PRESS RELEASE – December 16, 2025, Paris / Brussels
Hearing of December 16, 2025, 10:30 a.m. – Nivelles Court of First Instance JURDI's legal action against SWIFT: Finally taking action on the systemic mechanisms that fuel serious violations in Israel/Palestine
The association JURDI, Lawyers for Respect for International Law, announces that it has filed an emergency injunction with the Court of First Instance of Nivelles (Belgium) against SWIFT, the international cooperative that facilitates global financial communications. This action seeks to order the targeted suspension of access to the SWIFT network for several Israeli banking entities whose activities, according to numerous UN and international organization reports, directly contribute to the financing of operations that may constitute serious crimes, particularly under the 1948 Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law.
Why take action against SWIFT today?
Because violations are not just about weapons: they are about the systems that make their criminal use possible.
For months, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, special rapporteurs, the WHO, the WFP, OCHA, Amnesty International and numerous NGOs have been raising the alarm:
- the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure,
- humanitarian asphyxiation,
- massive violations of fundamental rights,
- and the plausible risk of genocide, continue despite temporary ceasefires.
These violations are not based solely on military decisions.
They are made possible by a financial and technological ecosystem that continues to function as if nothing had happened.
At the heart of this ecosystem is SWIFT: a critical infrastructure controlling cross-border financial transactions from Belgium.
When infrastructure makes damage possible, SWIFT is neither a state nor a bank.
But its network is essential to the international operations of Israeli banks involved in:
- the financing of the arms industry,
- illegal colonization projects,
- operations directly linked to serious violations of international law.
SWIFT has already carried out targeted exclusions (Iran 2012, Russia 2022).
It therefore has full technical competence to act, and this without disrupting the global financial system.
Yet, despite warnings from the UN and multiple organizations, SWIFT took no action — not even an internal review.
Why JURDI is taking action: a legal and moral duty
Under international law, Belgian law and peremptory norms (jus cogens):
- no actor can contribute, even indirectly, to maintaining a situation involving serious violations; ;
- Private organizations must prevent foreseeable harm when they have the means to do so; ;
- States, as well as entities under their jurisdiction, must avoid providing assistance to violations of international law.
Our legal action is part of this logic: to put an end to a systemic contribution which, by enabling cross-border financial flows, materially fuels serious violations.
What JURDI asks of the judge
We are requesting a targeted, proportionate and strictly temporary measure:
- the suspension of SWIFT access for six determined Israeli banks,
- the continuation of humanitarian transactions,
- the immediate lifting of the suspension as soon as the conditions of compliance are established.
This is neither a political boycott nor a unilateral financial sanction, but a technical measure, similar to those taken by SWIFT in the past, intended to prevent its network from contributing to serious and massive damage.
The essential message: we can no longer turn a blind eye to the workings of the system. International law is not an abstract idea.
It also applies to the infrastructure that makes field operations possible.
When a technology, a company or a cooperative makes it materially possible to continue serious violations — despite repeated warnings from international institutions — it must act, or be compelled to act through legal channels.
That is the purpose of our approach.
JURDI Declaration
«We can no longer simply denounce violations. We must act on the mechanisms that fuel them. Our action aims to hold accountable a global actor who, knowingly, continues to provide essential operational capacity to banks involved in serious violations. When human lives are at stake, inaction is no longer an option.»
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