Israel presents its case at the ICJ

On January 11, 2024, South Africa presented their case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) (See: South Africa presents its case against Israel at the ICJ).

Yesterday Israel presented its case against South Africa’s charges that Israel has committed, and continues to commit acts of genocide in Gaza.

Israel’s defense focused on the October 7th attacks by Hamas that killed 1139 Israeli people.

I think the editorial in The Guardian cited below is correct. “Whatever the judges decide, the civilian death toll and human suffering in Gaza and the words of Israeli ministers are unconscionable. That, and not this legal process, is ultimately what is destroying the standing of Israel and its Western allies.” The United States being Israel’s main ally, continues to support Israel politically and with billions of dollars in aid. And has vetoed efforts at the United Nations calling for a cease-fire.

National Coalition Urges Congress to Confront U.S. Complicity in Civilian Harm in Gaza

After months of devastation, there is urgent need for a meaningful debate on U.S. support for Israeli operations, including the extent to which U.S. military aid may be supporting violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in both Gaza and the West Bank.

This week, a coalition of more than 70 national organizations sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to cosponsor and vote in favor of S.Res.504, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (VT) resolution under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act. The legislation requires a State Department report on Israel’s human rights practices and U.S. military aid to Israel.

The letter was organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation and Center for Civilians in Conflict. Over 70 national groups representing millions of Americans signed it, including Americans for Peace Now, Amnesty International USA, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), Demand Progress Action, Indivisible, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, National Council of Churches, If Not Now Movement, Oxfam America, Center for International Policy, and Win Without War.

Friends Committee on National Legislation, January 11, 2024

January 11, 2024

Dear Senators,

We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to cosponsor and vote in favor of S.Res.504, Senator Bernie Sanders’ resolution under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2304) requiring a report on Israel’s human rights practices and U.S. military aid to Israel. After months of devastation in Gaza, there is urgent need for a meaningful debate on U.S. support for Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including the extent to which U.S. military aid may be supporting violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

In response to the horrific October 7th attacks by Hamas, Israel has conducted a military campaign resulting in the deaths of more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 70 percent of whom are women and children. Senator Sanders recently called the bombardment of Gaza “not just a humanitarian cataclysm, but a mass atrocity. And it is being done with bombs & equipment produced and provided by the United States and heavily subsidized by American taxpayers.” President Biden has also stated that Israel is engaging in “indiscriminate bombing.”

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented egregious violations of international humanitarian law by both Hamas and the Israeli military. Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th — as well as its continued holding of hostages and rocket launches into Israel — do not relieve Israel of its responsibility to protect its people in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law. But as the Israeli offensive devastates Gaza, including through Israel’s siege, the United States continues to provide a steady stream of bombs, missiles, drones, artillery shells, and ammunition – all apparently without conditions. The Biden administration has even bypassed Congressional oversight through an emergency transfer authority. Despite investigations revealing potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces, the State Department has admitted that it has not been assessing Israel’s compliance with international law throughout the conflict.

S.Res.504 offers an opportunity to affirm Congress’s important oversight role, mandating that the Biden administration document and report on any human rights violations committed by the Israeli government. Congress should ensure that arms transfers and military aid provided to Israel, or any country, are consistent with U.S. law and policy, international law, and civilian protection responsibilities. The resolution would be an important step toward these goals.

Upon Senate passage, this resolution would require a report from the State Department on Israel’s human rights practices within thirty days. The resolution and debate it generates would open the door to potential follow-on Congressional action.

Congress stands at a pivotal moment. It is long overdue for the Senate to hold a public vote and debate on U.S. complicity in Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians living under occupation and bombardment, and to reassert Congressional oversight powers over U.S. arms transfer policy and foreign policy. We, the undersigned organizations, endorse this resolution and urge all Senators to cosponsor and vote in favor of S.Res.504.

(See: https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2024-01/national-coalition-urges-congress-confront-us-complicity-civilian-harm-gaza)

The Israeli defense, as laid out in opening remarks by Israeli foreign ministry legal adviser Tal Becker, did not bring many surprises for those who have been following the Israeli government’s statements since October 7.

Opening his statement by invoking the Holocaust, Becker said that South Africa was presenting “a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture,” “hinge[ing] on a deliberately curated, decontextualized and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities.”

The Israeli defense team hinged most of its argumentation on the October 7 attack, arguing that Tel Aviv was acting in self-defense, and that it was Hamas, in fact, that was guilty of the crimes Israel was now standing trial for.

“If there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel,” Becker said.

