Bulletin No42 Janvier 2024 How to interpret the order of the International Court of Justice?
A historic decision for South Africa
The decisions rendered this Friday, January 26, by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel satisfy or disappoint. The Communist Revolutionary Party intends to decipher these decisions, analyze them and give its point of view.
South Africa, which was the first to file a complaint against Israel for genocide, describes this decision as “ historic ”. We think she has good reasons for this. When the Court discusses whether there are serious indications of genocide or violations of the Genocide Convention, it is very clear that the judges are describing the entire Israeli military operation as such.
They deduce, notably in paragraph 46, that, firstly: the Israeli operation involves a serious risk of genocide to such an extent that the ICJ ordered precautionary measures. Second: there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the Israeli operation is carried out with the intention of committing genocide. And to arrive at this second point, the judges took as a reference a series of official Israeli declarations.
In paragraph 54, the judges state that: " The facts and circumstances mentioned above are sufficient to conclude that part of the rights claimed by South Africa are plausible ." The judges having been seized because of a presumption of genocide; if they had not found anything of the sort in the South African file, they would have declared themselves incompetent. However, this is not the case, they find the accusation sufficiently plausible to declare that Israel " must take all measures in its power to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to commit genocide ." Which amounts to demanding that it take all measures to prevent and punish any act cited in Article 2 of the Genocide Convention, committed by one or more Israeli soldiers. What are these Article 2 acts: killing members of the Palestinian group in Gaza!
The Minister of Justice of South Africa concluded: “ The only possibility for Israel to respect the decisions ordered by the ICJ is to put an end to all its military operations. »
Other reactions are much more reserved
But the International Court of Justice has not asked Israel to cease its military operations. This goes without saying for the South African Minister of Justice, but it would go much better if he said it. Many Palestinians and their supporters were disappointed to see this, especially since, with regard to the war in Ukraine, the same International Court of Justice was quick to ask Russia to “stop its invasion”.
Israel will not respect the demands, as it has buried most UN resolutions. The judges knew it. All the more reason to ask the Israeli Zionist state to cease all its military operations.
But we must take into account the enormous pressure from the USA and its allies, coming to the aid of the Zionist state. It is these pressures which explain the absence of mention of the ceasefire in the Court's conclusions. Since the end of the USSR and the socialist countries of Europe, the UN has been totally controlled by dominant imperialism. Moreover, the reactions of US leaders put their finger on what hurts by noting that the Court did not ask Israel for a cease-fire.
In its editorial of January 26, the editorial staff of “ El Moudjahid ”, an Algerian daily, castigated the Court and its decision: “ Pathetic. At least this is the qualifier that best suits the decision of the highest UN legal authority relating to the genocide of the Zionist entity against the population of Gaza, in particular, and in occupied Palestine, in general. After so many hopes of finally seeing the Tel Aviv criminal organization nailed to the pillory, the CJI's verdict went beyond the expectations of the millions of people who have pounded the streets across world capitals since the beginning of the aggression to demand an end to the killings. The sentence is neither more nor less than a discharge for the hawk Netanyahu and his henchmen for more massacres until the extermination of a defenseless people or the forced exodus into the unknown. Israel, the metastasis of the Middle East, has once again, thanks to its traditional allies, managed to escape international law. ".
Our opinion
For the Communist Revolutionary Party, with its limits, this decision nevertheless constitutes a point of support. For the first time, an international body condemns a state of the Western bloc, and not just any state, the Zionist colonialist state. Let's say it's like a foot in the door that prevents it from closing. The South Africans' choice to attack Israel before the UN Court of Justice was clever, because Israel recognizes this Court and was therefore obliged to defend itself. Its presence, whether its leaders like it or not, validates the Court's decision.
It's not about being naive. We did not expect much from this UN body, for the reasons we mentioned above, the dependence of the UN on US imperialism. The Zionist apartheid state has not fallen. He is still awake. Apartheid in South Africa did not collapse only thanks to one or another court decision. This 20th century system of oppression fell thanks to the action of the people, at the same time as an international boycott, at the same time as a series of regional military defeats of the South African apartheid army against the Cubans in Angola. It was all of this, taken together, that led to the fall of South African apartheid. For the end of Israeli colonialism and apartheid, it will be no different. This will have to go through the same global process, and within it, this first ICJ verdict remains a first stone in the building.
An analysis of the reactions of the imperialist powers allied to Israel
We would have thought...
Yes, one would think that the steps the ICJ is ordering Israel to take, its warning that there is a danger of genocide, all of this would trigger the obligation for all other member states to the Genocide Convention to carry out everything in their power to prevent, prevent, either that criminal acts continue or that... genocide in all its magnitude takes place.
It is not so. Of course it is possible that the many solidarity demonstrators in Gaza, in Western imperialist countries, will challenge their government by saying: “ There is a legal obligation that weighs on you to prevent any act of genocide and to prevent Israel from committing genocide. ! ". This is what these governments should do if the famous International Law and its Rules were not a vast web of lies, a chimera.
The Western imperialist bloc continues more than ever to support the Zionist state.
