Israel Accuses The ICJ Of (You Guessed It) Antisemitism
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
The International Court of Justice rejected Israelâs request to dismiss the genocide case brought against it by South Africa on Friday, ruling by a massive majority that the case shall proceed and instructing Israel to refrain from killing and harming Palestinians in the interim.
Many Palestine supporters have expressed dismay that the ICJ did not explicitly order a ceasefire, while many others (including South African officials) argue that the ruling is very positive and tantamount to a ceasefire orderbecause it demands the end of harm to members of the protected group.
Imperial media are aggressively emphasisingthe absence of a ceasefire order in their headlines and many Israel apologists are framing that absence as a victory for their favorite ethnostate, but such performative chest-thumping is severely undercut by the way high-level Israeli officials are currently accusing the ICJ of antisemitism and saying Israel should ignore its rulings.
âThe international court of justice went above and beyond when it granted South Africaâs antisemitic request to discuss the claim of genocide in Gaza, and now refuses to reject the petition outright,â complained Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant in response to the ruling.
âThe decision of the antisemitic court in The Hague proves what was already known: This court does not seek justice, but rather the persecution of Jewish people,â said Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir also tweeted âHague Schmagueâ immediately after the ruling was issued, which will probably go down in history as the most Israeli tweet of all time.
Everyoneâs arguing about whether or not the ICJâs ruling is helpful, and I donât know enough one way or the other to be sure either way, but from where things stand right now it does seem unlikely to me that managers of the Israeli war machine would be getting this freaked out and whipping out their tired old âantisemitismâ song and dance if there wasnât something of substance to it.
International lawyer Francis Boyle, who won provisional measures against Yugoslavia at the ICJ in 1993, said the following of the ruling:
âThis is a massive, overwhelming legal victory for the Republic of South Africa against Israel on behalf of the Palestinians. The U.N. General Assembly now can suspend Israel from participation in its activities as it did for South Africa and Yugoslavia. It can admit Palestine as a full member. Andâââespecially since the International Criminal Court has been a farceâââit can establish a tribunal to prosecute the highest level officials of the Israeli government, both civilian and military.â
So take that for whatever thatâs worth to you. In any case the butchery in Gaza still urgently needs to be ended, and only time will tell whether Fridayâs development had any major effect on the outcome of this horror.
But man what I wouldnât have given to be a fly on the wall at the meetings they were having at the US State Department on Friday. Itâs days like this that remind you why empire managers switched from talking about âinternational lawâ to using the meaningless phrase ârules-based international orderâ.
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