On the initiative of South Africa, which filed a complaint against the IDF at the ICC, the BRICS held a virtual summit on 21 November to discuss the genocide in Gaza. The five founding states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) took part, alongside the new members (Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates) and the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the importance of this virtual summit, bringing together representatives of over half of the world’s population. He urged for this format to be adopted for every international crisis, in parallel with the United Nations Security Council.

Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined the three urgent imperatives:

1. the end of hostilities and the achievement of an immediate ceasefire;

2. the cessation of all forms of violence and attacks against civilians and the release civilians held in captivity;

3. the end of collective punishment targeting the population of Gaza.

The international community implement concrete measures to prevent the conflict from boiling over and endangering stability in the Middle East as a whole.

Xi Jinping also stressed that the underlying cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in the ignorance of:

1. the right of the Palestinian people to exist as a people (denied by the “revisionist Zionists” from Zeev Jabotinsky to Benjamin Netanyahu)

2. its right to a State (reaffirmed during the Oslo Accords in 1993); and

3. its right of return (stipulated by resolution 194 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in 1948).

It is therefore appropriate to organize an international conference to redress these injustices.