ICJ to Israel: Halt Genocidal Acts

The International Court of Justice issued several orders in response to South Africa’s case against Israel, demanding it prevent genocide, an allegation it ruled is 'plausible.'

Prevent genocide.

That’s the directive at the heart of the International Court of Justice’s scathing provisional measures issued to Israel Friday morning at The Hague. You’ll likely hear otherwise from MSM and others, but that’s effectively the ruling in its purest form: Stop killing innocent civilians. Stop destroying their homes and businesses, villages, towns, and cities. Stop slaughtering children.

The historic orders come as the ICJ, known as the World Court, weighs the horrific allegations of an 84-page filing by South Africa charging Israel with genocide—a case we’ve dedicated several episodes to so far. Testament to the urgency of the situation, more than 3,000 additional Palestinians have been wiped off the face of this planet since our last installment—bringing the ever-rising civilian death toll to more than 26,000 people, with more than half of the dead children.

In announcing the court’s ruling, ICJ President Judge Joan E. Donoghue (a former U.S. State Department attorney) said, “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.”

While the court assesses its ultimate determination—a process that could take years—the immediacy of a strong, legally binding imperative to halt the mounting carnage and disastrous associated conditions from more than three months of bombings, bulldozing, and raids was not lost on its 17 members, with Donoghue stating:

“In these circumstances, the court considers that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its final judgment.”

Among the ICJ’s mandates, by a vote of 15 to 2:

The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 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;

(c) 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

What does this mean? What happens next? Will the bloodshed end?!? The ICJ’s measures come the same day deliberations begin in a California federal courtroom over whether President Joe Biden and other senior U.S. officials will be held liable for complicity to genocide in their arming of Israel. That case, too, seeks an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and any U.S. taxpayer-financed weaponry.

Of course, all this additionally plays out amidst continuing U.S. military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen—a militant group attacking vessels in the Red Sea, it claims, to stop the massacres in Gaza.

As you can tell, there’s an awful lot to unpack, so we decided to continue our ongoing conversation about South Africa’s case and ICJ’s ruling, along with much-needed context and thought on the potential impact.

Please give us a listen, share your thoughts by rating and reviewing us, and subscribe to this Substack if you were enlightened, enraged, or inspired by what you hear. Consider checking out our previous coverage, as well:

“9/11 Redux: Will the Israel-Hamas Conflict Lead to a Renewed War on Terror?”

“The Genocide Case Against Israel” (Parts I & II)

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Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host: Manny Faces
Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Christopher Twarowski
Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian
Episode Art: Jon Chim