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International Court of Justice (ICJ)

South Africa To Sue US, UK For Complicity In Gaza Genocide

Nearly 50 South African lawyers, led by attorney Wikus Van Rensburg, are gearing up to file a lawsuit against the United States and the United Kingdom, asserting their complicity in Israeli forces' war crimes in Palestine, Anadolu Agency reports. This initiative follows South Africa's filing of a genocide case against "Israel" at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Rensburg, the driving force behind the legal action, aims to prosecute those complicit in the crimes through civilian courts, collaborating with legal professionals in the US and UK. In an interview with Anadolu, Rensburg emphasized the need to hold the US accountable for its actions and highlighted the forthcoming legal proceedings against Washington and London.

Israel Tasks US Congress With Pressuring South Africa To Drop Genocide Case

Israel is lobbying members of Congress to pressure South Africa to drop its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Axios reported on 9 September. South Africa has until 28 October to submit its arguments for continuing its case, claiming Israel is in violation of the Genocide Convention due to its war in Gaza. Israeli officials say they want members of Congress to threaten South Africa with consequences for continuing to pursue the case. On Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry sent a classified cable to the Israeli embassy and consulates in the US with instructions for dealing with South Africa.

Suspending Israel From The United Nations

Israel’s devastating onslaught on Gaza, now approaching the one-year mark, and increasing settler outrages in the West Bank are giving fresh urgency to moves to suspend the Jewish state from the United Nations General Assembly. Palestinian civil society has long been calling for such a step, and the Gaza war, along with the two major pronouncements from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Israel this year, have given the initiative new traction. The idea is to use the same mechanism against the Jewish state that was used in 1974 to freeze apartheid South Africa’s participation in the General Assembly. The action contributed to the white minority government’s isolation and its eventual collapse.

Namibia Blocks Ship Carrying ‘Explosive Material’ For Israel

The Namibian government has barred the Portuguese-flagged MV Kathrin cargo vessel from entering its territorial waters under suspicions that the ship carries military equipment and “explosive material” for Israel. “Yes, I have asked Namport via the line ministry to consider the request to not allow the vessel MV Kathrin to dock in our ports. The request was made on Friday,” Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab told Namibian daily New Era on 26 August. “Upon receiving reports that a vessel may be carrying weapons intended for Israel, I addressed a letter to Cabinet, international relations ministry, works ministry, as well as the safety and security ministry, advising and reminding them of our international obligations, not only under the Genocide Convention but also as articulated in the recent advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” she added.

The ICJ Finds That BDS Is Not Merely A Right, But An Obligation

Israel and its lobby have, for years now, been engaged in a frenzy of activity to further insulate Israel from accountability by using their influence in the West to effectively outlaw organized opposition to Israel. Foremost among these efforts has been the Israeli campaign to penalize calls to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel for its gross violations of human rights. As a result, countless laws and policies are now on the books across the U.S. and the broader West, trampling on core constitutional principles and internationally guaranteed human rights in defense of Israeli impunity. But an advisory opinion issued last month by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should help to turn that around.

In Significant Reversal, Church Of England Says Israeli Occupation Must End

“It is clear that ending the occupation is a legal and moral responsibility,” the head of the Church of England said in a statement released earlier this month. In his August 2 response to the ICJ’s July 19 opinion, Archbishop Justin Welby wrote, “At a time when the world is marked by increasing violations of international law—and commitment to a rules-based system is in question—it is imperative that governments around the world reaffirm their unwavering commitment to all decisions by the International Court of Justice, irrespective of the situation.” Supporters of the Palestinian struggle for civil rights and self-determination applaud the Archbishop’s statement, citing it as a significant reversal from the Church of England’s position on Palestine/Israel.

Ruling Challenges Media Stance On Palestine

Major international media faces a dilemma over whether to adapt its reporting to the World Court’s judgment last month that Israel is an apartheid state illegally occupying Palestinian territory or continue to reflect a dominant narrative giving Israel ideological succor. The legal opinion followed a request in December 2022 from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the legal status of the occupation, as the United States and its sub-imperial allies continued to dispute international law on the matter. Western media outlets have for decades been wary of calling the occupation illegal, largely due to international law being disputed by Israel and its Western backers.

