ICJ opinion ‘utterly damning’ for Israel
Geoffrey Nice, a human rights barrister who led the prosecution of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic at an international criminal tribunal, has told Al Jazeera that the opinion issued by the highest UN court will surely affect Israel’s standing in the world.
“For a long time, there has been real concern that the so-called world order supported by the world legal system has been prepared to play second fiddle to and be cowed down by political pressure,” he said, adding that the ICJ and the International Criminal Court are changing things now.
“As a result of what’s happened in Russia and Ukraine, and more particularly perhaps in Israel and Gaza, the two senior international courts have emerged from periods of slow or no activity and they’ve shown that they are prepared to do that which they were set up to do,” Nice said.
“It’s something the public would want, and it puts countries that are suppressing the application of international law, in particular the US and also Britain, in a difficult position.”
Nice said the UN General Assembly could now potentially move forward with suspending Israel’s activities at the organisation.
“Israel is going to suffer. Is it going to suffer because of trade sanctions or matters of that sort? It’s hard to tell at this stage. But it’s going to suffer almost inevitably in the approach that is going to be taken by countries to the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza,” he said.
Palestinian ambassador says will create “masterpiece” of UNGA resolution after ICJ ruling
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, has responded to the ICJ’s ruling, saying he was “grateful” and calling it an “additional force…to add to the arsenal that we have in order to continue resisting this illegal occupation”.
“Our people want to put an end to this occupation,” he said from the Hague. “What happened today is a significant step in the direction of ending occupation and attaining the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self determination, statehood and the right of the refugees to return.”
He said Palestinian officials would study “all the nuances” of the ruling, develop a plan, and eventually “produce a masterpiece of a resolution in the General Assembly in line with this historic decision of the ICJ”.
‘Triumph for justice’: Palestinian presidency welcomes ICJ ruling
The Palestinian presidency has “warmly welcomed” the ICJ opinion, calling it a “triumph for justice, affirming that the Israeli occupation is illegal”.
“The presidency viewed the ICJ decision as a reaffirmation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, their land, and their statehood,” it said.
“The presidency emphasised that amidst the ongoing Israeli aggression and genocide against our people in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, the ICJ ruling renews hope among our people for a future free from colonisation, on the path to achieving their absolute and non-negotiable right to self-determination and liberation.”
Palestinian Presidency welcomes the ICJ ruling and called on the international community to compel Israel to rapidly end its unlawful presence in Palestine: pic.twitter.com/cwdpkLH5F2
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) July 19, 2024
