Today the International Court Of Justice (ICJ) held a provisionary ruling on the genocide case against Israel (1). The most important conclusion seems to be that the Court expresses strong codemnation of the actions of the Israeli government. Most importantly, it acknowledges a disturbing pattern within both the actions and words of the Israeli State regarding Gaza: how Gazans are denied the most basic of rights and needs; how many officials continually demonize and dehumanize Gazans in their statements; and the indiscriminate bombing of all Gazan infrastructure, something that cannot be rationalized as a means of stopping Hamas. In summary, the ICJ seems to confirm that Israel violates parts of the Genocide Convention.
The ICJ urges Israel to commit itself to uphold the Genocide Convention and to immediately stop all actions taken by the State that violate it. It does not however, call for an immediate ceasefire. And therein lies the reason why many Pro-Palestinian activists take issue with the provisionary verdict: It falls short of fully denouncing the oppressive and colonialist war Israel wages on the Palestinian people. It does not question the core logic of Israel’s agression and refuses to demand an immediate end to a conflict that has always been about ruthless expansionism by an Apartheid State.
Cautious Optimism
I do think there is some reason for cautious optimism. While I know for sure that Netanyahu and his cronies will do everything to ignore this provisionary ruling (ofcourse pulling the antisemitism-card(2)), and I think it’s foolish to expect any strong action from Biden, this ruling does give more ammunition to Palestinian activists to speak out and protest against the crimes of the Israeli State. It also opens up new avenues for legal action against other nations who have been supporting Israel in its atrocities. And I do think it’s important to realize that this is a provisionary ruling, though I doubt how much time we have to await the final verdict.
Anyway,
From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free!
Ceasefire Now!
Sources
(1) Time Magazine: U.N. Court Says Israel Must Prevent Genocidal Acts in Gaza, But Doesn’t Order a Ceasefire (https://time.com/6588931/icj-ruling-israel-genocidal-acts-gaza-south-africa/)
(2) The Guardian: Israeli Officials Accuse International Court Of Justice Of Antisemitic Bias (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/israeli-officials-accuse-international-court-of-justice-of-antisemitic-bias?)
Full ICJ verdict: https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf