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For Immediate Release
November, 06 2013, 10:35am EDT
Contact:
Greenpeace International press desk: +31 20 718 24 70 / pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org / @greenpeacepress
Greenpeace International picture desk: +31 207 18 24 71
Greenpeace International video desk: +31 207 18 24 72
Greenpeace International Statement in Response to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Hearing
HAMBURG
Following a hearing at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), where the Netherlands brought a case seeking the release of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise and its crew, Greenpeace International General Counsel Jasper Teulings said:
"The Dutch government argued its case extremely strongly. The Netherlands is taking a strong stance in support of the rule of law and the right to peacefully protest. Greenpeace International applauds the Dutch decision as flag state of the Arctic Sunrise in taking the necessary legal steps to gain the release of the ship and the Arctic 30.
"Greenpeace International is confident that the Tribunal will take appropriate account of the fundamental rights of the Arctic 30, and the impact of their detention on those rights, in reaching its eventual decision."
The Russian Federation did not attend today's hearing and the sitting was closed following the presentation of the Dutch government's oral argumentation. The Netherlands will now lodge written answers to the Tribunal's questions by the end of Thursday November 7. The presiding judge set a tentative date of Friday November 22 for the Tribunal's provisional order.
In response to Russia's non-appearance at the Tribunal, Joris Thijssen, campaign director at Greenpeace Netherlands, said:
"The decision of the Russian Federation not to attend the hearing is a departure from its previous respectful engagement with the Tribunal. Russia is not formally obliged to participate in the hearing. However it is under an obligation to comply with any ruling which the Tribunal may make.
"Greenpeace International hopes that Russia will respect UNCLOS and the rulings of the court. Greenpeace International also thinks that from everyone's perspective ITLOS is the correct place to resolve the issue."
ITLOS is an independent judicial body located in Hamburg, Germany, established to resolve disputes about the interpretation and application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Attending the hearing, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said:
"As things stand the Russian authorities propose to jail 30 men and women for two decades because a couple of peaceful protesters tried to hang a small yellow banner from the side of a five hundred thousand tonne oil platform. In our view, there's every prospect the tribunal will order the release of the Arctic 30, pending the arbitration case that the Netherlands has filed against Russia."
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
+31 20 718 2000LATEST NEWS
'Shame!': Germany, Italy Block Effort to Suspend EU-Israel Trade Pact Over Gaza Genocide, West Bank Attacks
“The European Union can no longer remain on the sidelines,” said three foreign ministers who called for a suspension of the deal.
Apr 21, 2026
Calls have steadily intensified in recent weeks for the European Union to suspend a trade agreement with Israel as the country's right-wing government has ignored growing condemnation over its anti-Palestinian policies and its assaults on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon—but on Tuesday, German and Italian officials blocked an effort to pause the trade deal, with Germany's foreign minister saying the move would be "inappropriate."
The foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, suggested that world governments have not yet appealed enough to Israel in an attempt to stop it from attacking civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and Gaza; backing settlers who wage violence on Palestinians as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government seeks to illegally annex the territory; and passing a death penalty law that makes death by hanging the default punishment for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.
“We have to talk with Israel about the critical issues,” Wadephul said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, which was called by his counterparts from Ireland, Slovenia, and Spain. “That has to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added that "no decision will be taken today" and said that "other possible initiatives will be discussed at the next ministerial meeting on May 11."
The Irish, Spanish, and Slovenian officials wrote to EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas last week, saying that Israel has breached Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which stipulates that "relations between the parties, as well as all the provisions of the agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles."
A European Commission review last year found "indications" that Israel is breaching its human rights obligations under the 1995 agreement.
The death penalty law, said the foreign ministers, is a "grave violation of fundamental human rights," while settlers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers act "with absolute impunity" in the West Bank.
“The European Union can no longer remain on the sidelines,” they said.
Ahead of Tuesday's meeting in Luxembourg, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called on every European country "to uphold what the International Court of Justice and the UN say on human rights and the defense of international law" and that failing to do so regarding Israel "would be a defeat for the European Union."
Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee called on the EU to "move in unison" to pressure Israel to meet its human rights obligations. Suspending the trade agreement requires unanimous support from the bloc's 27 member countries.
McEntee said that she was urging "all of our colleagues today to support our call for the suspension of the overall agreement but, at the very least, if we can't reach that full agreement, that we would have suspension of the overall trade elements of it."
"Where the EU moves together, we have a greater impact."
📽️Watch Minister @HMcEntee's remarks ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. pic.twitter.com/c5w9S4qdQp
— Ireland In The EU (@IrelandInEU) April 21, 2026
But Germany and Italy's refusal to back the suspension of the agreement, said Irish author Andrew Madden, suggested "a preference for the ongoing slaughter of innocent people" over angering Israel.
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Report Details Israeli Use of Sexual Violence to Force Palestinians From West Bank Homes
"Sexual violence is not incidental to this crisis. It is one of the mechanisms driving people from their land," said one contributor to the new report.
Apr 21, 2026
A report published Tuesday by an international human rights consortium details how Israeli soldiers and settlers are weaponizing sexual violence to facilitate the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the illegally occupied West Bank.
The report, published by the West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC)—which is led by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and funded by donors including 13 European nations—found that "more than 70% of displaced households interviewed identified threats to women and children, particularly sexualized violence, as the decisive reason for leaving" their homes in the West Bank of Palestine.
The West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, has been occupied by Israel since 1967 and is the site of an accelerating campaign of US-backed deadly ethnic cleansing dating back to 1947.
Palestinians interviewed for the report described "escalating patterns of sexual harassment in Area C"—the roughly 60% of the West Bank that, under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, is under full Israeli control—"including sexualized insults and gestures, indecent exposure, intimidation, threats of sexual violence, and surveillance of intimate spaces such as bedrooms."
"Participants in multiple locations described settlers exposing themselves, making threats of rape, and stalking women as they walked to latrines," the report continued.
"Men and boys also experience sexualized humiliation, forced nudity, and sexualized threats," the publication notes. "In Wadi al-Seeq, after the community was forcibly displaced, three men reported that settlers detained them and attempted to sexually assault one man with a broomstick while he was blindfolded. They described forced stripping, beatings, burning and being urinated on, and said perpetrators circulated images of the abuse."
"Similar abuses have also been reported elsewhere," WBPC continued. "In the Bethlehem governorate, testimony collected during a key informant interview described two 15-year-old boys herding cattle whom settlers attacked, beat, blindfolded, and stripped. The account said one boy was urinated on and the other sustained a leg fracture."
"In another Palestinian Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley... a violent settler raid was reported in which witnesses state that a Palestinian man was subjected to severe sexual assault in front of his family," the report states. "Testimonies further indicate that women and girls were beaten, children were threatened with death, and threats of rape were made."
Allegra Pacheco, WBPC's chief of party, said in a statement Monday that “this is how communities are emptied: not in a single moment, but through repeated attacks, fear inside the home, and pressure that makes ordinary life impossible."
In Khirbet Wadi al-Rakhim, one Palestinian reported that "an identified settler sexually harassed them and threatened them with reference to the Sde Teiman detention facility," the notorious prison in the Negev Desert where former Palestinian prisoners, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, and Israeli medical professionals have said they witnessed torture and other abuse of detainees ranging in age from children to the elderly.
These abuses include severe injuries caused by 24-hour shackling of hands and feet that sometimes required amputations, alleged rape and sexual assault by male and female soldiers, electrocution, mauling by dogs, denial of food and water, sleep deprivation, and other torture. The IDF is investigating the deaths of dozens of Palestinians at Sde Teiman, including one man who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.
NRC said Monday that in the West Bank, "displacement reshapes every aspect of life."
