Spain
and Ireland were equally unequivocal in supporting the ICJ decision.
The UK under a new Labour government was predictably cautious despite
the clarity and acuity of the ruling, saying it needed time to consider
the decision. The Foreign Office
reiterated the longstanding line that the UK is “strongly opposed to
the expansion of illegal settlements and rising settler violence” the
mild chastisement repeated over decades that has done absolutely nothing
to deter either.
Arab states among them Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait welcomed the decision. The Saudi foreign ministry released a statement
which referenced the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and stressed the
need to guarantee “the Palestinian people their inherent right to
self-determination and the establishment of their independent state on
the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capitol.”
South Africa which had already brought a case against Israel
of committing genocide to the ICJ in December of 2023 praised the
court’s decision, with Ronald Lamola the Minister of International
Relations and Cooperation quoted in a lengthy statement:
The international community must act to bring an immediate end to
the occupation and the gross violations of international humanitarian
and human rights law being perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian
people. There is now an additional legal obligation for all States to
end complicity in Israel’s illegal actions and to act to ensure respect
for international law.
Benjamin Netanyahu labelled it
a “false decision in The Hague” and claimed that the land belongs to
the Jewish people who “are not occupiers in their own land.” The ICJ was
trying to “distort this historical truth, just as the legality of
Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be
contested.”
The prime minister, defending, as he would say, the Jewish homeland gave the green light to a massive Israeli air attack on the Yemen port city of Hodeidah in retaliation for a Huthi drone strike
on Friday in Tel Aviv that killed one and injured eight. The Israeli
raid targeted and set ablaze an oil depot and a power station at the
port which is the major route for humanitarian aid into a country that
has suffered through nearly ten years of a devastating civil war. At
least six were killed and close to 100 injured.
Yoav Gallant the Israeli Defense Minister, as reported by the BBC,
boasted that "The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen
across the Middle East and the significance is clear."
Clear too was the Saudi response which said in part:
The Foreign Ministry is following with great concern the
developments of the military escalation in Yemen after the Israeli
attacks in Al Hudaydah, which aggravates the current tension in the
region and halts the ongoing efforts to end the war on Gaza.
Netanyahu has arrived in Washington
where he will meet President Biden and address a joint meeting of
Congress on Wednesday. With President Biden standing down the ground has
shifted for the prime minister. In Biden he had a president who
staunchly supported the Gaza war. Kamala Harris who is most likely to
assume the mantle as the Democratic contender against Donald Trump is
not so readily identified as an unwavering backer of Netanyahu.
Ben Samuels writing in Haaretz on Monday noted:
Harris… has been widely viewed as the Biden administration's
so-called "bad cop" on Israel in recent months, as Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and his government seemed to ignore the White House's
pleas for improved attention to civilian harm in Gaza and dramatically
bolstered humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
Whether the “bad cop” prevails in November over Donald Trump is
anyone's guess at this stage but Netanyahu might reflect on what Harris
had to say in March when she addressed the humanitarian disaster
inflicted on the Gazans by the IDF. As Samuels recounts, she chose a
pivotal location in the history of the US struggle for civil rights,
Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, to speak on behalf of beleaguered and starving Palestinian civilians:
I must address the humanitarian crisis. What we're seeing every
day in Gaza is devastating. We have seen reports of families eating
leaves or animal feed. Women giving birth to malnourished babies with
little to no medical care. Children dying from malnutrition and
dehydration… The Israeli government must do more to significantly
increase the flow of aid. No excuses.
Would a President Harris do what Joe Biden has adamantly refused to
do, halt the flow of weapons to Israel? That’s a question Benjamin
Netanyahu will be weighing up as he seeks to shore up US support for his
genocidal war. Tellingly President Biden is meeting the Israeli PM.
Harris declined the opportunity to do so.
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