Israeli math is demanding to be internationally recognized as a "nation" but refusing to behave like one. It expects to be treated as part of the international community while simultaneously holding itself above international expectations. Finally, Israeli math is committing war crimes without any regard to international opinion, while also expecting international opinion to perceive it as the victim.

Last Wednesday, South Africa compiled a team of legal representatives and presented the ICJ with almost four hours of various forms of evidence about "Israel’s" genocidal intentions against the Palestinian people. This included statements made by various Israeli officials (including Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu), footage of genocidal references, and, of course, cold hard facts. South Africa was internationally praised for its brave stance and what many considered to be an outstanding and historic presentation. For the first time in history, "Israel" was trialed at the International Court of Justice, while the whole world bore witness.

Like myself, many were surprised that "Israel" accepted the invitation and actually attended the proceedings in the first place, especially because "Israel" has never actually abided by any UN international resolutions. For context, "Israel" has contravened over 30 UN resolutions and condemnations since 1968.

Following the announcement of this unprecedented move by "Israel", my first suspicion was that “Israel” definitely had something up its sleeve, since the odds were obviously against it. “Israel” must have foreseen a potential benefit in the outcome of its attendance, because choosing to attend the very trial accusing it of genocide would otherwise be political suicide.

As eager as many of us were to see what South Africa had to say during the trial, I was personally anticipating “Israel’s” defense, curious to find out what strategy it had up its sleeve, which was obviously why "Israel" confidently chose to attend, right? Wrong.

Israel took the route of victimizing itself and deflecting the blame, the same outdated tactic it has utilized for decades. "Israel’s" PR team is seemingly unprepared for 2024, a time when people are very well aware. Somehow, "Israel" is still tone-deaf to the fact that victim-playing and deflecting the blame is no longer effective. We no longer live in a world that is limited to hearsay and Israeli propaganda. In today’s world, the facts are right in front of us, and arguably, we can’t even turn a blind eye because they’re everywhere, and the world can’t unsee them.

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Seeing "Israel" use the same outdated tactics at The Hague was both surprising and unsurprising. It was surprising because even if we gave the Israelis the benefit of the doubt and assumed that they lived under a rock before Oct 7, one would think that they would have recognized that using these tactics in an attempt to shape public opinion has been ineffective since the start of the “war”. As a result, someone with half a brain would think that almost four months of trial and error would have motivated the “Israelis” to establish a new strategy and run with that instead. But “Israel” doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo.

On the other hand, it was unsurprising because the world has been hearing this nonsense for over 100 days, and if you want to take it a step further, 76 years now.

Hearing it yet again doesn’t exactly cause you to jump out of your seat. It’s like having déjà vu; we’ve heard this rhetoric so many times before that we’ve even become desensitized to it. We are way past the point of reacting to the victim-playing and deflecting, and I would even go as far as to say that hearing it in 2024 is an annoyance to many of us.

Albert Einstein once said that “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity," so who’s going to tell “Israel”? Could it be that the Israelis happen to all be delusional? Or is their reputation just so far gone that they have collectively given up on making the slightest effort to tell us new, more creative, and well-thought-out lies, without insulting our intelligence?

On another note, shortly following the international court proceedings, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu expressed that (unsurprisingly) “Israel” will not cease its aggression against the Palestinians even if it was ordered to do so. This leaves many of us wondering what the logic behind attending the hearing at the ICJ in the first place was, especially since “Israel’s” mere attendance serves as an acknowledgment of the ICJ, which, therefore, legitimizes it.

Expressing deliberate disobedience of whatever ends up being the verdict is an open and shameless declaration of “Israel” holding itself above international law. It is therefore mind-boggling that “Israel” still fails to comprehend why it is perhaps the most hated “nation” internationally. Well maybe if the Israelis put two and two together, they would realize that demanding to be respected and recognized as a "nation" while simultaneously making a mockery of international law and likewise the international community will only contribute to the perpetual resentment and hatred from the international community toward it.

Imagine attending international court proceedings to respond to allegations of genocide against you, presenting the international community with (what many referred to as) a weak and efficacious presentation in an attempt to defend yourself, failing to do so, and then openly dismissing the potential verdict, therefore implying that your attendance didn’t have any merit, to begin with. How can you as a people expect to be taken seriously as a “nation”?

The events leading up to, during, and following the international court proceedings are a depiction of "Israel’s" delusion, incompetence, and general hypocrisy. The only thing more humiliating than having to listen to four hours of your atrocities being eloquently displayed in front of the entire world is presenting the world with a noticeably weak presentation in your defense and then expressing your open disobedience of the potential verdict, which is arguably an open acknowledgment of your failure to present a strong-enough comeback. “Israel’s” behavior toward South Africa and the ICJ is embarrassing and only strengthens South Africa’s case in the eyes of the international community. “Israel’s” failure to defend itself efficiently while simultaneously making a mockery of international law will have dire consequences on its already tarnished international reputation. “Israel’s” cowardice and hypocrisy in response to allegations of its genocide are on display for the entire world to bear witness. History and the world will never forget South Africa’s courage and “Israel’s” cowardice.