"Households reported the impact of prolonged exposure to settler violence, including the sexualized abuse documented in the report," the group noted, adding that "92% of affected households interviewed lost access to land, 88% lost their homes, and 84% lost essential assets."
"More than half lost livelihoods, while 40% of children lost access to education," NRC added. "Women report severe psychological distress at striking rates, alongside ongoing fear, instability, and exposure to further violence after relocation."
Pacheco said that "sexual violence is not incidental to this crisis. It is one of the mechanisms driving people from their land."
“The report documents how perpetrators target women, men, and children in ways that fracture families and deprive communities of the ability to remain," she added. "When coercive conditions leave people with no genuine choice but to leave, this amounts to forcible transfer under international law.”
The WBPC report also highlights that "these abuses occur within a broader environment shaped by systematic discrimination and persistent impunity," an observation underscored by the lack of punishment or slaps on the wrist for Israeli soldiers and settlers who harm Palestinians.
Israel must be held to account for its barbaric crimes. The horrifying reports of the IDF's sexual violence against women & girls in the West Bank demand immediate action. Today, I raised this with the Foreign Secretary - we must punish perpetrators and ensure justice.
[image or embed]
— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP (@drrosena.bsky.social) April 21, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Previous reports by groups including United Nations agencies have detailed Israeli sexual violence against Palestinians, including a March 2025 UN publication that found "sexual and gender-based violence—which has risen in frequency and severity—is being perpetrated across the occupied Palestinian territory as a strategy of war for Israel to dominate and destroy the Palestinian people."
An August 2025 investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation featured Palestinian boys kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza who said they suffered or witnessed sexual torture committed by their jailers.
Last year, Israel blocked a request from UN sex crimes experts to probe alleged sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas fighters during the October 7, 2023 attack, reportedly to avoid attendant scrutiny of rapes and other abuses allegedly committed by Israeli forces against imprisoned Palestinians.
Sexual violence committed by Israelis against Palestinians is as old as the modern state of Israel itself.
Israeli filmmaker Alon Schwarz's 2022 documentary Tantura—which concerns the 1948 massacre and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian residents from the village after which the film is named—features interviews with Israeli veterans who described the rape of Palestinian women and children. One of the Israelis gleefully recounted the rape of a child.
A former Israeli soldier recounts the 1948 Tantura events
He refers to serious abuses against civilians, including an assault on a minor
He admits to killings without knowing the exact number of victims pic.twitter.com/ub5LHIdYAY
— ADI ALARDAH (@alardah91) April 9, 2026
When IDF reservists were arrested on suspicion of gang-raping of a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman after video footage of the alleged assault went viral, a mob of right-wing Israelis whose members included senior government officials stormed the prison in a failed bid to free the suspects.
Others, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, demanded a probe—not to seek justice for the victim, but rather to find and punish whoever leaked the video. Meanwhile, Israelis advocating legalized torture and rape of Palestinian prisoners were given nationwide platforms to air their views during the Sde Teiman scandal.
The IDF later dismissed the indictments of the accused Sde Teiman rapists.
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Why You Paid $29.99 for Those Levi's, Not $25.47: Amazon Price-Fixing Scheme Exposed
Evidence released by California's attorney general shows "blatant price-fixing" by the retail giant, said one consumer advocate.
Apr 21, 2026
California's top law enforcement official on Monday released a legal filing packed with evidence that Amazon is leveraging its dominance of the online retail market to artificially drive up prices for a range of goods, fueling a nationwide affordability crisis while padding its profits.
The filing was first submitted to the San Francisco Superior Court in February as part of California Attorney General Rob Bonta's broader legal effort to halt what he described as Amazon's "illegal price-fixing scheme." At the time, the filing was heavily redacted, obscuring specific examples of Amazon conspiring with vendors and competing retailers to drive up prices for apparel, pet treats, fertilizer, and other items. California's case against Amazon is set to go to trial next year.
