International Court of Justice Rules That
Israel Must Stop Killing Palestinians
David Swanson / World BEYOND War
(January 26, 2024) — The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must cease its war-making in Gaza — cease committing and inciting genocidal acts — and that the case charging Israel with genocide must proceed.
DETAILS OF THE RULING:
- By 15-2: Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent all acts within the scope of Genocide Convention article 2
- 15-2: Israel must immediately ensure that its military does not commit acts within the scope of GC.2
- 16-1: Direct and punish all members of the public who engage in the incitement of genocide against Palestinians
- 16-1: Ensure provision of urgently needed basic services, humanitarian aid
- 15-2: Prevent the destruction of and ensure the preservation of evidence to allegation of acts of GC.2
- 15-2: Israel will submit report as to how they’re adhering to these orders to the ICJ within 1 month
This is Article 2 of the Genocide Convention:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Therefore, Israel must cease killing Palestinians.
This was a make or break moment for international law, or rather a break or make-a-first-step moment. There is hope for the idea and reality of international law, but this is only a beginning.
What does the ICJ ruling mean for Gaza?
The president of the International Court of Justice, who read the ruling, is Judge Joan Donoghue, former top legal advisor under Hillary Clinton at the U.S. State Department during the Obama Administration. She previously was the lawyer for the United States in its unsuccessful defense before the ICJ against charges by Nicaragua of minining its harbor.
The court voted for portions of this decision by 15-2 and 16-1. The “No” votes came from Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda and Ad Hoc Judge Aharon Barak of Israel.
The case presented by South Africa was overwhelming (read it or watch a key part of it), and Israel’s defense paper-thin. And the case just grew more overwhelming during the bizarre delay (yes, courts are slow, but this genocide is swift).
People all over the world built the pressure to move South Africa to act and other nations to add their support. Over 1,500 organizations signed a statement. Individuals signed a petition by CODEPINK, and sent almost 500,000 emails to key governments’ United Nations consulates through World BEYOND War and RootsAction.org. Click those links because more emails are needed now. While several nations have made public statements in support of South Africa’s case, we need them to file papers officially with the International Court of Justice. To reach out to additional national governments, go here.
Governments that have made statement in support of the case against genocide include Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan, Bolivia, the 57 nations of the Organization of Islamic Countries, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Maldives, Namibia, and Pakistan, Colombia, Brazil, and Cuba.
Germany has backed Israel’s defense against the charge of genocide, which has been denounced by Namibia, victimn of a German genocide. Prominent Jews have denounced Germany’s shameful action.
Mass demonstrations in the streets of the world have continued in support of peace and justice, and to a far greater extent than major media outlets have reported.
Here’s a discussion of this campaign for justice with Sam Husseini on Talk World Radio.
Prior to today’s ruling from the International Court of Justice, the U.S. government pointedly refused to say whether it would comply with ruling, despite insisting that other nations comply with rulings by the ICJ.
Hamas said that it would cease fire if Israel does, and release all prisoners if Israel does
Germany, to its credit, reportedly said that it would comply.
Arming a genocide is complicity in genocide. While Israel gets most of its weapons from the United States, other weaponry comes from Germany, Italy, the UK, and Canada — at least some of which nations also provide parts to U.S. weaponsmakers that provide weapons to Israel. Italian opposition demanded an end to it. And then the Foreign Minister claimed Italy had stopped shipments on Oct 7. Meanwhile, Canada is coming under pressure to cease shipments and prevarications. In Canada, Members of Parliament are among over 250 people hunger striking for an arms embargo on Israel.
People in the United States can tell Congress to stop arming Israel here or here.
President Joe Biden already faces a lawsuit for aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza. In November 2023, Palestinian human rights organizations, along with Gaza- and U.S.-based Palestinians, filed suit in a U.S. federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the Biden Administration for failing to prevent genocide, and for aiding and abetting genocide.
The plaintiffs seek an order to end U.S. military and diplomatic support to Israel. A hearing to address the government’s motion to dismiss will be held at 9 a.m. PT / 12 noon ET today, Friday. The hearing will be webstreamed to the public. You are encouraged to tune in and witness the U.S. government’s attempts at avoiding accountability and justify its support for the genocide that is happening in Gaza.
