Durban — Friday’s findings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was as huge a win for South Africa, and the beleaguered Palestinians, as it was an embarrassing defeat for Israel and its allies around the world, including the US and much of Europe.
Whether the verdict results in any tangible relief for the besieged, battered Palestinians, and how soon, remains to be seen, of course, with a belligerent Israel having already said that it would ignore a negative finding, and the court having no power to enforce its ruling.
Criticism of South Africa from certain quarters, from within and beyond its borders, centres on its own moral failures in not arresting Omar al-Bashir – wanted for war crimes in Sudan – and for seeking an exemption from having to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Such critics fail to acknowledge the West’s own moral failures, propping up dictatorships when it suits its agenda, invading countries at will, carrying out assassinations and acts of sabotage in foreign lands, and in giving Israel a free pass to do its worst, protecting it from any and all sanction at the UN, going to the extent in some cases of banning any form of criticism of the country, and falsely equating criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism.
Nobody, it seems, has completely clean hands (least of all Hamas) and everybody can point the finger at everyone else.
At issue was Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks, which have been deemed to be disproportionate and calculated to completely remove any Palestinian presence from the lands of their birth, lands which Israel and its settler communities have steadily been encroaching on and stealing for decades.
The court made its feeling on the matter quite plain, asking Israel to take all measures to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and to allow humanitarian assistance to enter the Gaza Strip.
However it will be spun in some circles, Friday’s ICJ verdict was a huge diplomatic win for South Africa and Palestine, and a huge PR defeat for Israel.
Independent on Saturday