Leading International Economists Slam Israel’s ‘Weaponisation of Starvation’

Newsclick Report

New Delhi: As many as 140 leading international economists have denounced Israel’s “weaponisation of starvation” in Gaza and have called on the international community and the US government to ensure an immediate halt “to any policy that intensifies widespread starvation”.

In a joint statement, the leading economists also called upon governments across the world to boycott economic, cultural and sporting relations with Israel and divest from “an economy that funds occupation and genocide.”

The joint statement after a recent letter by 23 eminent economists to the Prime Minister and Knesset of the State of Israel, which acknowledged “Israel’s perpetuation of famine and displacement, but avoided addressing the root causes of the current war.”

Read the press release with the link to the full statement below:

Economists From Around the World Denounce Israel’s Weaponization of Starvation, Call for Boycotts and Sanctions to Deter Israel’s War-machine

In a joint statement issued today, 140 economists from around the world, including eminent professors, researchers and other academics, have called on the international community and the US Government to hold the Israeli government accountable for the past two years of unimaginable destruction of human life, communities and futures in Palestine. The group was motivated to act following the recent letter from 23 eminent economists to the Prime Minister and Knesset of the State of Israel, which acknowledged Israel’s perpetuation of famine and displacement, but avoided addressing the root causes of the current war.

In today’s statement, their colleagues affirmed that the past 22 months have been an historical juncture in which previous notions of international law, human rights, and international security have lost meaning, resonance and effect. “We cannot ignore the Israeli government’s direct responsibility for the near-total devastation of living conditions in the Gaza Strip and its threats to complete the ethnic cleansing already underway in Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Without this recognition, a call to end starvation in Gaza risks shielding Israel from accountability and entrenching impunity for war crimes that will leave comprehensive devastation for decades to come.”

The economists’ statement detailed how weaponizing starvation and aid is only part of the tru picture of what has unfolded in the Gaza Strip: “The current conditions of starvation in Gaza Strip are not a passing, unintended outcome, but rather the result of clear Israeli policy planning, which have been openly communicated to any who cared to listen… As economists from across the world, we address ourselves to colleagues everywhere and to international public opinion, rather than to the Israeli State, which has openly claimed its intent to conduct mass erasure and destruction and acts it out livestreamed on global television.” The statement noted that Israel presents to the world a facade of a "Democracy" that in fact plans ethnic cleansing and mass destruction and annihilation.

The economists emphasize that an end to the war is only the beginning of what is needed. They urge the international community, economic institutions, and colleagues worldwide to:

• Demand that their Governments support an urgent end to the war that includes iron-clad commitments to end Israeli attacks and fully withdraw Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip;
• Call upon Israel and neighboring States to ensure massive and unimpeded entry to the Gaza Strip of relief supplies, decent transitional shelter and building materials;
• Denounce ethnic cleansing and colonial expansion plans in the Strip, as well as in the occupied West Bank, and call on international legal institutions to uphold their responsibilities and hold Israel accountable;
• Encourage boycotts of economic, cultural and sporting relations with Israel and divestment from an economy that funds occupation and genocide, as legal and moral actions that we can all undertake; and,
• Demand that their Governments apply the necessary sanctions, including bans on arms trade with Israel, to oblige it to cease and desist.

The full text of the statement and list of signatories may be accessed here.