“Genocide” is a problematic word, for a number of reasons.
However, Israel has absolutely engaged in the mass murder of women, children, and old people, and they have done it on purpose, serving no military objective.
So, whatever you want to call that behavior, Israel is objectively, obviously guilty of it, and it is abject madness that Putin has an ICC warrant for the abominable crime of evacuating children from a war zone while Bibi Netanyahu is being praised on the American media as a “decisive leader.”
AP:
A continent away from the war in Gaza, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians there and pleaded with the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to order an immediate halt to the country’s military operation. Israel has vehemently denied the allegations.
South African lawyers said during the opening arguments that the latest Gaza war is part of a decadeslong oppression of the Palestinians by Israel.
The two-day hearing is the public side of a landmark case, one of the most significant to be heard in an international court and which goes to the heart of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
South Africa is seeking binding preliminary orders to compel Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, in which more than 23,000 people have died, according to the health ministry which is run by Hamas.
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies as a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges and audience in the packed, ornate room of the Peace Palace in The Hague.
“Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court,” she said.
That wouldn’t stop it either, actually.
Israel has never respected the authority of any of these UN-aligned international bodies. They claim that as an absolute matter, they are allowed to kill anyone they want to kill, forever, because of the Holocaust.
Israel, however, says it is battling a fierce enemy in the Gaza Strip that carried out the deadliest attack on its territory, killing more than 1,200 people, since its creation in 1948. Israel says it is following international law and does its utmost to avoid harm to civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll, saying its enemy embeds in residential areas.
See: Israel Dropping Hundreds of Bombs Capable of Killing People More Than 1,000 Feet Away
South Africa turns a deaf ear to such arguments, insisting Israel committed genocide by design.
“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
Great sentence.
That is indeed the articulated intent.
Now, the world needs to articulate our intent to stop these kikes.
“What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such, but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of the state in Israel,” he said.
Israeli soldiers chanting Netanyahu’s reference to the biblical Amalek genocide is used in the courtroom as indisputable evidence at the #ICJ pic.twitter.com/YVA9krENuz
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) January 11, 2024
In a sign of how seriously Israel is taking the accusation, it has sent a strong legal team to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks. Israel often boycotts international tribunals or U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased.
A decision on the request for so-called “provisional measures” will likely take weeks. The case is likely to last years.
While Israel has vehemently denied the allegations, it is unclear whether it will heed any order from the court to halt operations. If it doesn’t, it could face U.N. sanctions, although those may be blocked by a U.S. veto.
Israel’s lawyers will address the court Friday.
South Africa immediately sought to broaden the case beyond the narrow confines of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“The violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023. The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years,” said South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola. South Africa argued that Israel’s actions in Gaza are an inevitable part of its history since it declared independence.
Yes.
I agree with all of this.
It’s just obvious facts.
If the UN doesn’t at least agree to this in concept, they will prove themselves, once again, to be a total joke organization.
“Reports of field executions, torture and ill-treatment are mounting. As are images of decomposing bodies of Palestinian men, women and children, left unburied where they were killed, some are picked upon by animals.
It is becoming ever clearer that huge swathes of Gaza –… pic.twitter.com/P6EswKzJrR
— In Context (@incontextmedia) January 11, 2024