ISRAEL, LIKE THE FISH, DIES BY ITS MOUTH
Israel is frantic about derailing South Africa’s December 29 request that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issue an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the Genocide Convention. The initial hearing is set for Thursday, January 11 at the Hague.
Israel reacted with characteristic fury:
Israel rejected “with disgust” South Africa’s genocide case against it, calling the case a baseless “blood libel” with no legal merit, and said it was committed to abiding by international law in its war on Hamas in Gaza.
“South Africa is collaborating with a terrorist group that calls for Israel’s destruction,” a statement from Israel’s Foreign Ministry said. “The people of Gaza are not an enemy of Israel, who is making efforts to limit harm to non-combatants.”
Is Israel right?. Let me share a portion of the complaint that deals with Expressions of Genocidal Intent against the Palestinian People by Israeli State Officials and Others and you can make up your own mind:
Evidence of Israeli State officials’ specific intent (‘dolus specialis’) to commit and persist in
committing genocidal acts or to fail to prevent them has been significant and overt since October 2023. Those statements of intent — when combined with the level of killing, maiming, displacement and destruction on the ground, together with the siege — evidence an unfolding and continuing genocide. They include statements by the following individuals in the positions of the highest responsibility:Prime Minister of Israel: On 7 October 2023, in a televised address by the Government
Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “operate forcefully
everywhere”.439 On 13 October 2023, he confirmed that “[w]e are striking our enemies with
unprecedented might . . .”.440 On 15 October 2023, when Israeli airstrikes had already killed
over 2,670 Palestinians, including 724 children,441 the Prime Minister stated that Israeli soldiers “understand the scope of the mission” and stand ready “to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against [Israel] to destroy us”.442 On 16 October 2023, in a formal address to the Israeli Knesset, he described situation as “a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle”,443 a dehumanising theme to which he returned on various occasions, including: on 3 November 2023, in a letter to Israeli soldiers and officers also published on the platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter); the letter asserted that: “[t]his is the war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. We will not let up on our mission until the light overcomes the darkness — the good will defeat the extreme evil that threatens us and the entire world.”444 The Israeli Prime Minister also returned to the theme in his ‘Christmas message’, stating: “we’re facing monsters, monsters who murdered children in front of their parents . . . This is a battle not only of Israel against these barbarians, it’s a battle of civilization against barbarism”.445 On 28 October 2023, as Israeli forces prepared their land invasion of Gaza, the Prime Minister invoked the Biblical story of the total destruction of Amalek by the Israelites, stating: “you must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember”.446 The Prime Minister referred again to Amalek in the letter sent on 3 November 2023 to Israeli soldiers and officers.447 The relevant biblical passage reads
as follows: “Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses”.448President of Israel: On 12 October 2023, President Isaac Herzog made clear that Israel
was not distinguishing between militants and civilians in Gaza, stating in a press conference to foreign media — in relation Palestinians in Gaza, over one million of whom are children: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved. It’s absolutely not true. … and we will fight until we break their backbone.”449 On 15 October 2023, echoing the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the President told foreign media that “we will uproot evil so that there will be good for the entire region and the world.”450 The Israeli President is one of many Israelis to have handwritten ‘messages’ on bombs to be dropped on Gaza.451Israeli Minister of Defence: On 9 October 2023, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in an Israeli Army ‘situation update’ advised that Israel was “imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No
electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”452 He also informed troops on the Gaza border that he had “released all the restraints”,453 stating in terms that: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything. If it doesn’t take one day, it will take a week. It will take weeks or even months, we will reach all places.”454 He further announced that Israel was moving to “a full scale response” and that he had “removed every restriction” on Israeli forces.455Israeli Minister for National Security: On 10 November 2023, Itamar Ben-Gvir clarified the government’s position in a televised address, stating: “[t]o be clear, when we say that Hamas should be destroyed, it also means those who celebrate, those who support, and
those who hand out candy — they’re all terrorists, and they should also be destroyed.”456Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure: ‘Tweeting’ on 13 October 2023, Israel Katz stated: “All the civilian population in Gaza is ordered to leave immediately. We will win.
They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world.”457 On 12 October 2023, he ‘tweeted’: “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarianism for humanitarianism. And no one will preach us morality.”458Israeli Minister of Finance: On 8 October 2023, Bezalel Smotrich stated at a meeting of the Israeli Cabinet that “[w]e need to deal a blow that hasn’t been seen in 50 years and take
down Gaza.”459Israeli Minister of Heritage: On 1 November 2023, Amichai Eliyahu posted on Facebook: “The north of the Gaza Strip, more beautiful than ever. Everything is blown up and
flattened, simply a pleasure for the eyes … We must talk about the day after. In my mind, we will hand over lots to all those who fought for Gaza over the years and to those evicted from Gush Katif” [a former Israeli settlement].460 He later argued against humanitarian aid as “[w]e wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid”, and “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza”.461 He also posited a nuclear attack on the Gaza Strip.462Israeli Minister of Agriculture: On 11 November 2023, Avi Dichter in a television interview recalled the Nakba of 1948, in which over 80 percent of the Palestinian population of
the new Israeli State was forced from or fled their homes, stating that “[w]e are now actually rolling out the Gaza Nakba”.463
This is only a portion of this section of the complaint. There are five more pages of similar, ghastly quotes. I give Amichai Eliyahu credit for one of the most abjectly stupid comments. He said, “[w]e wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid”. That statement proves genocidal intent. How so? Because the U.S. and the Brits did provide Nazis with humanitarian aid during and after the war. Nazi soldiers captured during the Battle of the Bulge were not lined up and shot. Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinians is shocking most of the world with each passing day.
Videos like the following do not help Israel’s case:
As someone who once considered himself a supporter of Israel, I am no longer. This is murder on a mass scale and it is indiscriminate and it disgusts me. Israel is not only carelessly killing Palestinian civilians, it is killing itself. I am not the only one sickened and exhausted by the Zionist extremism. And, as I have noted in previous posts, there are Jews who feel the same. I hope the ICJ finds the courage to do what is right.