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The pros and cons of ICJ against Israel
1-20-2024
South Africa has been a partner of the Palestinians in international activity against Israel for many years. This is partially in response to the fact that Israel cooperated with the apartheid regime in South Africa and had played a key role in making the liberation of the people of South Africa harder.
South Africa views Israel as a colonialist state that denies the Palestinians their right to self-determination.
South Africa is basing its claims mainly on documented evidence and the explicit statements made by the country’s leadership and military personnel who have led several atrocious attacks on Gaza since 2007 leading to the major bombardment after October 7th , which they interpret as calls to commit genocide. Recent examples include the call by Minister Amihai Eliyahu to drop an atomic bomb on Gaza, and the statements made by several politicians that “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza.
Israel has committing violations of international law which meet the criteria for the crime of genocide. These include; the number of civilians killed in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis, and the extensive damage to infrastructure in Gaza City which have made the city essentially uninhabitable.
Israel’s air strikes, ground assault and sea offensive has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them being women and children. This is according to leading health officials. Israel’s military campaign has displaced roughly 85% of Gaza’s population, more than a quarter of the population is starving.
The BIG QUESTION is, Will the International Court of Justice (ICJ) succeed in holding Israel accountable to these charges or at least order Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza? - As South Africa has requested in its proceedings against Israel under the Genocide Convention?
Israel’s Counter-Arguments:
As a preliminary matter, Israel will likely present arguments of a more technical nature against the jurisdiction of the court and the applicability of the Genocide Convention. According to the Court's jurisprudence, these arguments have a limited chance of convincing the court not to discuss the substance of the case. Therefore, Israel’s main claims will likely focus on the substance of the Genocide claim.
The Zionist state will likely argue that the quotations presented were taken out of context, and that in any case, those who have made such statements are not in decision-making positions. Israel’s decision-makers—the members of the war cabinet, the IDF chief of staff, and senior IDF officers—have emphasized that Israel is solely fighting against Hamas, and that it does not seek to harm Palestinian citizens.
The upside of the claim against Israel are that the ICJ’s authority is to indicate the charges against Netanyahu and his government will be validated by the right to self-defence for Palestinians recognized in Article 51 of the UN Charter. Therefore, Israel’s assumption that it’s war against Hamas is an act of self-defence with the meaning of Article 51 shall be invalid as the there is no self – defence for land occupiers
The Zionist Government most certainly will dispute the genocide claims, by claiming it is fighting a war of self-defence. Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, and the loss of approximately 250 hostages. Since Israel is a recognized state by the UN, it must abide by UN rulings. Israel still largely in support of the war on Gaza, and has not made any effort of approaching a ceasefire despite international community condemnation and UN’s effort to persuade Israel to stop the war.
Because the accusation against Israel is so serious and unprecedented (due to the fact that it is the first time Israel is taken to the ICJ since it’s creation in 1948), the US and possibly some European countries would likely rush to rescue Israel in the case of Israel not abiding by the ICJ decision. This will result in the matter being delegated to the UN security council, and it could take years before a determined resolution is reached. - As the US will veto any decision concerning charges brought against Israel. Needless to say, it was the UN that partitioned Palestine at the end of the British invasion after the first world war with 52% to Israel and 48% to the Palestinians and ever since the continuation of Isarel’s invasion, The UN has consistently failed to persuade Israel to give back any land they have taken from the Palestinians. This is because the UN has adopted a deeply flawed policy called VETO, which gives the five permanent members states of US, Russia, France, UK and China the power to vote against any majority decision (made against Israel)!
The other concern is that the case against Israel is not presented in the international Criminal court (ICC), which has more power to decree a matter than the ICJ, as the ICJ does not have the measures that Impair a country or a State. But rather they listen to both sides and issue a statement.
A good example is the ethnic cleansing of Bosnians done by the Serbs with clear genocidal evidence, the ICJ could not hold Serbia to account but rather charged the Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic.
In the end, Israel has announced that it will defend itself in the proceedings under the right to Self-Defense. A right that if given to it by the world’s super powers, gives Israel the green light to invade more lands, commit atrocities and crimes with the U.S and European war machine. - Against people who welcomed the Jewish refugees to their homeland and have never been involved in the Holocaust or any genocide perpetrated against Jews. It is the super powers that veto any decision against Israel, they are the same ones turning the blind eye on 75 years of Israel’s long brutal occupation of Palestine, making sure to always scream aloud saying “Israel has the right to defend itself” while also making sure Palestinians have no means of self defence. And if they do resist the occupation, which is the only option they have, and are clearly given the right to do by the UN, they are called “Terrorists”
The Palestinians long quest for peace and freedom, will only be achieved when the unjust international institutions that run our world is replaced.
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