Updated below (15:20 UTC):
The International Court of Justice today ruled in favor of the South African APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS against Israel.
Pepe Escobar delivers the first summary of the verbal order (the written one will follow later):
Highlights:
“The military operation conducted by Israel in Gaza has resulted in untold death and injuries, destroyed substantial infrastructure and housing units, caused mass malnutrition, collapsed the healthcare system, and displaced the majority of its inhabitants. This war has affected the entire population of Gaza and will have far lasting consequences. The court has taken note of the language of dehumanization by senior Israeli government officials.”
The ICJ accepts the South African demand for urgent provisional measures to be taken for the protection of Palestinians in Gaza against Israel and RECOMMENDS (caps mine) the following:
Israel must take all measures to prevent genocidal actions; Israel must ensure that its military forces do not commit genocidal actions; Israel must punish incitement to genocide; Israel must provide access to essential aid; Israel must preserve evidence of its actions; Israel must provide a report of its actions.
The ICJ decision is BINDING.
Yet even as the ICJ decides that Israel must take all measures to prevent death and injury, and provide the full scope of humanitarian needs to Palestinians (includes access to food, medicine, infrastructure, etc), what happens if Tel Aviv simply ignores the decision?
Israel must file a report on the remedial actions within one month of the ruling. All bets are off on wether biblical psychopathology practitioners will comply.
By accepting the application and by ordering Israel do cease and desist from certain practices the Court seems to state that Israel has actually committed acts of genocide.
As Heidi Matthew, an assistant professor of law at Harvard remarks:
The ICJ’s written order and separate opinions will be released shortly. But my first reaction is that this is a big win for Palestinian advocates. Some will be disappointed that the Court stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. But…
… the fact that the Court ordered the measures it DID, including directing Israel not to commit or incite genocide, indicates it has concluded that it is (a) plausible for Palestinians in Gaza to claim protection from genocide, and (b) that the need for protection is urgent.
I think we can infer from this that *at a minimum* there is a serious risk that Israel will commit genocide. This is important because it puts *all states* on formal notice of the serious risk of genocide, which triggers states’ duty to take concrete steps to prevent genocide.
Among other things, this means that in order for states to fulfill their international obligations under the Genocide Convention they must *do something*. For e.g., states exporting arms or military technology to Israel must stop.
The short story: this order on provisional measures will have an important and immediate impact on how states are required to act under international law. It will also radically shift the global conversation about what is happening in Gaza.
Another related point: I need to read the separate opinions, but my intuition is that it’s a massive win that Israeli ad hoc judge Barak sided with the majority in ordering many of the provisional measures. He may have judged his own legacy as more important than Netanyahu’s.
This is small win for Gaza and a big one for humanity.
(I plan to come back to this as soon as I have read the written argumentation and order.)
PS: AlJazeerah’s Live Stream recording of the ICJ interim ruling on genocide case against Israel (video)
PSS: Via comments: The written ICJ order (pdf), Jan 26, 2024
Update (15:20 UTC):
I have now listened to the verbal ICJ ruling and have read the Court’s CONCLUSION AND MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED (75ff) of the written order (both linked above). The real binding orders which are now international law follow in 86ff of the order.
The Court has nearly unanimous ORDERED the State of Israel to:
- take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular
- ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above
- take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip
- take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
- take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip
- submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to this Order within one month as from the date of this Order.
This is a huge win for South Africa, Gaza and all humanity.
All orders have 15 to 2 or 16 to 1 judges supporting/opposing them.
The only one completely diverting from the court’s opinion was Judge Julia Sebutine from Uganda (one wonders what the various U.S. services have on her). Even the Judge ad hoc Barak from Israel agreed with part 3 and 4 of the court’s order.
The arguments for the diverting opinions will be published later.
This order is the end of Israel’s impunity. It is also the end of impunity of Israel’s supporters. The U.S., UK, Germany and others can now be accused and punished for complicity of genocide (Article III of the Genocide Convention) should they not immediately refrain from providing Israel the means (weapons, ammunition, money) to further commit genocide.
Again – this is a small win for Gaza but a big one for humanity.