The World Court Has Ended The Oslo Ruse

Israel is on trial for genocide in the International Court of Justice (the ICJ). The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders for crimes against humanity. Millions of people across the globe, Palestinians, Jews, Muslims, Christians, students, workers, and others, are mobilized to challenge Israeli settler-colonialism, apartheid, and genocide. The 76-year-old wall of impunity, built brick-by-brick by the US, the UK, and other Western governments, is beginning to crumble. Further evidence of this came on July 19 when, in a stunning advisory opinion, the ICJ ruled that international law protects the rights of the Palestinians, and they need not negotiate with their oppressors for those rights under Oslo or any other political framework, dealing a definitive blow to decades of US and Western efforts to situate Israel outside the reach of the rule of law.

ICC To Rule If The Australian Government Is Complicit In Genocide

The evidence of complicity by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior parliamentarians has been accepted into the ongoing International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine. The ‘Article 15 Communication’ submitted by Birchgrove Legal in March this year named Prime Minister Albanese as an accessory to genocide, making him the first leader of a Western nation to be referred to the ICC under the Rome Statute. In personalised correspondence received this week, the Office of the Prosecutor – International Criminal Court (OTP-ICC) advised Birchgrove Legal that the 92-page document, which was endorsed by more than one hundred Australian lawyers and barristers, had been “added to the evidence gathered and transmitted to relevant staff members for further review.”

Nicaragua Says USA Should Disappear If Palestine Can’t Have A State

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega blasted Western support for Israel in its war on Gaza and asked, if the Palestinian people are not allowed to have a state, why does the United States itself have the right to exist? Ortega accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and noted that the Western governments arming Tel Aviv are complicit in its crimes. The Nicaraguan president made these remarks at an event in Managua honoring the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution on July 19. He was joined by Palestinian revolutionary Leila Khaled, who denounced imperialism and neocolonialism.

Netanyahu’s Visit To Congress Underscores US Contempt For International Law

The U.S. has long ignored many commands of international law, but its casual disregard of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has come into sharp focus this week as the U.S. Congress extends a warm welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just five days after the ICJ notified all UN member states that they have a legal “obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The World Court’s historic 83-page advisory opinion, which was issued on July 19 and held that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal, was quickly hailed by Middle East political expert Nomi Bar-Yaacov as a “legal earthquake” and the strongest decision that the court had ever issued.

US Media Downplay And Ignore ICJ Declaring Israeli Occupation Illegal

The International Court of Justice’s landmark opinion that Israel’s “settlements” in the occupied Palestine West Bank violate international law should have been on the front page of the New York Times. Prominently. But no. Instead, the Times, along with the rest of the U.S. mainstream media, downplayed, covered up, and even ignored the historic July 19 decision. Let’s start with the Times. The print edition the day after ran the story at the bottom of page 5. Two days later, the report has already disappeared from the paper’s online home page. This site has long and regularly explained how the New York Times tried to finesse its reporting about Israel’s illegal settlements.

International Court Of Justice Advisory Opinion On Israel

In the Court’s view, the fact that an occupation is prolonged does not in itself change its legal status under international humanitarian law. Although premised on the temporary character of the occupation, the law of occupation does not set temporal limits that would, as such, alter the legal status of the occupation. Occupation consists of the exercise by a State of effective control in foreign territory. In order to be permissible, therefore, such exercise of effective control must at all times be consistent with the rules concerning the prohibition of the threat or use of force, including the prohibition of territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force, as well as with the right to self‑determination.

In A Historic Ruling, ICJ Declares Israeli Occupation Unlawful

In a scathing Advisory Opinion sure to tighten the legal screws on Israel and place its Western allies in a huge bind, the world’s supreme judicial body declared today that Israel’s 57-year occupation and settlement of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are unlawful, that both must end, that settlements must be evacuated, and that Palestinians — denied their inalienable right to self-determination – must be compensated for their losses and allowed to return to their lands. “The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination...

ICJ Says Israel’s Presence In Palestinian Territory Is Unlawful

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”. Nawaf Salam, president of the ICJ in The Hague, read out the nonbinding advisory opinion issued by the 15-judge panel on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory on Friday. The judges pointed to a wide list of policies – including the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, use of the area’s natural resources, the annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians – all of which it said violated international law.
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