Edition from Saturday, January 13, 2024
Innsbruck (OTS) – The genocide claim against Israel also reflects the different perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the global south.
The International Court of Justice rarely receives as much attention as it did this week during the hearing in the genocide case against Israel. The judges’ decision will take years; At best, an interim injunction in the coming weeks will show whether they consider the accusation to be plausible at all. But The Hague is already serving as a stage for a political debate about the Gaza war and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. The world public sits in judgment.
From a purely legal perspective, South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel is likely to be on rather shaky ground. According to Western understanding, there is no evidence that Israel’s government is waging a deliberate campaign to destroy the Palestinian people. Critics therefore consider the lawsuit to be defamatory, absurd and a distortion of the fact that Israel itself was attacked in a genocidal manner by Hamas.
However, brushing aside the lawsuit as a political abuse of the UN court is not enough. Because it also reflects the different perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the global south. He accuses the West of applying double standards when it comes to international law and moral issues. The West would be well advised to take this seriously if it wants to be taken seriously itself.
It is true that Hamas started the current war and is hiding behind civilians. But Israel cannot shirk its shared responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and for the plight of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Israel’s right to self-defense is not in question – not even in The Hague – but its warfare and political strategy are.
This may have nothing to do with genocide. But the attention on the proceedings in The Hague is increasing pressure on Israel’s leadership to adhere to international norms. On the eve of the hearing in The Hague, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured for the first time that Israel had no intention of expelling civilians.
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