ICSPR Criminalizing Palestinian Popular and Civil Action Is a Systematic U.S. Policy to Cover Up Occupation Crimes and Reward War Criminals

January 24, 2026

Press Statement

ICSPR: Criminalizing Palestinian Popular and Civil Action Is a Systematic U.S. Policy to Cover Up Occupation Crimes and Reward War Criminals

The International Commission to Support Palestinian People’s Rights (ICSPR) strongly condemns the decision of the U.S. administration to impose sanctions on the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad and a number of charitable and humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip. ICSPR considers this decision a dangerous escalation within a systematic policy aimed at criminalizing Palestinian popular and civil action, shrinking the space for humanitarian, community, and peaceful advocacy work.

ICSPR affirms that these measures come within a pattern of repeated U.S. precedents in which Washington has used so-called “counterterrorism” legislation as a political tool to punish Palestinian, Arab, and international civil society organizations, without respect for standards of judicial evidence or guarantees of a fair trial. In practice, this has led to paralyzing relief efforts, undermining the role of civil society, and deepening the suffering of Palestinian civilians living under occupation and blockade.

The Commission believes that targeting humanitarian institutions working in the Gaza Strip—amid an ongoing genocide, deliberate starvation, and the total collapse of the health and humanitarian systems—constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles protecting humanitarian action and prohibiting its politicization. Such measures amount to indirect participation in the internationally prohibited crime of collective punishment.

In this context, ICSPR warns of the blatant double standards and selective approach in the U.S. position: while Palestinian humanitarian institutions are criminalized and pursued, the U.S. administration turns a blind eye to dozens of Israeli settlement organizations and extremist Israeli and U.S. associations that openly incite the killing of Palestinians, fund illegal settlement activity, provide financial and media cover for the crimes of settlers and occupation forces, and call for ethnic cleansing and forced displacement—without any accountability or sanctions—despite the clear contradiction of these activities with international law and United Nations resolutions.

The Commission considers this deliberate neglect to represent political and legal complicity with the occupation system, encouraging the continuation of crimes and violations against the Palestinian people and undermining any claim of neutrality or commitment to international law.

ICSPR further affirms that U.S. cover for the crimes of the occupation has reached an unprecedented level with the acceptance of Benjamin Netanyahu—accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity—into what is termed a “Peace Council.” This step constitutes a dangerous moral and legal inversion, sending a clear message that perpetrators of crimes can be politically rewarded, while victims and those who defend their rights are punished.

The International Commission – ICSPR stresses that such policies do not serve peace, but rather strip it of its meaning, undermine the foundations of international justice, entrench a culture of impunity, and contribute to prolonging crimes and conflict by protecting perpetrators and criminalizing Palestinian national, popular, and humanitarian action. The Commission emphasizes that this unlawful behavior by the U.S. administration will not obscure the truth, erase the crimes of the occupation, or protect their perpetrators; instead, it will be added to the record of bias and double standards. Palestinian popular and humanitarian action will remain a legitimate right guaranteed by international law, which cannot be demonized or eliminated.

Accordingly, the International Commission to Support Palestinian People’s Rights (ICSPR) calls for:

• The immediate reversal of the sanctions imposed on the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad and charitable institutions operating in the Gaza Strip.

• An end to the criminalization of Palestinian popular and civil action, and respect for the right of the Palestinian people, living under occupation, to organize, advocate, and carry out humanitarian work.

• Accountability for settlement organizations and Israeli and U.S. associations involved in incitement to killing and support for occupation crimes, and the imposition of sanctions against them in accordance with international law.

• Protection of humanitarian and relief work and the guarantee of unimpeded, non-politicized access of aid to the Gaza Strip.

• Rejection of granting any political or moral legitimacy to war criminals, and an end to their inclusion in frameworks or councils bearing the name “peace,” alongside a commitment to the principle of non-impunity and support for international accountability mechanisms rather than undermining them.