Court case against Israel could restore international law
By VT - Lucas Leiroz - January 12, 2024
It is still too early to say that the emerging countries' attempt will be successful, but there is at least hope. If Israel is condemned, it will be a victory for international law against Western unilateralism. VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel
$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct "aid" and $ 130B in "Offense" contracts. Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
The lawsuit against Israel at the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague is progressing. On January 11th, hearings began accusing the Zionist state of the crime of genocide. This event could become a historic milestone as it has the potential to restore genuine international law by condemning a country that violates treaties and conventions, despite being an ally of the Collective West.
The accusation against Israel was established by South Africa and supported by dozens of countries, including Brazil, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, and Venezuela. Tel Aviv is accused of reacting to the October 7th Hamas attack with actions that can be considered “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Vusimuzi Madonsela, Pretoria’s ambassador to the Netherlands, said: “South Africa acknowledges that the genocidal acts and permissions by the state of Israel inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the people, Palestinian people since 1948″.
In the same vein, Also, Adila Hassim, an advocate representing South Africa at the ICJ, said: “South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed Article 2 of the convention by committing actions that fall within the definition of genocide. The actions show systematic patterns of conduct from which genocide can be inferred”.
Israel vehemently denies the accusations and claims to be combating “terrorism” with its military actions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF is working followingto international law, targeting armed militants and not the Palestinian population. In the same sense, Isaac Herzog, president of Israel stated that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the court case against his country at the ICJ.
However, Israel’s actions show that the words of Zionist officials are wrong. The massive deaths of children and women in Gaza make it clear that Israel is targeting civilians. Tel Aviv destroyed the entire physical structure of the Gaza Strip, bombing hospitals, roads, and shelters, making normal life virtually impossible in the region. Meanwhile, Israel’s military objectives have not yet been achieved. On the battlefield, the IDF is having many difficulties, suffering heavy losses and failing to release POWs held by Hamas.
In other words, the partial outcome of the conflict shows that Israel is not just acting against military targets. If the IDF’s attacks targeted only Hamas, there wouldn’t be so many civilian deaths and Zionist troops wouldn’t be suffering so much on the front lines. Tel Aviv is using “anti-terrorism” as an excuse to advance an agenda of ethnic cleansing, forcing Palestinians to leave Gaza to enable Zionist expansionism.
Israel’s practice, however, is not something “new” and did not begin as a mere reaction to the October 7th attack. For decades, Palestinians have been asking for recognition for the crime of genocide carried out by Tel Aviv in the illegitimately occupied regions. With current journalistic coverage, it has become impossible for Israel to disguise its crimes, which is why support for the condemnation of the Zionist regime has increased around the world.
But it would be wrong to say that the genocide against Palestinians began in October – in fact, it began in the late 1940s, when Israel violated the borders established by the UN and launched its expansionist campaign against Arab territories.
In this sense, the fact that emerging countries like South Africa are now accusing Israel is extremely important. In practice, the Zionist state was never condemned because it is a key ally of the West and, therefore, was included in the list of countries with “carte blanche” to commit any type of crimes within the so-called “rules-based world order”.
Since the rise of the West to unipolar hegemonic status, international law has lost its strength, with treaties and conventions becoming valueless documents and giving way to supposed “rules” – which were unilaterally imposed by the West and never negotiated with emerging nations.
Now, with the rise of multipolarity and the geopolitical weakening of the West, there is an opportunity to reverse this scenario. Emerging countries are interested in restoring genuine international law, ending once and for all the “rules-based world order” and resuming a system protected by treaties and conventions, in which the UN is inserted as the caretaker of peace, having its bodies, like the ICJ, the responsibility to punish countries violating international law – regardless of their geopolitical alignment.
It is still too early to say that the emerging countries’ attempt will be successful, but there is at least hope. If Israel is condemned, it will be a victory for international law against Western unilateralism.
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Source: InfoBrics
Journalist Lucas Leiroz
Brazilian journalist, and geopolitical analyst. Graduated from the Cultural Extension Program of the Brazilian War College. Researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. Professionally, he works as a journalist and geopolitical analyst.
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