But none of them called on Israel to implement the court's rulings. Only Germany said it would respect the court's decisions. The others have not commented on the order of January 26, except the USA, which continues against all evidence to consider that “ the allegations of genocide against Israel are unfounded ” and France. France, through a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, takes the liberty of giving lessons to the ICJ. The Court plans to invite parties to the Genocide Convention to submit their observations.
In this context, France plans to “ take advantage of this option and submit observations on its interpretation of the Convention ”. The new minister, Stéphane Séjourné, already famous for having designated Israel by the expression " The Jewish State ", adds another layer by explaining to the judges that they must take into account " the exceptional gravity of the crime of genocide, which requires the 'establishing an intention '; as if the judges didn't know it and hadn't thought about it!!! The minister might be advised to read the six pages of the South African document listing the words or writings of prominent Israeli leaders calling for genocide.
Reading the Court's order is nevertheless enriching. She did not cite the avowed fascists, nor Itamar Ben-Gvir, nor Bezalel Smotrich, nor the retired generals Giora Eiland ( let the epidemics spread to Gaza ), or Yair Golan ( let Gaza starve ). But she cited the President of the Republic, the Labor Party Isaac Herzog ( It is an entire nation which is responsible), and two ministers who are members of the Likud, that of Defense, Yoav Galland (I have released all restraint. We are fighting of human animals) and that of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz ( They will not receive a drop of water or the slightest battery as long as they are in this world) words spoken while he was Minister of Energy. Is the intention not established?
A target for friends of the Zionists: UNRWA
Discredited, Israel hangs on and its sponsors don't let go
After the ICJ decision, the Zionist state launched an accusation, without proof and which could well be a new lie of their propaganda, against 12 employees of the UNRWA (United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees) UNRWA had provided to South Africa with documents enabling them to support their request.
Immediately 9 countries (USA, 1st donor , Germany, 2nd , the United Kingdom, 6th , Japan, 7th , France, 8th , Canada, 10th , Italy, 16th , Finland, 19th and Australia, 22nd ) decided to suspend funding for the UN agency, even though the head of the Agency, Philippe Lazzarini announced that he had fired the 12 people and launched an investigation.
The intentions of Israel and its supporters are clear. It is about continuing the genocide by preventing the Agency from acting and above all getting rid of it, which has been, since the start of the war against Gaza, a pebble in the shoes of the Zionists. LUNRWA and the UN itself made the mistake, in the eyes of the leaders of the apartheid state, of not adhering to the propaganda discourse. We remember that Israel requested the resignation of the Secretary General, that, since the start of the massacre, the occupying army has targeted buildings and personnel of the Agency, as well as health personnel. and journalists, and that Netanyahu has long accused UNRWA of being linked to Hamas (like South Africa, in fact). Slander, slander! There will always be something left.
Israel wants to continue its genocide without witnesses!
This is the response of Israel and its supporters to the ICJ order! This is hardly surprising. In response to the ICJ's decision, he said: “ I would like to be clear… We will not withdraw the IDF (the so-called defense army ) from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. None of this will happen. ". As for Israel Katz, he announced that UNRWA would be absent from the process following up in Gaza.
The worsening humanitarian catastrophe
Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, considered this decision “ irresponsible ” and declared: “ the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA […] should not be penalized ” by “ the alleged actions of these 12 people ”
UNRWA Director Philippe Lazzarini urged the United States and the nine countries concerned to reverse course, saying: " These decisions threaten our ongoing humanitarian work in the region, including and particularly in the Strip. Gaza ”, then specifying “ the Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment ”.
21 NGOs released a statement calling on donor states to reverse their decisions to suspend support for UNRWA, explaining: " The suspension of funding by donor states will impact lifesaving assistance to more than two million civilians , more than half of whom are children, who depend on aid from UNRWA in Gaza. The population faces famine and epidemic under Israel's indiscriminate bombing and deliberate aid blockade to Gaza. » .
So, without any shame, in front of the world, the USA and its lackeys announce the sentence of death by hunger or lack of care for tens of thousands of Palestinians, in addition to the current 30,000 dead. Their complicity in the genocide is now blinding.
Moreover, the United States, like France, have decided to continue the delivery of massive quantities of weapons to Israel.
Mobilization, struggles and the Palestinian state
However, Israel is far from having achieved its victory. The order of the ICJ weakens the Zionist State, increasingly contested by people and even by States. Thus Spain, Belgium and Ireland welcomed the order and demanded that the Zionists follow the recommendations.
Meanwhile, the mobilization of millions around the world for a ceasefire continues. More and more organizations around the world are saying that it is the turn of the labor movement to make its voice heard and demand a ceasefire, and this is indeed the mobilization of workers within the framework of solidarity international worker who will impose peace.
The Communist Revolutionary Party recalls that peace means first of all a ceasefire, free access to all humanitarian workers and the withdrawal of occupying troops; then the dismantling of the colonies and the right of return for all those banished since 1948; finally a discussion with all Palestinian resistance organizations with the perspective of a single and secular Palestinian state.