Case number 182 under the ICJ (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) deserves mention in relation to Israel’s broad war of retaliation.
Unlike what is probably presumed in Europe, the case is not about Ukraine accusing RF of genocide, but rather a legal effort to stop the Russian actions. How? Like this:
- Ukraine claims that the motive behind Russias actions are rooted in the perception that Ukraine have committed genocide in Donbas.
- This being the real motive, all other motives (such as Russia’s reference to article 51 of the UN charter) fades.
- The proper action in case of a genocide (which Ukraine of course denies) is not to counter attack, but to start a case under ICJ.
- Therefore the Russian Federation must withdraw all troops and cease its actions.
Note that the court acceded to Ukraine’s request for provisional measures already on March 16th 2022. While the case is still ongoing, the court when requested for provisional measures ruled that the genocide motive was applicable. In other words, a state can have its own opinion of why it resorts to the actions it does, but earlier statements may end up being legally binding, despite being said in a context not necessarily perceived as legally binding.
Also note that 32 countries (at the time of writing) intervened in the case.
Moral obligation of these 32 counties
The list of countries intervening is quite revealing. All of them are of course either European or aligned with USA:
- EU members: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands
- Part of Schengen: Liechtenstein, Norway
- US aligned: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America
Since one does not have to look for long to find a statement from an Israeli official condemning Hamas itself of committing genocide, it will be easy to construe a case against Israel on the same grounds.
The reluctance of these countries to apply their own approach is worrying.
/PARADISE LOST