Israel's reaction to the announcement by Norway, Spain, and Ireland, that they formally recognise the State of Palestine, shows again that Israel seeks annexation and permanent occupation over Palestine, as the lawyers for Palestine said in the ICJ on 19 February:
The permanent character of the Israeli occupation and the denial of Palestinian right to self-determination, to be free from the yoke of Israeli colonialism, is evident in what Israel has said and did.
This is clear in statements by officials regarding Israeli sovereignty over Palestine
These Israeli statements reject the two state solution and erase the "green line"
This is also clear in the annexation of East Jerusalem and the intent to permanently annex it.
This is also clear regarding the annexation of the West Bank
This is clear in the government's official documents: exclusive right for the Jewish People over the "Land of Israel", including the Golan!
As the UN Rapporteur Michael Lynk said in 2022: "Israel has progressively engaged in the de jure and de facto annexation of occupied territory" in defiance of international law for decades. un.org/unispal/docume…
All these facts preceded October, and in fact there was acceleration in 2023 of the denial of Palestinian freedom and the entrenchment of the occupation and apartheid
This acceleration included the unleashing of state-sponsored settler violence in the West Bank, before October.
After October, Netanyahu reiterated his long-standing opposition to a Palestinian state, a position that Gantz shares, and have also recently repeated.
it is thus clear that this is not about Hamas or Gaza: that Israel has sought to negate the Palestinian people's right to self determination.
Israel's subjective determination of "Security" cannot trump or condition the Palestinian right to self-determination.
Israel cannot be given a veto power over Palestinian freedom
The illegality of the occupation and the long-standing denial of Palestinian freedom requires an immediate end to the occupation and sanctions over and boycott of Israel.
Initial comments on the ICC prosecutor request to issue arrest warrants:
1. It is surprising that the request names 2 Israelis but 3 Palestinians, and charges the Palestinians with 8 counts but the Israelis with 7 only.
Although the Prosecutor says he "seeks to charge two of those most responsible", and the investigation is ongoing, no one can ignore the asymmetry in the infliction of violence, and the ferocity and length in which Israeli leaders committed their crimes.
#Bothsideism ?
2. The charges against Hamas, but not Israel, include Torture; Cruel treatment as a war crime; and Outrages upon personal dignity. This is surprising given Israel has treated thousands of Palestinian detainees and prisoners, including 27+ who died in custody.
Now that the minutes are available, it is worth having a closer look at South Africa's argument that the @CIJ_ICJ should order Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza, as argued brilliantly by the formidable Irish lawyer, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC:
Ní Ghrálaigh made several arguments supporting the request for issuing "specific" and "explicit" orders against Israel "including an express order for the immediate cessation of Israel’s military operations in Rafah and across the whole of the Gaza Strip."
The words specific and explicit here are key. On 7 April Israel's ICJ legal defence team told Israeli media that they were worried the ICJ will order a cessation of the fighting because only 2 judicial votes in March prevented that order in late March. israelhayom.co.il/news/geopoliti…
What explains Israel's reduced legal representation ICJ? Israel is moving to the tactic of attacking the umpire? As typical of rogue states, is moving to discredit the process because the law is not on its side:
In February, Ynet published an item on the appointment of Judge Salam as the president of the ICJ. The headline: "concerning development in the Hague: a Lebanese judge was appointed to the President of the ICJ".
On 14 May Ynet published an article entitled "Will Israel show up for the hearing at the Hague? "The Lebanese Court's President acted unfairly"
A summary of the South African presentation before the ICJ today, in its request for additional provisional measures against Israel: a compelling presentation modifying the requested order by seeking a cessation of Israeli military activity and withdrawal from all of Gaza:
S.A. is compelled to return to the Court considering the continuing annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza. Institutionalised impunity emboldened Israel to commit the genocide, which shocked of the conscience of the international community.
Israel continued apace and just reached a new horrific stage. Israel whitewashes its genocide through the invocation of IHL.
This application was triggered by attack on Rafah, but genocide continued in all of Gaza.
CNN finally sheds light on Israel's shocking and barbaric torture chambers: thousands of people, detained for months:
Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center edition.cnn.com/2024/05/10/mid…
"a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics... ; .. where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot."
"enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are placed under extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital where wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers and fed through straws."
In this new article for the @JournalGenocide I argue that Israel's onslaught on Gaza has crossed the threshold of the military logic of defeating the enemy to the genocidal logic of elimination: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Continued contestation notwithstanding, a consensus is emerging because the evidence is overwhelming. It's manifested in a convergence of the interpretations of Israel’s intent and pattern of conduct in Gaza as genocide. This consensus strengthens the legal case against Israel.
The first part of the article discusses the relation between International humanitarian law and genocide: the focus should not be limited to the weaponisation of starvation but also to exposing all ways in which military logic seeks to obscure and conceal genocidal intent