28th January 2024
Supporters of a free Palestine demonstrate outside The Hague
The measures outlined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has ruled that Israel’s actions in Gaza are plausibly genocidal, must be welcomed by all who support the cause of Palestinian liberation.
The ruling is a landmark in the search for justice for the Palestinian people. The ICJ decision will be relayed to the United Nations Security Council for consideration. The ruling orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and to do more to help civilians, who are currently suffering under daily bombardment by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). However, the ICJ stopped short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by the plaintiff South Africa.
Although the ruling contained no binding order upon Israel to stop the war in Gaza it is nevertheless a legal setback for Israel. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the decision was a welcome reminder that “no state is above the law”.
The ruling not only obliges Israel to stop all acts which are plausibly genocidal but equally obliges all states to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The measures, all backed by at least 15 judges, also required Israel to ensure the preservation of evidence of alleged genocide and report to the court within a month.
In coming to its decision the ICJ did not have to find whether Israel had committed genocide, which will be determined at a later date, but only that its acts were capable of falling within the convention, which defines the war crime as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
Nevertheless, the United States made its position clear ahead of the judgement, describing South Africa’s case at the ICJ as “meritless, counterproductive, completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, proclaimed in response to the ICJ ruling,
“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,” he said. “The vile attempt to deny Israel this fundamental right is blatant discrimination against the Jewish state, and it was justly rejected.”
As ever the scared right to self defence is, for Netanyahu, one which applies to Israel but not to the Palestinians, whom Israel has been oppressing in the West Bank and Gaza for decades. The mantra that ‘Israel has the right to defend itself ‘ is increasingly seen as a right wing trope for justifying the Israeli regime treating Palestinians with impunity.
Solidarity organisations across the world have called upon all states to commit to upholding the ICJ decision to protect the rights, including the fundamental right to life of Palestinians in Gaza. The death of over 25,000 people, over 70% of whom are women and children according to the United Nations, cannot be justified by the IDF as a response to the actions of Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Such a disproportionate response, having been condemned by the ICJ, must now be condemned by the entire international community and every effort made towards supporting the call for an immediate ceasefire, a negotiated solution to end Israeli action and free hostages held by Hamas.
Most importantly the resolutions of the United Nations on the need for a two state solution, realising the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state within agreed international borders, must be acted upon by all member states.
The ICJ ruling is to be welcomed as a vital step towards the realisation of the need to stop the current genocide in Gaza and take the first steps towards the establishment of an independent state for the people of Palestine.
However, the ongoing commitment of the United States and Britain to arm Israel, not take the Israeli government to task for its flouting of international law and to be, at best, lukewarm about the necessity of a Palestinian state, remain significant barriers to progress. In the short term the failure of either state to recognise the need to support the call for a ceasefire, in spite of the mounting death toll, is scandalous.
The fact that this shame is cross party, with the Labour leadership in Britian continuing to back the government’s position, including being in favour of air strikes against Yemen, adds urgency to the need to campaign for a change in British foreign policy.
As the Jewish diaspora gather to mark Holocaust Memorial Day over this weekend many are rightly appalled by the action of the IDF and the religious zealots around Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza. Opposition to the religious fundamentalists in the Israeli regime is growing both inside and outside Israel, many in the Jewish community increasingly regard the actions of Netanyahu and his war cabinet as not being carried out in their name.
The working class movement in Britain and across the world needs to stand in solidarity with those opposing religious fundamentalism in Israel, just as they support those opposing the theocratic dictatorship in Iran and religious zealotry in Saudi Arabia. The fate of the people of Palestine and the people of Israel may depend upon it.
Avanti Populo 