The genocide regime has profound symbolism, but little immediate effect
A ruling by the International Court of Justice on Friday on charges of genocide against Israel had deep historical resonance for both Israelis and Palestinians. But it lacked immediate practical consequences.
The World Court has not ordered a halt to fighting in the Gaza Strip or attempted to rule on the merits of the case brought by South Africa, a process that will take months – if not years.
But the court did order Israel to comply with the Genocide Convention, to send more aid to Gaza, and to inform the court of its efforts to do so — interim measures that would appear to many Israelis as a rebuke and to many Palestinians as a moral felt victory.
For many Israelis, the fact that a state created in the aftermath of the Holocaust was accused of genocide was “a great symbol,” Alon Pinkas, an Israeli political commentator and former ambassador, said after the court ruling in The New York Times. Hedge.
“For us to even be mentioned in the same sentence as the concept of genocide – not even cruelty, not disproportionate violence, not war crime, but genocide – that is extremely uncomfortable,” he added.
For many Palestinians, the court's intervention provided a short-lived sense of validation for their case. Israel is rarely held accountable for its actions, Palestinians and their supporters say, and the ruling felt like a welcome exception in the midst of one of the deadliest wars of this century.
“The slaughter continues, the carnage continues, the utter destruction continues,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a former Palestinian official. But the court's decision reflected “a serious transformation in the way Israel is perceived and treated worldwide,” she said.
“Israel is being held accountable for the first time – by the highest court, and by a near-unanimous ruling,” she added.
For the residents of Gaza, the intervention will provide little immediate relief.
Gazan officials say Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 25,000 Gazans and damaged most buildings in the area, the United Nations said. More than four in five residents have been driven from their homes, the health care system has collapsed and the UN has repeatedly warned of an impending famine.
In ordering compliance with the Genocide Convention, the Court pushed Israel to follow an international law written in 1948 that prohibits signatory states from killing members of an ethnic, national or religious group with the intent to kill that specific group, even partially, to destroy. .
To many Israelis, the decision seemed like the latest example of bias against Israel in an international forum. They say the world holds Israel to a higher standard than most other countries. And for the Israeli mainstream, the war is one of necessity and survival – forced on Israel by the Hamas attack on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people and, according to Israeli estimates, led to the kidnapping of 240 others to Gaza.
Yoav Gallant, the Israeli Defense Minister whose inflammatory statements about the war were cited by the court in the preamble to the ruling, called the court's ruling anti-Semitic.
“The State of Israel does not need to be taught morality to distinguish between terrorists and the civilian population in Gaza,” Mr. Gallant said.
“Those who seek justice will not find it on the leather seats of the courtroom in The Hague,” he added.
Still, the court's instructions could give momentum and political cover to Israeli officials who have been pressing internally to temper military actions in Gaza and ease the humanitarian disaster in the area, said Janina Dill, an expert on international law at the University of Oxford.
“All the dissenting voices in the Israeli government and the Israeli military who disagree with the way the war has been conducted so far have now been given a very powerful strategic argument to ask for a change of course,” said Professor Dill .
For Professor Dill, the case also prompted reflection “on the human condition,” given how Israel was founded in part to prevent genocide against the Jewish people.
“Preventing people from turning against each other is an ongoing battle, and no group in the world is unable to do so,” she added.
It was a topic that seemed to preoccupy the sole Israeli judge, Aharon Barak, of the seventeen who reviewed the case at the World Court.
As a child, Mr Barak, 87, survived the Holocaust after escaping from a Jewish ghetto in Lithuania by hiding in a bag.
“Genocide shadows the history of the Jewish people, and it is intertwined with my own personal experience,” Mr. Barak said. wrote. “The idea that Israel is now accused of committing genocide is very difficult for me personally, because as a genocide survivor I am deeply aware of Israel's commitment to the rule of law as a Jewish and democratic state.”
Against this complex backdrop, Mr. Barak chose to vote against some of the measures adopted by the court. But he joined his colleagues in calling on Israel to allow more aid to Gaza and to punish people who incite genocide — surprising observers who had expected him to side with Israel on every issue.
While many Israelis expressed frustration with the ruling, some found relief in the fact that the court did not order Israel to halt its military operation.
According to Mr. Barak, this course of action would have left Israel “defenseless in the face of a brutal attack and unable to fulfill its most fundamental duties to its citizens.”
“It would amount to tying both of Israel's hands, denying the country the ability to fight, even in accordance with international law,” he wrote.
But for some Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, that same decision meant betrayal. Many had hoped that the court would call on Israel to stop the war completely – a move that would have been virtually impossible to enforce but would have marked a victory in the battle for public opinion.
“It talks like genocide and walks like genocide,” said Muhammad Shehada, a rights activist from Gaza. wrote on social media. “However, there is no need to stop the genocidal war! Everthing okay?”
Six hours after the court ruling, the Gaza Ministry of Health released the latest casualty figures from the war. Another 200 Gaza residents have been killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Friday evening.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting from Haifa, Israel, and Johnatan Reiss from Tel Aviv.