Hamas and Terror-Supporting NGOs: Advancing International Criminal Court (ICC) Lawfare Against Israel
On November 21, 2024, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Khan accused the two of committing “crimes against humanity and war crimes” in the context of Israel’s war against Hamas, in response to the Hamas-orchestrated October 7th massacre.
The ICC arrest warrants are the product of years of lobbying and engagement on the part of terror-linked, anti-Israel NGOs, including Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). Prior to its invasion of Israel, Hamas had identified the ICC as a tool to advance its agenda.
Al-Haq was designated as a terrorist entity by Israel in 2021, citing numerous links to the US-designated terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Al-Mezan and PCHR also have ties to the PFLP and other US-designated terrorist organizations.
(For more information see NGO Monitor’s reports: “Clear and Convincing: The Links between the PFLP and the European Government-funded NGO Network,” “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Links to the PFLP Terror Group”)
Immediately following October 7th and before Israel’s ground invasion, this network of NGOs launched a systematic campaign based on false accusations of genocide, starvation, wilful killing, and ethnic cleansing. This atrocity inversion served both to distract from Hamas’ crimes, as well as to generate ICC prosecution, international sanctions, and arms embargoes against Israel and its leaders.
Hamas pushes for ICC actions against Israel
On March 18, 2023, the Gaza-based International Center of Law Studies held a conference with the theme “Jurists Confronting the Occupier,” during which speakers “stressed the importance of using lawfare to attack Israel, claiming it was no less important than the ‘military’ and political activities against it.” One of the main recommendations was “the need to use the law as a weapon against Israel as a fundamental ‘resistance’ [anti-Israeli activity] method at every level and in international forums.”
According to an analysis of the event, Faraj al-Ghoul, then-chairman of the Legal Committee of Hamas’ Legislative Council, “called on the ICC to stop its double standard and to prosecute the Israeli leadership.”
Other speakers included Hamas political bureau members, Mahmoud al-Zahar, and Musa Abu Marzouq.
Al-Haq and Al-Mezan engagement with Hamas
Al-Mezan
- In 2017, Al-Mezan director Issam Younis participated in a panel discussion on “The requirement for supporting and the success of the national [Palestinian internal] reconciliation,” alongside Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Representatives from other US-designated terrorist organizations – including Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Political Bureau member Khaled Al-Batsh and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Political Bureau member Kayed Al- Ghoul – also participated in the conference.

Al-Mezan director Issam Younis (on the right) addressing a 2017 panel with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (on the left)
- Al-Mezan board member and former Director-General of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council, Nafez Al-Madhoun addressed the “Jurists Confronting the Occupier” (see above). Al-Madhoun served in this role from at least 2010 through at least June 2022.

Nafez al-Madhoun (2nd from left) participating in an October 2010 Hamas workshop alongside Hamas spokesperson Taher al-Nunu (far right), Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar (2nd from right), and senior Hamas official Mohammad al-Ghoul (center)
- On April 9, 2015, Al-Mezan hosted a conference in Gaza about opportunities for prosecuting Israelis presented by Palestinian ascendancy to the ICC. The event featured representatives from Hamas, PIJ, and the PFLP.
Al-Haq
In 2017, Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin participated in a panel discussion on “The requirement for supporting and the success of the national [Palestinian internal] reconciliation” (see above). Jabarin joined the panel with Yahya Sinwar via video.

Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin (far right on screen) remotely addressing a panel with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (far right on dais)
Terror-linked Palestinian NGOs engage with the ICC
Post-October 7th
Following the October 7th massacre, terror-linked Palestinian NGOs increased their engagement with the ICC:
- On August 8, 2024, Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al-Mezan submitted joint amicus curiae to the ICC, demanding, inter alia, “the inclusion of the Rome Statute crimes of genocide, apartheid and crimes related to settlements, including direct or indirect transfer of settlers into occupied territory to the charges against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Minister of Defence, Gallant. The crime of genocide is being perpetrated without pause or remorse.”
- On May 17, 2024, the directors of Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al-Mezan sent a letter to the ICC Prosecutor “calling on him to Intervene to Prevent Genocidal Massacre in Rafah, and to Issue Arrest Warrants for All Members of Israeli War Cabinet.”
- On November 9, 2023, Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al-Mezan filed a lawsuit with the ICC urging the Office of the Prosecutor to “Consider the inclusion of crimes against humanity, notably apartheid, and the crime of genocide, in the ongoing investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine,” and “issue arrest warrants expeditiously for those suspected of these crimes within the Israeli political, military, and administrative apparatus, especially President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and others.”
- On October 19, 2023, Al-Haq, PCHR, Al-Mezan, and other NGOs called on “Prosecutor Khan to Issue Arrest Warrants, Investigate Israeli Crimes and Intervene to Deter Incitement to Commit Genocide in Gaza.”
Less than a week after the Hamas-led invasion, these NGOs generated many of the “genocide” and “starvation” claims underpinning international lawfare against Israel:
- October 9, 2023, Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al-Mezan accused Israel of “employing Starvation as a Weapon.”
- On October 11, 2023, Al-Haq tweeted, “For the fifth day, the occupation forces continue to launch their attacks on the #Gaza Strip… in such a way that amounts to acts of genocide” (translated from the original Arabic).
- On October 15, 2023 Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and PCHR published a statement on twitter claiming that “Palestinians are facing an impending genocide.”
Years of NGO ICC campaigns
The NGO-ICC campaign long predates October 7th.
For example:
- In 2021, the French Consul-General in Jerusalem praised PCHR Director Raji Sourani, “As the Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, you contributed to Palestine’s accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court” (emphasis added).
- In December 2019, Al-Haq “attended the eighteenth session of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the World Forum, in the Netherlands. During the week, Al-Haq made two separate and direct interventions to Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda… and engaged in meetings with staff from the Office of the Prosecutor and the Victims Outreach Unit” (emphasis added).
- According to PCHR, in December 2019, “Lawyer Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)… delivered [a] speech[]at the annual General Assembly.” During his speech, Sourani addressed Bensouda: “we were very consistent in working with the ICC and your office, and we cooperated fully in providing full facts needed in this regard…we were able to bring you tens of witnesses over video conferences…Palestinian human rights organizations provided really significant material to your office.” (emphasis added)
- In September 2017, Director of Al-Haq Shawan Jabarin submitted material prepared by Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and PCHR to Bensouda, accusing Israel of “war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.”
- In November 2016, PCHR, Al-Mezan, Al-Haq, and another Palestinian NGO delivered a submission to Bensouda “Requesting Investigation and Prosecution of The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip.”
- In November 2015, Al-Haq Director Shawan Jabarin presented a “confidential communication” to Bensouda. The “communication” is authored by PCHR, Al-Mezan, Al-Haq, and Al Dameer.
- An Al-Haq press release notes that Shawan Jabarin met with Bensouda on the side-lines of the Assembly of State Parties to the ICC in December 2014.
(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s “Bias in ICC Prosecutor Bensouda’s Meetings and Citations.”)

Al-Haq Director Shawan Jabarin handing ICC Prosecutor Bensouda a “confidential communication” submitted by Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, Al Dameer, and PCHR
Al-Haq and PCHR justify violence and October 7th atrocities
Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, PCHR, and officials from these NGOS have advocated that Hamas not be designated as a terrorist organization, and have celebrated and justified terrorism, against Israeli civilians, including the October 7th massacre.
Al-Haq
- In March 2024, Al-Haq published a report asserting that Palestinian terrorism does not exist:
“Even if individual acts of struggle [terrorism] breach provisions of international humanitarian law in bello, never should the Israeli colonial power or the international community categorise the collective resistance of the Palestinian people in pursuit of their inalienable jus cogens right to self-determination as ‘terrorism’, and justify its policy of suppression accordingly.”
- In a July 2023 letter to members of the European Parliament, Al-Haq insisted that “by keeping democratically elected political parties on the EU terrorist list, the EU is perpetuating the denial of self-determination of the Palestinian people. Hamas needs to be removed from the terrorist list.” (emphasis added)
In addition to Al-Haq’s organizational activities, key officials have also promoted violence:
- On October 10, Al-Haq Head of the Training and Capacity Building Unit Ziad Hmaidan wrote on Facebook: “It is written in the Hadith: ‘You must wage jihad. The best jihad is preparing for war, and it is best to prepare for war in Ashkelon’.”
- After 7 Israeli civilians were murdered in a terrorist attack outside of a Jerusalem synagogue on January 27, 2023, Al-Haq Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer Aseel Al-Bajeh tweeted, “Forcing Palestinians to Defend their Right to Resist is Another Complicity with Israel’s Colonialism.” In a separate tweet he added, “More context: why are settlers allowed to be in occupied Jerusalem, a war crime that the world recognises?”
(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s “Al-Haq Staff: Justifying Violence and Glorifying Terrorists.”)
PCHR
During the May 2023 conflict between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, PCHR released a statement affirming “The Palestinian people [have the right] to resist the occupation by all available means, including armed struggle” (emphasis added). This statement was amended after criticism and donor pressure, including from the EU.
PCHR officials have also expressed support for the October 7th massacre.
On October 7, 2023, as the Hamas-orchestrated atrocities were being committed, PCHR Fundraising and Program Officer Feda’a Murjan posted on Facebook, “We will truly step in our land. Allah, you are our protector and supporter.”
(For more information, see “PCHR Board Members Call for Violence Against Israelis” and “EU-Supported Palestinian NGOs and the October 7th Hamas Massacre.”)