…

Israel’s oral arguments ended at midday on Friday, as the Israeli Foreign Ministry maintained that there was “no basis” to South Africa’s case. The ICJ judges are expected to reach a verdict in coming weeks regarding whether to conduct a full investigation into genocide, and/or issue intermediary injunctions for Israel to stop its assault on Gaza, as South Africa has requested.
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 98: Israel claims ‘self defense’ at ICJ by Palestine Bureau, Mondoweiss,January 12, 2024

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups named the attacks Operation Al-Aqsa Flood or Deluge.

A Barrister For Israel Argued That Israeli Prime Minister And Cabinet Members’ Statements Of Intent To Commit Genocide Were Mere “Random Assertions.”
And he instead accused South Africa of complicity in genocide.

In its defense against allegations by South Africa that it is committing genocide in Gaza, a British barrister arguing at the World Court on Friday for Israel downplayed numerous statements by senior Israeli officials of genocidal intent against Palestinians as mere “random assertions” that prove nothing.
Israel dismisses genocidal intent as ‘random assertions’ by Joe Lauria, Consortium News, January 12, 2024

The evidence of war crimes – ranging from indifference to the mass killing of civilians to using starvation as a weapon – has mounted by the day. So have the inflammatory and dehumanising statements made by Benjamin Netanyahu, his ministers and others. Israel will lay out its case to the UN’s highest court on Friday. However, its immediate response was not to contest the evidence, but to attack South Africa as acting as “the legal wing of Hamas” and committing “blood libel”. There is a widespread belief in Israel that it is obscene to use the genocide convention, created in response to the Holocaust, against the nation that arose from that horror, and following the 7 October attack by Hamas. Yet as South Africa made clear, self-defence can never justify action that amounts to genocide.

…

But whatever the judges decide, the civilian death toll and human suffering in Gaza and the words of Israeli ministers are unconscionable. That, and not this legal process, is ultimately what is destroying the standing of Israel and its western allies.
The Guardian view on Israel and allegations of genocide: a case that needs to be heard.
This week’s hearings at the international court of justice mark an important moment for humanitarian protection as well as Gaza, Editorial, The Guardian, Jan 11, 2024

But the case, brought by South Africa to the court in The Hague, has also taken on a broader resonance: Among both Israelis and Palestinians, it is perceived as a proxy for a far older battle over the legitimacy of their respective national causes.

To many Israelis, the case is the culmination of a decades-long effort to turn Israel into a pariah by holding the country — which was itself founded in the aftermath of a genocide of Jews — to a far higher level of scrutiny than other nations.

They see their invasion of the Gaza Strip as a war of defense against an enemy, Hamas, that inflicted its own genocidal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, prompting the Israeli military to pursue Hamas into Gaza just as any other army would have done.

…

By contrast, many Palestinians feel a brief sense of catharsis at the thought of Israeli officials being compelled, as they were on Friday, to defend their country in front of a panel of international judges.

To Palestinian eyes, only now, in a courtroom in The Hague, is Israel being treated like any other country — after being protected from scrutiny at the United Nations for so long by the United States and, as Palestinians see it, by most of the world’s news media.
Accused of Genocide, Israelis See Reversal of Reality. Palestinians See Justice.
Israel stands accused of committing genocide in Gaza. To Israelis, the charge is a perversion of history. But for Palestinians it creates a fleeting sense of justice by Patrick Kingsley, The New York Times, Jan 12, 2024

Key Developments

A day after the South African legal team laid out its case against Israel to the International Court of Justice, Israel took to the stand to reject accusations of genocide despite the evidence laid out on Thursday.
“If there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel,” one of Israel’s representatives in the court said, arguing that South Africa had presented a “profoundly distorted” picture of the situation in Gaza.
Israeli officials continue to smear South Africa as “Hamas’ lawyer” presenting “baseless” claims – even as Israeli officials continue to call for Gaza to “burn.”
Meanwhile, United Nations human rights experts welcomed the start of the ICJ hearings, as did Palestinian political representatives.
The U.S. and the U.K. meanwhile carry out airstrikes on Ansar Allah targets across Yemen overnight, in retaliation for the Yemeni rebel group’s attacks on maritime trade in the Red Sea. Ansar Allah say they will continue to apply pressure on Israel and its allies.
Israeli bombs continue to bomb Gaza, killing 151 Palestinians in the span of 24 hours, as Oxfam International says the daily death rate in Gaza exceeds “all other major conflicts in the 21st century.”
Save the Children meanwhile notes that 1 percent of Gaza’s children have been killed in nearly 100 days.
Al-Haq and other Palestinian rights groups call for an investigation into Israel’s targeting of journalists in Gaza as a crime against humanity.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces kill at least one Palestinian, as army raids cause intensive damage to Tulkarem-area refugee camp.
Israeli poll shows the ruling Likud party’s popularity at record low, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval ratings stand at 29 percent.
An Israeli air strike on a civil defense center in southern Lebanon kills two medics.