US guilty of genocide?
The ICJ decision on Israel’s genocide is now hotly debated from different sides.
Eric Zuesse, for example, thinks that the ICJ is a crock…. …the Court itself, from the top on down, simply cannot rationally be trusted. Its problems are deep and severe. The genocide case against Israel will drag on for years and yet even at its outset, South Africa had presented a more trustworthy verdict (its case) regarding Israel than the ICJ ever will be able to, unless the entire institution becomes radically changed so as to become decent. B. at Moon of Alabama has a different and more positive opinion. The court clearly orders Israel to take all(!) measure to prevent the killing or wounding of Palestinians. In short: The court orders Israel to cease fire.
But what was the ICJ’s actual decision ?
CONCLUSION AND MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED BY ISRAEL 75. The Court concludes on the basis of the above considerations that the conditions required by its Statute for it to indicate provisional measures are met. It is therefore necessary, pending its final decision, for the Court to indicate certain measures in order to protect the rights claimed by South Africa that the Court has found to be plausible (see paragraph 54 above). STOP KILLING, HARMING, PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION, PREVENTING BIRTHS
78. The Court considers that, with regard to the situation described above, Israel must, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; © deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. PREVENT AND PUNISH PUBLIC INCITEMENT TO COMMIT GENOCIDE
79. The Court is also of the view that Israel must 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. PROVIDE SERVICES AND ASSISTANCE
80. The Court further considers that Israel must 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. PRESERVE EVIDENCE
81. Israel must also take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of REPORT COMPLIANCE WITHIN ONE MONTH 82. Regarding the provisional measure requested by South Africa that Israel must submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to its Order, the Court recalls that it has the power, reflected in Article 78 of the Rules of Court, to request the parties to provide information on any matter connected with the implementation of any provisional measures it has indicated. In view of the specific provisional measures it has decided to indicate, the Court considers that Israel must 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. The report so provided shall then be communicated to South Africa, which shall be given the opportunity to submit to the Court its comments thereon. evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Genocide Convention against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
So who is right? Zuesse? Or B?
The ICJ decision requires — ipso facto — a cease-fire on the part of the Israelis. It also would compel legal action on the part of Israel against all those inciting genocide.
Israel must report to the ICJ within a month.
Of course, the ICJ has not made a final judgment — but should Israel not meet the conditions set, the ICJ will likely hand down damning final verdict.
On the other hand, the ICJ has no power to enforce its decisions. That would require action by the Security Council or the ICC, which up until now has been transparently under the thumb of the US and Europe.
Technically Israel’s compliance with the ICJ should be a matter for the Security Council. But the US and Britain have supplying weaponry to Israel and are therefore complicit in the genocide. While ethically they should abstain in any Security Council vote, they won’t — they will use their vetoes to protect Israel. Already, the US and UK and Europe have cut off funding to the UNRWA which provides aid to Gaza, in response to an Israeli complaint.
Of course, the US continues to supply Israel with military aid.
However, should the UN General Assembly demand the ICC act, one might think it would have to do so — or lose all credibility and support.
The ICC can certainly act on its own, however, as it did when it issued an arrest warrant for. Putin on spurious charges where rescuing children from a war zone became child trafficking!
But the ICC is owned by Europe which is owned by the US which is owned by Israel.
In these terms, Zuesse is right to doubt the effectiveness of the ICJ-and, by extension, that of the UN and naturally the ICC.
Still, that does not mean that the US and its G-7 allies can flout international law with impunity. Once upon a time the US was the Hegemon — militarily and economically — and it could do a lot of damage. It owned the world.
However, in this new century, the world no longer wants to be owned. We don’t want to be US’s basement, backyard, or dumpster — property.
Suddenly. we have BRICS … Russia China and Iran have shown the way.
What’s important here is not the comparison of BRICS with the G-7 but comparison of both with “the rest of the world” which means the world has choices it didn’t used to have.
We can go with the G-7 which is declining in all areas and makes up the rules as it goes along and keeps on losing, losing, losing- oblivious to international law — proving time and time again they cannot be trusted.
It’s time to look for options.
The world wants to secede from the Empire.
Even people in the Not So United States are wondering….
The graphic here is from an article that I sent to supporters who buy me coffees.
You can manufacture consent as long as you control the narrative and there are no competing options. If disbelief is no longer suspended and you lose control of that narrative, yesterday’s “social facts” become tomorrow’s social fictions
Biden has done good job at destroying the narrative that Americans once supported.
Trump — who is almost certain to be the once and future president will simply rip out the pages from the book. He is quite proud of not reading. So goodbye America
The rest of the world will likely say “good riddance America.”
The American story has always depended on Americans being able to think they were good people in a good country doing good things- saving the world, not destroying it.
But the ICJ judgment cannot be ignored. Suddenly Americans are the Bad Guys. But maybe they always were.
It’s the Houthis and Hamas who are the Good Guys.
Of course, Zuesse is right that the international justice system is deeply flawed including its institutions like the ICJ, if not the United Nations itself, which is just the League of Nations by another name.
But we all knew that didn’t we? A multipolar world needs to come sooner rather than later.
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Originally published at https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com.
