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The ICJ: The dichotomy between the genocide victims and the perpetrators

  • Jamal Kanj Jamal Kanj
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 28 Jan 2024 11:16
  • 16 Shares
6 Min Read

The West now faces two options: either compel Israeli compliance, or make a mockery of international law, thereby deepening the rift between the genocide victims and the perpetrators.

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  • One clear example of Western racism is the case of when a benign blockade on
    One clear example of Western racism is the case of when a benign blockade on "Israel" is more important than obstructing critical food and medical supplies from reaching the children of Gaza. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

The interim findings of the International Court of Justice agreeing with South Africa, while rejecting the Israeli motion, are part of the World Court’s jurisdiction to investigate charges against Israeli actions that fall "within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention." The significance of the provisional Court’s ruling is putting on notice countries arming and enabling "Israel" to carry out acts under "the U.N. Convention on genocide."

In order to execute the application on the ground, the six provisional orders essentially, taken individually and collectively, require "Israel" to end its military actions. It was, however, disappointing that the Court did not make an unambiguous call for the cessation of Israeli hostilities and the immediate return of displaced individuals to their homes.

The juxtaposition of the two parties before the Court is, nevertheless, revealing. On one side, South Africa is supported by formerly colonized nations. On the other side, "Israel" is backed by past colonizers. The plaintiff is supported by nations like Namibia, a genocide victim, while the defender shares a bench with countries like Germany, a historical perpetrator of genocides. This stark dichotomy vividly highlights the divide between the two camps: The oppressed confronting past and current oppressors in a clear illustration of the intrinsic Western bigotry toward non-Western societies.

For more than three months, Western leaders in the US the UK and the EU, normalized and rationalized "Israel’s" writ large war of genocide on Gaza. The toll has been devastating, with over 34,000 people either killed or missing beneath the rubble of their imploded homes. Additionally, around 500,000 individuals in northern Gaza face imminent starvation due to the lack of access to basic nourishment and clean water, not to mention the forced displacement of 1.9 million individuals, along with the systematic destruction of essential health facilities, power sources, water supplies, communication networks, universities, and education centers. These actions collectively rendered life unlivable for the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

So far, the Israeli genocidal war resulted in "100,000 Palestinians killed, missing or wounded," and imposed a complete blockade on food, medicine, water, and fuel. A war that couldn’t have unfolded without the direct Western complicity evident by the US and European supply of weapons to the Israeli army. Preceding this, Gaza was under 18 years of an Israeli-managed "starvation diet", including blocking international shipping to Gaza’s only seaport— all this was long before the revolt of October 7, 2023. Still, these murders, and the brewing famine threatening millions of Palestinians weren’t enough to leaven Western morality.

However, when Yemen blocked the shipping of containers destined to only one of several Israeli seaports, the dormant conscience of America and Europe was suddenly awakened. In a matter of days, Western powers, and at least one vassal regional entity, deployed a large flotilla of warships declaring war against one of the most economically devastated countries in the world. This has eventually led to the halting of all international shipping lanes through the Red Sea.

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Yemeni officials have consistently affirmed that the Red Sea remains open to international maritime shipping. They have also reiterated Yemen's unwavering stance that the Red Sea is off limits for Israeli ships until "Israel" ensures the unfettered delivery of essential aid to Gaza. If the US and the EU harbored genuine concerns about international shipping, they could have directly engaged with the Yemeni authorities to ensure secure navigation while redirecting the ships bound for "Israel" to the other six Israeli seaports outside the Red Sea.

Today, Yemen's reasonable measures have been validated in light of the fourth provision of the ICJ, ordering "Israel" to permit the entry of " ... humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza." However, rather than diplomatically resolving this dispute by exerting pressure on "Israel" to facilitate the delivery of food and medicine to the desperate people in Gaza, the US chose to transform the Red and Arabian Sea into a combat zone, effectively shutting the Red Sea for all international shipping. Ironically, the US, which has been admonishing nations against the escalation of tension in the region, is leading the new made-up coalition to wage a new, crafted for "Israel", war in the Middle East.

This is just one example of Western racism, where a benign blockade on "Israel" is more important than the obstruction of critical food and medical supplies from reach the "children of a lesser god" in Gaza. The UN Security Council (UNSC) swiftly condemned Yemen's limited blockade, while for three months, the Biden Administration continues to deny the passage of a UNSC resolution ordering the delivery of the badly needed supply to the 2.3 million humans in Gaza.

This has been further exacerbated by the lack of open discourse in the managed "free" Western mainstream media to prod politicians for potential non-military solutions. This absence provided Western governments with an unchallenged platform to falsely blame Yemen for obstructing international shipping and hence, justify a new foreign war.

The US' willingness to engage in a proxy war to safeguard Israeli shipping reveals the true motives underlying its appeals for restraint. By attempting to contain the war, the US is virtually doing Israeli bidding to prevent exposing "Israel" to new war fronts. The goal of avoiding escalation appears to be predicated on enabling "Israel" to fight its wars one at a time. This is demonstrated in the non-stop US air and sea military shipments to replenish Israeli military stockpiles.

Led by the current US administration, the condescending West is not only complicit in the war of genocide in Gaza, but in actuality shares with the Israeli Prime Minister et al. the inherent racism that shaped "Israel" for the last 75 years. It took the moral courage of a victim of past apartheid to bring the World Court to compel "Israel" to "… take all measures within its power to prevent … all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention," where the UNSC was kept inept by the shadow of the US veto.

The ICJ's current decision will present a challenge for "Israel's" Western enablers, as the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, introduces the Court's six provisional measures to the Security Council in the days ahead. The West faces two options: either compel Israeli compliance, or make a mockery of international law, thereby deepening the rift between the genocide victims and the perpetrators.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Palestine
  • International Court of Justice
  • ICJ
  • Genocide
  • Gaza genocide
  • Israel
Jamal Kanj

Jamal Kanj

Author of “Children of Catastrophe,” Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America, and other books.

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