South Africa presents its case against Israel at the ICJ

The remarkable scene in this video of South Africa’s presentation of their case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) yesterday gives a sense of the gravity of what is happening there.

Day 1 Of South Africa V. Israel

In an exhaustive presentation, lawyers for South Africa presented its case to the International Court of Justice that Israel has failed to prevent and is continuing to commit acts of genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

Standing at a podium in front of the Court’s fifteen judges, supplemented by judges ad hoc Aharon Barak (Israel) and Dikgang Ernest Moseneke (South Africa), and in front of a battery of lawyers and scores of diplomatic observers, South African attorney Adila Hassim spelled out the acts Israel has committed against the Palestinian people of Gaza – acts defined as genocidal under Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Over the past three months, Israel has waged the heaviest conventional bombing campaign in the history of warfare, Hassim told the court, dropping 6000 bombs per week, including 2000-lb bombs on hundreds of occasions.

Over 23,000 Palestinians have perished, 70% of them women and children, Hassim told the court. At least seven thousand are unaccounted for, dead or dying beneath the rubble. “No one has been spared. Not even babies.”

Physically, Gaza is in ruins, Hassim continued. Homes, shelters, hospitals, schools, mosques, and churches have all been destroyed.

Irish attorney Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh was particularly graphic. Quoting UN officials, Ní Ghrálaigh described Gaza as “a crisis of humanity,” a “living hell,” a “bloodbath,” and a “situation of utter, deepening, and unmatched horror where an entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials of survival on a massive scale.”

South Africa Presents the Case Against Israel’s Genocide in Gaza by David Kattenburg, Mondoweiss, January 11, 2024

WHAT ISRAEL FACES AT THE HAGUE

The terrible human toll of the Israeli assault on the population of Gaza in terms of death and injury from Israeli bombing is well known. What is not generally known to the U.S. public is evidence provided in the South African document that Israelis have deliberately chosen the most indiscriminate way of bombing possible.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas of the world, so indiscriminate weapons are far more lethal there than in normal situations. Yet despite the availability of precision guided weapons, as the South African document points out, Israel has been dropping completely unguided “dumb bombs” and 2,000 pound munitions that have a lethal radius of up to 360m and cause serious injuries for 800m in all directions.

What Israel Faces at the Hague. South Africa’s Petition to Stop What it Alleges is Israeli Genocide in Gaza Has Begun. by Gareth Porter, Consortium News, January 11, 2024

The Israeli campaign has forced Palestinian families to choose between remaining in their homes and facing the very high risk of death or abandoning their homes without any idea where they can find safety.
What Israel Faces at the Hague

In this country, we continue to see deep divisions between those who support Palestine, and those who support Israel.

Participants marched towards the bridge overlooking north Interstate-5, where organizers made the announcement that a group of protesters had taken I-5 and successfully blocked traffic going northbound. As the blockade continued, onlookers cheered them on. Chants of “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” and “Seattle city you will see, Palestine will be free!” could be heard across Seattle.

Their demands:

Immediate ceasefire and end to the siege on Gaza!
End to the occupation of Palestine
Stop all U.S aid to Israel
Free all Palestinian prisoners
Land back

Even through the rain, hail and thunder, the rally continued for over four hours as protesters on the highway continued to keep I-5 shut down. No arrests were made.

Seattle shuts down I-5 to say no business as usual during genocide! By Fight Back News, January 11, 2024

At least 320 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after staging a demonstration across New York City on Monday, blocking traffic on several bridges for more than two hours during rush hour to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, according to city officials.

More than 1,000 protesters stood hand-in-hand, halting outgoing traffic from downtown Manhattan at the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge and the Holland Tunnel, according to Jamil Madbak, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, which led the demonstration.

“Our aim today was to clog the arteries of New York City to draw attention to the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and the people of Gaza,” Madbak, 29, told CNN. “American bombs and American-made internationally prohibited chemical weapons are being dropped on Arabs again, financed by American tax dollars and protected by the American media, again. Those in power think they can get away with this, but us being out here every week is our way of saying we won’t let them.”

During a news conference Monday after the demonstrations, Mayor Eric Adams said, “The right to protest does not give one the right to block bridges and tunnels, as we saw this morning.”

“The goal is to peacefully protest without doing major disruption to the city,” Adams said, adding people use the bridges to get to work and deal with emergencies.

At least 320 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after blocking traffic across New York City bridges to demand Gaza ceasefire by Alaa Elassar and Emma Tucker, CNN, January 8, 2024

I think it is important to bring attention to the concepts of colonization and LANDBACK in what Israel is doing in Gaza. LANDBACK is often a demand of groups who support the Palestinian struggle. (See: Palestine and LANDBACK.)

Recolonize Gaza

Once considered a fringe pipe dream, the once taboo idea of Israelis recolonizing portions of Gaza has been reinvigorated after Hamas’ October 7 attack and the subsequent Israeli war on the embattled Palestinian territory, which has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, internally displaced more than 1.9 million, and reduced the majority of the Strip into rubble.

Just as 2024 began, Israeli politicians renewed calls to recolonize Gaza, and recent remarks from Israeli lawmakers coupled with a new settler-colonist campaign suggest that Israeli annexation of the beleaguered Palestinian territory has been adopted as official government policy.

Israel’s Goal of Expelling Palestinians from Gaza is Closer to Reality by Jessica Buxbaum, MintPress News, January 11. 2024