Daily Times

For the first time in 75 years, the international legal system stood up and told Israel it could not buy its cock-and-bull concoction of security threats to dismiss a very “real and imminent risk” of genocide being committed in Gaza.

In a highly-anticipated ruling, the International Court of Justice at The Hague overwhelmingly decided in favour of South Africa; ordering Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the genocide convention and ensure its army did not commit any such act on Gazans. Although the greatly celebrated ICJ ruling stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire, the fact that it demanded effective humanitarian aid, prosecution of those (including high-ranked government officials) responsible for mass destruction and, in effect, highlighted whatever the Palestinians have been screaming for the last 112 days is enough reason to declare it a decisive day.

The onus now lies on the international community to snap out of its complacency or short-term monetary interest and force the Israeli authorities to carry out all that the court has demanded. While it was incredibly easy to hide behind the well-constructed facade of false claims and sob stories, the highest court’s willingness to separate fact from fiction might push states like the US to make a move for the right side of history.

Law may help make avenues for politics to follow through but at the end of the day, leaders like Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Justine Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron would have to convince someone like Benjamin Netanyahu who is still standing firm in his self-professed crusade to defend Israel and its citizens in whatever way he deems suitable.

Shelling a refugee camp in Gaza after being told by the ICJ to stop killing civilians only serves to confirm to the world that he is leading a rogue, criminal state. The tragedy that has eaten up one Palestinian child every 15 minutes, left hundreds of thousands in a pit of catastrophic hunger and closed the doors on education, livelihood and life as is known to the rest of us while reducing the entire Gaza Strip to rubble cannot be allowed to continue any longer. *