give a road map to the actual political accountability that needs to happen in the future.”

“When the United Nations comes to this, they will have our document,” she said. “They will be able to say, ‘Philadelphia found this.’ When our own Congress comes to that place where it faces its own complicity, they will have our document, and they will see Philadelphia has already stood up and said, ‘We are complicit.’ There is precedent for us to be able to follow and to come to similar findings, or even more, if they have more information.”