Silvia Ribeiro*
E
On January 11, 2024, South Africa, supported by more than 60 countries and 900 civil organizations, presented a solid case against Israel before the UN International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide, in which they presented compelling evidence of intentionality and multiple violations by Israel of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Israel argued that the systematic war attack against the Palestinian civilian population is a response and defense against the undoubtedly terrible attack by the Hamas movement against Israel on October 7, 2023, with hundreds of civilian deaths. It conveniently hides mentioning that Hamas was originally created and supported by Israel itself to divide the Palestinian movements, especially to undermine the Palestine Liberation Organization, then led by Yasser Arafat, which had significant support in the United Nations. This is not a conspiracy theory, but a fact publicly acknowledged by Israeli General Yitzhak Segev at New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/45m582kv). For Israel, Hamas would be a major divisive factor internally in Palestine but also a more aggressive and radical element that would be easier to condemn from outside.
With more than 23 thousand dead in just three months – of which 70 percent are women, girls and boys –, more than 60 thousand people injured – the overwhelming majority civilians –, 90 percent of the buildings destroyed, mainly hospitals, schools , housing and services, it is difficult to think that the Israeli government’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza can have more impacts. However, the negative repercussions of this war also affect the rest of the planet on more levels than we think.
A study carried out by researchers from universities in the United Kingdom and the United States, reviewed by the British newspaper The Guardianrevealed that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the first 60 days of the war in Gaza exceeded the total emissions of more than 20 countries highly vulnerable to climate change (http://tinyurl.com/49rp445s).
The study published on January 5 (http://tinyurl.com/5n7v6zvy) estimated that 281,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) were released in the 60 days since October 7, of which 99 percent were attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardments and ground invasion of Gaza.
The researchers only took into account the activities with the highest intensity in the generation of greenhouse gases, but not all sources of emissions, so these are surely greater. The emissions of the answer
Israel’s military attack by Hamas in 60 days is equivalent to burning 150 thousand tons of coal. This calculation includes the CO2 generated by aerial bombing missions, fuel for tanks and other vehicles, as well as the gases generated by the explosion of bombs, artillery and rockets. It does not include the estimation of other GHG gases, such as methane. Half of the estimated emissions correspond to US cargo planes transporting war material to Israel.
The rockets launched by Hamas in the same period were estimated at 713 tons of CO2, equivalent to the burning of 300 tons of coal, which the study highlights as an example of the enormous difference in the war machinery deployed.
They also estimated that rebuilding 100,000 destroyed buildings will emit at least 30 million additional metric tons of carbon.
The authors point out that the study on Gaza is only a snapshot of the immense climatic and ecological footprint of militarism and war conflicts. They report that according to other previous studies, if all the elements of the industrial-military chain that emit CO2 or equivalent were taken, the resulting GHG emissions would be five to eight times greater.
Militarism and wars, in addition to the massive loss of human life and being a source of devastation and environmental pollution, of destruction of nature and its living beings, are also a very important factor in the climate crisis, which generates more suffering, migration and loss of life (http://tinyurl.com/5e7sh9wm).
Although several studies on the subject estimate that they cause between 5 and 6 percent of global GHG emissions (more than all those caused by commercial air and shipping transportation combined), most military activities are not taken into account. by reporting emissions by country to the UN Climate Change Convention.
For this reason also, at the recent COP28 of that agreement held in the United Arab Emirates, the protests of organizations and movements against the genocide in Gaza were constant, but also against all wars and against the increase in militarism in general, which is inseparable and contributes to growing climate injustice.
* Researcher at the ETC Group