UPDATE: Link to Written Decision by ICJ.
Key excerpts:
THE COURT, Indicates the following provisional measures:
The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular:
(a) killing members of the group;
(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part; and
(d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
The State of Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above;
That means no killing of Palestinians.
UPDATE: The Media Spin
The Washington Post:
UN court orders Israel to do more to
prevent killing, harm in Gaza
The court did not order Israel to do more of anything. It ordered Israel to cease all of some important things, including killing people. Of course it will claim to be killing people without the improper intent in its collective mind, but is already on record with the court on its genocidal intent.
The Washington Post quickly changed its headline:
UN court orders Israel to halt killings in Gaza,
but did not call for cease-fire
The New York Times:
UN Court Demands Israel Prevent Genocide
but Does Not Call for Cease-fire
This is the most common headline out there (even Consortium News is declaring defeat), and not technically false. But how do you cease killing without ceasing firing?
South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor at the Hague says she would have wanted the #ICJ to explicitly call for a ceasefire, but says the only way Israel can meet the order of the court is for there to be a ceasefire.
Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth
South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor at the Hague says she would have wanted the #ICJ to explicitly call for a ceasefire, but says the only way Israel can meet the order of the court is for their to be a ceasefire.
Sam Husseini @samhusseini
This is true. ICJ says: “The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular: (a) killing members of the group…”
Ali Abumimah@AliAbumimah
These are among the measures the ICJ ordered Israel to implement *immediately*. It gave Israel a month to report back but it must halt all killing and other genocidal acts forthwith. Please don’t award Israel a victory it did not win.
• https://icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf
• https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1750878915298484241/photo/1
ICJ Orders Israel to Prevent Genocide
The ICJ demands that humanitarian
aid be allowed into Gaza
RT News
MOSCOW (January 26, 2024) — The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its first ruling on South Africa’s case against Israel on Friday, ordering the Jewish state to take all necessary actions to prevent genocide in Gaza. The court did not, however, order Israel to cease its military operation against Hamas.
A panel of 17 judges agreed that the court, based in The Hague, has jurisdiction to hear South Africa’s case, and passed seven “emergency measures” requested by Pretoria. In addition to demanding that Israel refrain from committing genocide, the judges ordered the Jewish state to punish members of its military who commit genocidal acts, as well as officials who publicly call for the genocide of the Palestinians. Israel must also preserve evidence of any genocidal acts already committed, the ruling stated.
The judges also ruled that Israel “shall take immediate and effective measures to address adverse conditions to life in the Gaza Strip.” West Jerusalem was further ordered to report back to the court in a month with an update on what it is doing to comply with these measures.
The ruling falls short of South Africa’s full list of demands, which included a measure ordering Israel to “immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.”
However, it also comes as a blow to Israel, which demanded that the court throw out the entire case, describing it as “spurious and specious.”
While the ICJ’s rulings are final and legally binding, the court lacks any method of enforcing them. Nevertheless, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry hailed Friday’s verdict as an “important reminder” that no state is above the law.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Friday that her country’s aim was “to highlight the plight of the innocent in Palestine” and “draw attention to the lack of justice and freedom.” Regardless of how the case plays out, Pandor told Ubuntu Radio that Pretoria has already achieved these goals.
South Africa lodged its case in late December, arguing that Israel was breaching the UN Genocide Convention by “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”
Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking nearly 250 to Gaza as hostages. Israel responded by declaring war on the Palestinian militant group and placing Gaza under a near-total siege. After three weeks of aerial bombardment, Israeli ground forces entered the enclave in late October, where they remain engaged in combat with Hamas.
The Israeli operation has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, roughly two-thirds of whom were women and children, according to the latest figures from the Gaza Health Ministry. Around 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been destroyed and a quarter of its population are starving and unable to access drinking water, according to a UN report published earlier this month.
Read More
Our aim was to highlight the plight of Palestine – South African FM
