The international Court of justices ruling today was not a clear win for either side on the central question should Israel stop the war in Gaza should the military stop all operations there was no answer from the court that means very likely the war will go on but
The court did Grant a number of emergency measures that effectively put Israel unnoticed the court found that that it’s plausible that Israel is committing a genocide but it did uh find sufficient grounds to move the case forward it is a very carefully crafted judgment uh the judges really threaded the needle let me
Explain the biggest thing to be clear about and you’ll hear this repeated over and over again is that today’s ruling at the un’s highest court was not about whether Israel has committed genocide in Gaza it was about what steps need to be taken to protect Palestinians in Gaza while
The court figures out over the next few years whether a genocide is taking place the court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering so to understand the
Court’s ruling you first have to understand what was being asked of it South Africa was making the case to the court that Israel’s war in Gaza constitutes genocide South Africa has the legal right to bring this case because like Israel it is a party to the International Convention on genocide and
You can think of the argument it made in two broad ways to die a slow death because of starvation and dehydration or to die quickly because of a bomb attack or snipers but to die nevertheless first and foremost South Africa was arguing just look at what’s going on by now the
Health Ministry in Gaza estimates 25,000 people have died mostly women and children hospitals and refugee camps have been bombed Israel argued in court the military has been targeting Hamas strongholds humanitarian Aid has been choked off Israel argued Hamas is hoarding supplies and according to the
UN nearly all 85% of people in God have been forced to flee their homes Israel’s argument in the court it’s a conflict Zone and residents were warned to leave in accordance with humanitarian law the court considers that the civilian population in the Gaza Strip remains extremely vulnerable but importantly and
This is legally critical to making a case on the grounds of genocide South Africa argued in court there has been genocidal intent Israel has deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction South Africa’s lawyers pointed to key statements made by senior Israeli
Officials including the defense minister we are fighting against human animals and we are acting accordingly and Israel’s president Isaac herzo said at a news conference shortly after the October 7th attack it is an entire nation out there that is responsible explaining that this rhetoric about civilians not being aware not involved
It’s absolutely not true Israel however says these were simply emotional comments made on the heels of a Savage attack by Hamas not actual policy and it made several arguments of its own the applicant has regrettably put before the court a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture the entirety of its case hinges
On a deliberately curated decontextualized and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities Israel argued that the case accusing it of genocide was obscene and liess given the objective of the group its fighting is to wipe Israel off the map that if there have been acts that may be characterized as
Genocidal then they have been perpetrated against Israel Kamas killed some 1200 100 Israelis mostly civilians on October 7th 250 others were kidnapped more than half still believed to be held captive today and while conceding that any loss of civilian life is tragic Israeli or Palestinian Israeli lawyers
Placed the blame on Hamas for those deaths what is actually unparalleled and unprecedented is the degree to which Hamas has entrenched itself within the civilian population the appalling suffering of civilians both Israeli and Palestinian is first and foremost the result of this despicable strategy so with these arguments in hand the question facing
The international court of justice was what to do again the goal not to decide whether any of this constitutes genocide but rather to determine if there is a plausible case that could be made of genocide and whether the situation itself is so dire so urgent so potentially irreparably harmful that
Something must be done now one of the things that makes it different than other crimes and international law is that there’s an obligation to prevent uh the crime so not just to punish the provisional measures are actually meant as a preventive measure the court notes that the operation is ongoing and that
The prime minister of Israel announced on 18 January 2024 that the war I quote will take many more long months so let’s talk about what the court was asked to do and why it stopped short of granting the most Central request of all South Africa asked the court to
Compel Israel to do several things in relation to the Palestinian people take all reasonable measures within their power to prevent genocide this was a big one don’t let a genocide happen which sounds broad because it is but there were other requests too for Israel to do everything within its power to avoid and
Punish incitement to genocide to let humanitarian Aid flow more freely to take steps to avoid the destruction of evidence that may be related to this case and to report regularly to the court its progress on these things the judges in this case in an overwhelming majority were willing to Grant all of these
Requests by 16 votes to one the state of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of Life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the way if you’re wondering who the
One de Center was it wasn’t Israel who had a seat it was Judge Julia seend from Uganda when the vote was 15-2 on some measures like taking steps to avoid the destruction of evidence the other dissenting voice was from Israel’s judge but the one major point for which there
Does not appear to be any vote at all no mention in the main ruling whatsoever was on the very first thing South Africa had requested one the state of Israel sh shall immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza so what does this mean that the international
Court seems to believe a case for genocide is at least possible even plausible otherwise it wouldn’t have the jurisdiction to issue any emergency Provisions at all but that it refused to explicitly order Israel to stop the war the message that that ends says the justices recognize the right to
Self-defense there was an attack on on October the 7th and she began her judgment with that attack it was within minutes of the Court’s ruling we started to see reaction from both sides the saving of life is not uh merely with respect uh to having a ceasefire it’s to
Ensuring that humanitarian Aid is provided uh to those who need support as well as ensuring uh that the state of Israel uh which is current uh the occupier and administrator in Palestine provides the necessary basic services that the residents of Gaza and the West Bank require South Africa concedes the
Judgment falls short of what it was asking for but a careful reading of the ruling does put considerable restraints on how Israel conducts itself going forward most importantly it must take all measures within its power to prevent killing members of the group Palestinians in Gaza causing serious
Bodily or mental harm to members of the group deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of Life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group the reaction from Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu Israel’s commitment to international law is
Unwavering equally unwavering is our sacred commitment to continue to defend our country and defend our people which doesn’t exactly say which if any of the icj’s provisions Israel plans to follow it’s interesting right in presenting its case at all Israel seems to at least tacitly concede the legitimacy of the
Court its decisions are legally binding and cannot be appealed but they also can’t be enforced there are no court police peacekeepers nobody to force Israel to do anything that falls upon other members of the UN to exert pressure on Israel to abide by international law there’s a mechanism
Which potentially could be seized off which of course requires a lot of political will at the level of the United Nations through the security Council to do more uh in terms of enforcing uh these uh specific obligations being imposed on Israel I think we’ll also see um a lot of focus
On the humanitarian crisis Less on the military campaign in terms of bombing and destruction I think that we are now at the beginning of a process that may move forward very quickly of isolating Israel on the international stage as long as there’s a war preventing Israel’s military from killing or seriously injuring
Gins that is a very difficult order um espe to meet especially since the court did not order a ceasefire in the war so the ball right now is very much in Israel’s court with the eyes of the world watching but consider this post on social media from Israel’s minister of
National Security exactly 4 minutes after the court concluded its remarks hogm which translates from Hebrew to he Schme
The International Court of Justice has issued a series of legally binding emergency measures against Israel. It stops short of ordering a ceasefire, but compels Israel to take measures to prevent genocide in Gaza. Andrew Chang explains how the court came to its decision, and how Israel might respond.
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