If anyone thought the “International Court of Justice” a function of the U.N. General Assembly would give Israel a fair hearing on South Africa’s fraudulent charge of genocide, you don’t understant the U.N. at all. As I mentioned in my post when Israel presented its defense, Israel Defends Itself At ICJ Against The Lies Of South Africa And False Accusation of Genocide:
The entire proceeding is a farce. South Africa seeks to weaponize the ICJ so that Hamas and other Islamist radicals can commit genocide against Jews. It’s a complete inversion of the purpose of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the role of the ICJ – South Africa doesn’t seek to prevent genocide, it seeks to enable genocide against Jews by preventing Israel from defending itself and making sure the butchers of October 7 can never do it again – and they have promised to do it again. South Africa seeks extraordinary “provisional remedies” ordering Israel to cease military actions.Just because the charge of Genocide is a farce doesn’t mean Israel will prevail at the ICJ, which serves under the tutelage of the U.N. General Assembly. The Judges have superficially impressive credentials, and on any other issue perhaps that would matter. But as to Israel, is a Judge from Lebanon really going to rule against Hamas? Same with Judges from Russia, China, Somalia, and several other countries hostile to Israel.It’s basically a U.N. General Assembly vote, where you keep hoping they will do the right thing, but they never do. Maybe this time will be different because the nationality of Judges from countries hostile to Israel is not as skewed as in the overall General Assembly, but I’m not hopeful.
Today was the ICJ’s ruling on the request for provisional remedies. The President of ICJ Joan E. Donohue read the ruling in court, stressing that the ICJ was not ruling on whether Israel committed genocide, but only whether there were enough “plausible” allegations to invoke the court’s jurisdiction and to justify provisoinal remedies.
You knew this ruling would be a sick joke when Donohue read as evidence statements by various U.N. agencies and committees that are hostile to Israel, like UNWRA and the infamous Human Rights Council, and read out of context snippets of quotes from Israeli political and military officials, without acknowleging Israel’s proof that the snippets were out of context, or the estensive efforts Israel took to prevent harm to non-combatants.
The substance of the ruling is not specific, but generally demands Israel live up to its obligations under the genocide convention. It did not “order” an immediate ceasefire.
It’s a toothless order, but will be used against Israel despite it not being a finding that Israel committed genocide.
Iranian mouthpiece Trita Parsi already is exploiting the ruling.
The only bright spot was the statement at the end that the ICJ expresses concerns for the hostages and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
I’ll add the written order when available.
(added) ORDER
In my respectful dissenting opinion the dispute between the State of Israel and the people of Palestine is essentially and historically a political one, calling for a diplomatic or negotiated settlement, and for the implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions by all parties concerned, with a view to finding a permanent solution whereby the Israeli andPalestinian peoples can peacefully coexist — It is not a legal dispute susceptible of judicial settlement by the Court — Some of the preconditions for the indication of provisional measures have not been met — South Africa has not demonstrated, even on a prima facie basis, that the acts allegedly committed by Israel and of which the Applicant complains, were committed with the necessary genocidal intent, and that as a result, they are capable of falling within the scope of the Genocide Convention — Similarly, since the acts allegedly committed by Israel were not accompanied by a genocidal intent, the Applicant has not demonstrated that the rights it asserts and for which it seeks protection through the indication of provisional measures are plausible under the Genocide Convention — The provisional measures indicated by the Court in this Order are not warranted.
MORE TO FOLLOW
Hamas reacted instantaneously to the ruling by firing a rocket barrage, showing what a farce the ICJ is.
REACTIONS
NETANYAHU REACTION:
“Israel’s commitment to international law is unwavering. Equally unwavering is our sacred commitment to continue to defend our country and defend our people.Like every country, Israel has an inherent right to defend itself.The vile attempt to deny Israel this fundamental right is blatant discrimination against the Jewish state, and it was justly rejected.The charge of genocide leveled against Israel is not only false, it’s outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it.On the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I again pledge as Prime Minister of Israel – Never Again.Israel will continue to defend itself against Hamas, a genocidal terror organization.On October 7th, Hamas perpetrated the most horrific atrocities against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and it vows to repeat these atrocities again and again and again.Our war is against Hamas terrorists, not against Palestinian civilians.We will continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance, and to do our utmost to keep civilians out of harm’s way, even as Hamas uses civilians as human shields.We will continue to do what is necessary to defend our country and defend our people”.
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