This new year is off to a pretty tumultuous, sabre-rattling start. Three months since the attack on Israel that happened in Gaza on October 7th, and Israel’s unremittingly genocidal “war” on Palestine, which they say they are carrying out in response to said attack, the “West” is still helping Israel commit its genocide despite international condemnation. Israel, for their part, does not give a damn what international law says about its actions, since they have already established they view their campaign against Palestinians not only as an “anti-terrorist” war but also a religious struggle between “the children of light” (Israel, representing “humanity”) and “the children of darkness” (the “human animals”, which is how Israel refers to Palestinians, and not just Hamas). But, for all it’s worth, Israel’s genocide against Palestinians is not going unchallenged.
On December 29th, the government of South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. South Africa argues that Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide and therefore that its actions (including the use of blanket bombings and cutting off all resources and supplies to Gaza) are in violation of the Genocide Convention. This happened just weeks after the 75th anniversary of that very Convention was commemorated. The official hearing for this case began on Thursday. Of course, Israel responded to all of this by openly accusing the South African government of being the “legal wing of Hamas”. This is not unexpected, because Israeli officials have just last month made clear that they regard the United Nations as being on the side of Hamas for daring to oppose the collective punishment of Palestinians. In any case, both the Israeli government and Washington DC reject all charges of genocide. It is expected that the ICJ trial will undermine the impunity of the Israeli government, empower the Genocide Convention against Israel, and, with any hope, curtail Israel’s ability to devastate Palestine or even stop their genocide entirely.
To that effect, there is one other interesting development related to all of this, which has received substantial international attention. On Thursday, the United States and the United Kingdom, with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, and, Singapore, began bombing Yemen. The US and the UK both claim that they are specifically striking “Houthi” military targets in Yemen, and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, refers to the bombings as an act of “self-defense”. This is ostensibly in response to attacks carried by “the Houthis”, or rather Ansarallah as they are officially called, on commercial ships travelling to Israel via the Red Sea. There is, incidentally, a link between the British bombing of Yemen and the British role in supporting Israel’s genocide against Palestine: British warplanes bound for Yemen are flying from an RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, referred to as RAF Akrotiri, which is the same base from which several British military transport flights to Gaza were conducted since October 7th.
Yemen is becoming a major player in the struggle against Israel’s genocide against Palestine. On October 31st 2021, the Yemeni Army declared its intention to provide humanitarian support for the people of Gaza and confirmed that they have carried out military operations against Israel in support of Palestine, while promising to carry out more qualitative strikes until Israeli aggression in Palestine stops. To that effect, it seems, Ansarallah are attacking ships that are travelling to Israel through the Red Sea as well as Israeli vessels, It has been aruged that Yemen is acting in accordance with the Genocide Convention, which obliges UN state parties (one of which is Yemen) to enforce this Convention and its prohibition of genocide, although so far it seems that the ICJ has yet to rule either way.
All of this though, presents a question. The International Court of Justice may deem Israel guilty of genocide. It may take years for it to come to an official verdict, but it may be a guilty verdict for Israel. Yet, in the meantime and perhaps after the fact, Israel will no doubt continue to pursue acts of genocide against Palestine despite South Africa’s case and despite the judgement of the ICJ. Israel is already fully prepared to dismiss the ICJ, as they have already dismissed the words of the United Nations. Moreover, Israel can be fully confident to do so, since Israel has the fullsome support of the United States government, and the support of other “Western” nations such as the United Kingdom. The question is, if the ICJ deems Israel guilty of genocide under the terms of the Genocide Convention, will that be any guarantee that Israel will cease its genocidal campaign in Gaza and Palestine at large? After all, we have several reasons to assume the opposite will be true: that Israel will simply ignore the ruling and, with the help of America and its allies, continue bomb Palestine and wipe out Palestinians. At that point, could we say that Israel’s impunity has been undermined, even if they lose their reputation on the world’s stage?
Israel already does not care what the rest of the world thinks of them, because they see their genocide as a struggle for its very existence, which it takes to mean the existence of Jews, and they think the rest of the world is against them and therefore, according to them, antisemitic. If the ICJ rules against Israel, that ruling would be final and binding, not subject to appeal. But the ICJ has no way to enforce this ruling. All it can do is place an injunction on Israel, and expect that UN state parties enforce the Genocide Convention, which, so far, it could be said that Yemen and South Africa are doing. But Israel has already established that it regards the ICJ, South Africa, and the UN Security Council as acting on behalf of Hamas, their state enemy, so no matter what happens, Israel will not comply with the ICJ nor observe any obligations it places. That means Israel will very likely try to continue its genocidal campaign against Palestine, with the support of the US and other countries of course, and, unless other countries intervene, it may result in, at minimum, the total destruction of Gaza, if not the whole of occupied Palestine and its people.
I believe that, depending on how all of this goes, a lot of people are about to find out that, despite all appearances, violence has the final word. There is an extent to which we may argue that Yemen knows this and acts accordingly. The ICJ has not ruled that Israel is guilty of genocide under the Genocide Convention yet (although they very probably will), but it is expected to, and we might assume that Yemen and Ansarallah know that someone has to disrupt any material support going to Israel in order to stop Israel from destroying Palestine and preserve the lives of Palestinians. If the ICJ rules against Israel, and Israel still succeeds in completing its genocide and destruction of Palestinians, then international law will be shown to be basically powerless, completely lacking the ability to protect people from genocide or war crimes. Israel would thus be victorious in its impunity, rather than face the devastation of this impunity, On the other hand, if the ICJ rules against Israel, and Israel is not successful in destroying Palestine, it will not be a triumph of international law such, but rather it will come from the fact that countries like Yemen have taken action to uphold it, but such action implies violence, or the threat thereof. Yemen seems to have acknowledges this, at least to the effect that the people of Yemen expect there to be war over the Red Sea blockades. The American government may or may not also be preparing to go to war with Yemen.
I still very much doubt we’re looking at World War 3, as some might suggest. In fact, I have seen people sound the alarm for the onset of World War 3 so often and then it never happens over the years that I have practically trained myself to dismiss it every time. But what I am absolutely certain of is that we are on the cusp of a moment which reveals to the “civilised” world that the final hand of things is violence, and that international law depends on, covers for, and falters in the face of it. There are people who say that “the West”‘s actions will result in people losing faith in international law and order. I am inclined to think they are right, and I am inclined to think that this is ultimately a good thing. We will see it as one more of the lies we tell ourselves shatter to pieces, one way or the other. And I think one thing above all is already very clear: if you want the world to hold Israel account for its actions in Palestine – scratch that; if you want the world to be able to hold Israel accountable for its actions – then Israel must first lose.
For Palestine to be free, and for Israel’s genocide to be over, this is absolutely essential. Israel must face defeat at the hands of its enemies. Only then can one even hope for compromise under the circumstances. Hell, if you still hold on that dream of the so-called “two state solution” (that is, the harmonious co-existence of the two states of Israel and Palestine), despite everything, then the only chance there is of perpetuating the very condition of there being those two states is if Israel is somehow forced to end its genocidal aggression against Palestine. Israel has the power to end it by itself, but they refuse to, so the only way Israel is going to stop doing what it’s doing in Palestine is by force, even that is force in support of international law. Of this, there cannot be any doubt.
Aleph's Heretical Domain 