Will Israel Ever Be Held Accountable for Its Actions in Palestine Since the Nakba?

Some questions aren’t just legal, they’re moral detonations. And this one? It’s the kind that doesn’t just ask for an answer, it demands a reckoning. Will Israel ever be held accountable for what it has done in Palestine since the Nakba? Not just in theory, not just in the footnotes of human rights reports, but in actual courtrooms, with consequences, reparations, and a public record that says, this happened, and it was wrong.

I’ve asked this question in different tones over the years, sometimes with rage, sometimes with exhaustion, sometimes with the kind of quiet clarity that comes when you’ve stopped expecting justice and started documenting its absence. Because the evidence is there. The bodies are there. The ruins are there. Survivors are still speaking. And yet, the world keeps saying, “Let’s not rush to judgment.” As if 75 years is somehow premature.

Let’s start with the ledger. Since 1948, Israel has been accused of a continuum of violations, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. These aren’t vague accusations, they’re documented, cited, and litigated. Over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced during the Nakba. More than 500 villages were destroyed. The right of return was denied. The West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem have been under military occupation since 1967. Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, amounting to collective punishment. And the assaults, Cast Lead, Protective Edge, Guardian of the Walls, and now the ongoing devastation, have repeatedly targeted civilians and infrastructure.

In May 2024, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.” In January 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled it “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide and ordered it to “take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts and incitement.” The UN Commission of Inquiry found “reasonable grounds to believe” Israeli forces committed “starvation as a method of warfare, murder, forcible transfer, sexual violence, and torture.” Law for Palestine compiled over 500 instances of incitement to genocide by Israeli officials, including statements from the President, Prime Minister, Knesset members, and military personnel. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both concluded that Israel’s system of domination over Palestinians constitutes apartheid, a crime against humanity. Genocide scholars Raz Segal, Melanie O’Brien, Dirk Moses, and Martin Shaw have all affirmed that “the prevailing evidentiary standard for genocide has been met.” So yes, the crimes are real. The documentation is exhaustive. The legal language is precise. And yet… nothing happens.

Because accountability isn’t just about evidence, it’s about power. And Israel has been shielded, decade after decade, by the world’s most powerful actors. The United States has vetoed every meaningful UN resolution. Military aid flows uninterrupted, even when it violates the Arms Export Control Act. ICC and ICJ rulings are dismissed, ignored, or denounced. Professor Saul Takahashi puts it plainly, “Israel has openly flouted the orders of the ICJ… The sheer contempt that Israel exhibits for its international legal obligations is unprecedented.” And it’s not just legal shielding, it’s narrative shielding. Western media frames Israeli actions as “self-defence,” even when the rubble says otherwise. Domestic courts rarely touch Israeli officials. Universal jurisdiction? Mostly theoretical. Professor Nicola Pratt of Warwick University notes, “Western interventions and support for authoritarian regimes have often undermined human rights and reinforced reactionary movements.” So yes, the shielding is structural. It’s geopolitical. It’s ideological. And it’s relentless.

Let’s be honest. Israel will not face consequences, not in the way justice demands. Geopolitical interests override legal obligations. Israel’s strategic value to Western powers, military, intelligence, regional dominance, makes accountability inconvenient. And international law? It lacks teeth without political will. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect warns, “Israeli authorities consistently employ violence and inhumane acts… Experts and human rights groups have recognised that this system satisfies the evidentiary standard for apartheid.” And what would need to change? A collapse of Western consensus. Mass civil society mobilisation. Enforcement of ICC arrest warrants. Suspension or expulsion from the UN. But as Takahashi reminds us, “No state has ever been expelled from the UN… Yet there is equally no precedent for Israel’s actions.” So we’re stuck in a paradox, unprecedented crimes, met with unprecedented impunity.

Picture it, a courtroom with no judge, no jury, and no enforcement. Just stacks of evidence gathering dust while diplomats sip coffee and talk about “complexity.” The Nakba wasn’t a moment, it was a mechanism. And it’s still operating. Every demolished home, every denied visa, every bombed hospital is part of that machinery. And the world? It keeps oiling the gears.

So will Israel ever be held accountable? Not unless the scaffolding collapses. Not unless the architecture is dismantled. Not unless the world decides that Palestinian lives are not collateral, not inconvenient, not expendable. And right now? That world doesn’t exist. But the question still matters. Because asking it is an act of resistance. Asking it is a refusal to forget. Asking it is a way of saying, I see you. I remember. I will not let silence win.