 Blumenthal appeared before the Russell Tribunal on September 25, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium, to testify on allegations of war crimes and genocidal intent by the Israeli military against residents of the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge.During the , Blumenthal made a comparison between Israel and ISIL.In a follow-up, Rania Khalek created the Twitter hashtag #JSIL; "The Jewish State of Israel in the Levant" which Blumenthal also used.