“The evidence we've uncovered is clear as day: Amazon is working to make your life more unaffordable," Bonta said in a statement. "The company is price-fixing, colluding with vendors and other retailers to raise costs for Americans beyond what the market requires—beyond what is fair."
"Amid a crisis of affordability," Bonta added, "Amazon is illegally working to rake in profits by making sure consumers have nowhere else to turn to for lower prices. We’ll see them in court."
The filing identifies three specific tactics Amazon uses to fix prices—"breaking the price match," "increasing the competitor retail price," and "removing the product"—and offers concrete examples, backed by email evidence, of the company deploying each method.
In one instance from 2021, Amazon alerted Levi’s that Walmart.com had some of the clothing company's pants listed at a price of $25.47-$26.99—which Amazon indicated was too low for its liking. At Amazon's request, Levi's connected with Walmart, which agreed to price one of the identified products at $29.99. Amazon then matched that higher price for Levi's Easy Khaki Classic fit on its platform, locking in the cost increase for online shoppers.
"This should make your blood boil. Amazon is using its market power to coerce major retailers to hike prices," said Lee Hepner, senior counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. "It is pouring kerosene on an affordability crisis. Forcing price hikes to preserve market share is illegal monopoly maintenance, clear as day."
Bonta's filing also details a case in which Amazon, the vendor GlobalOne, and the pet supplies company Chewy agreed to fix prices on more than 10 pet treat products.
As Bonta's office summarized:
The plan was written in an email between Amazon and its vendor, GlobalOne. For its part, Amazon would raise GlobalOne’s Canine Naturals pet treat prices to get Chewy to follow, then GlobalOne would “reach out to Chewy” to let them know that Amazon was increasing the pricing and “would ask that [Chewy] follow.” In other words, if Chewy agreed, Amazon would increase its retail pricing for the Canine Naturals pet treats and Chewy would match the price increase. The plan materialized. Amazon told GlobalOne that the pricematch override was in place, and to “let Chewy know to update [pricing] immediately.” That same day, GlobalOne confirmed the “ones that went up on Amazon immediately went up on Chewy [happy face emoji] … Overall this looks like it’s working!” The result of Amazon, Chewy and GlobalOne’s price fixing agreement was to increase the retail prices of over ten Canine Naturals pet treat products on Amazon and Chewy.
"The examples above are not outliers and are not exhaustive," Bonta's office stressed in a statement. "They are illustrative of countless interactions—spanning years and product lines—in which Amazon, vendors, and Amazon’s competitors agree to increase and fix the prices of products on other retail websites. As Amazon told one vendor explicitly: 'I am very determined to help you hunt the disrupters in the market.'"
Amazon has been coordinating with vendors and major retailers — including Target, Walmart, Chewy, and Home Depot — to raise prices across the market.
This is a widespread scheme spanning years across markets — and it’s illegal.
We’re fighting to stop it. pic.twitter.com/p77N6P0kV3
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) April 20, 2026
Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said Bonta's filing shows "blatant price-fixing" by Amazon that is "almost certainly the tip of a much bigger price-fixing operation."
In a piece published at Washington Monthly on the same day that Bonta's largely unredacted filing was released, Mitchell highlighted a Biden-era federal complaint accusing Amazon of using "sophisticated AI-driven pricing systems that draw on torrents of real-time data" to raise prices. (That case, backed by 17 states, is set to go to trial next March.)
"Here’s how it allegedly worked: Amazon’s anti-discounting algorithm immediately matched competitors’ price changes to the penny, but never undercut them," Mitchell wrote. "When a rival offered a discount, Amazon’s algorithm matched it; when rivals raised prices, Amazon’s algorithm followed. This denied competing retailers a crucial tactic for luring customers from Amazon. If other retailers could never offer lower prices, Amazon’s roughly 200 million paying subscribers had little reason to shop elsewhere."
"These allegations point to a novel form of monopoly power: The ability of a dominant platform to use algorithms to lift prices across an entire market," Mitchell added.
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