Thoughts On The ICJ Ruling And What Comes Next
By: Janet, a Jewish organizer with the Bronx Anti-War Coalition
One can make many observations about the ICJ ruling. Some are complimentary. Others, not so much.
Everyone who’s been on the barricades these past few months feels this truth to the very core of their soul: the ICJ did NOT go far enough. You don’t give a nation committing war crimes a month of leeway to “report back.” Every second that ticks by means more innocent lives are ripped from this world. “We investigated ourselves over crimes videotaped in broad daylight, yet found no wrongdoing”? I’m from the Bronx, so let’s call that loophole what it is: Bullshit.
The ICJ ruling was timid in a moment which cries out for moral clarity and spine. You don’t half-ass genocide. You condemn it as a crime against humanity. You draw a red line and demand the culprits be brought to justice. That’s what the Hague was created for, right? The ICJ ruling SHOULD have been not only for an immediate ceasefire but the criminal arrest of the Netanyahu regime as well.
Right now, Israeli hasbarists are spinning the ruling as exoneration. As anyone with a mind and eyes knows, it’s not. But that’s what they reflexively do: lie, gaslight, and charge antisemitism. As a Jewish woman, I call bull shit on that, too. If anyone’s antisemitic, it’s Zionists who conflate Judaism with THEIR crimes. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yet these apologists of atrocity dishonor the memory of the millions lost and seek to exploit that monstrous tragedy as a shield for ethnic cleansing. We who respect human rights know what an abomination that is. We will never hide or deflect from the Holocaust’s true lesson: that of “Never Again”… FOR ALL.
A handful of silver linings to the ICJ ruling: a ceasefire implies “war” between two parties. What’s happening in Gaza is no such thing. It’s open slaughter. More than 100 days in, over 65,000 Palestinians have been inflicted with life-changing wounds. An estimated 30,000 civilians have been murdered by Israel, including 10,000+ children. At least 75% of the population of Gaza has been displaced. Famine and disease claim more victims every day.
The ICJ DID order Israel to stop attacking these innocents and provide humanitarian aid. But Bibi’s regime has already flouted that request. For a nation that pours so much money into PR, they didn’t even pause for optics. That’s something we should spotlight as evidence of Israel’s terrorist nature as a rogue entity: look how modest and measured the ICJ was. Yet Israel refused to even honor THAT much.
So what do we do now? Both Israel and the Biden administration DEARLY hope we view the ruling as “enough.” They want us to grow tired and the protests in the streets to wane. Behind closed doors in strategy sessions, they calculate we’ll be distracted by the Presidential election, the latest “But Trump” scandal, and other shiny bright objects in the newsfeed. But we know all too well how much damage the IDF intends to wreak before Israel “reports back.” Their aim is for us to wait submissively until the cleansing of Gazans (by both death and expulsion) is complete. After which, empire managers intend to shrug and declare, “What’s done is done.” Then maybe – decades from now – half acknowledge the horror in a history book footnote or contrite op-ed. “Oops,” they’ll say.
For humanity, our own souls – and the lives of 2.3 million Palestinians – we CANNOT let that occur. In the days to come, we must continue to take the streets and use protest as a messaging tool to broadcast to the public what mainstream media WILL NOT: That the ICJ ruling does “not” wrap up this genocide in a tidy “nothing to see now, move on” bow. As long as Israeli drones are being launched, sniper rifles fired, and the Israeli perpetrators of this horror remain free, this is not over. We refuse to silence ourselves and go home.
In addition to the public, protests must target two additional audiences:
* COMPLICIT US POLITICIANS AND ORGANIZATIONS. Remember the PBS statement that accompanied most shows: “This programming was made possible with funding by…?” THIS GENOCIDE we rage against is made possible by $3.8 billion in US aid to Israel every year, along with the implicit threat of US military might. In foreign policy, both lip service and votes can have deadly results. Politicians who provide either to Israel are complicit in atrocity. At every town hall, event, private seminar, or campaign stop, we must keep calling them out. Preferably on camera for the world to share via Twitter, Tik-Tok, Instagram and more. The same goes for billionaires and lobbying groups: AIPAC, corporations that give to Israel, and Zionists like Paul Singer and Bill Ackerman. Silence is complicity. Though we may be weary and our voices hoarse, taking a break is unwise. We all see how free speech is increasingly threatened by this conflict. While we still can, we need to exercise that precious right – both for Palestinians and ourselves. And any politicians or interests who would censor US citizens for Israel must be exposed and condemned for what THEY are.
* APPEALS TO OTHER COUNTRIES. Polls show the majority of the US wants Israel’s attack on Palestine to end. If the United States were a true democracy, the siege of Gaza would never have come this far. For almost four months, the corporate captured machine we call our government has ignored public outcry. To leapfrog that obstacle, our protests must also be geared towards OTHER COUNTRIES, not just our own. We live in a time when the mask is falling fast on the US empire. In December, the entire world watched as the US almost unilaterally vetoed the UN Security Council’s vote for a ceasefire. Why should US elites (and those they’ve purchased) be allowed dictatorial control over such global human rights concerns? Every journey begins with a single step. The momentum of the ICJ’s ruling can be continued – without the US if need be. BRICS strengthened. Israeli assets frozen in foreign banks. Other countries can opt to join the Yemen blockade. Sanctions applied to Israel worldwide. Our own government may refuse to listen to us, but surely… others will. Ireland, South Africa, Colombia, and every country that voted for a ceasefire but was overridden should be urged to join in. And it’s our job as US citizens to inform them that – though the Biden administration and their GOP allies are comfortable with genocide – We the People ARE NOT.
At this moment, we must speak and protest louder than ever before. As our government and Israel inevitably defy even the watered-down asks of the Hague, we must turn to our latent economic power: the ability to mobilize and strike. In the words of Malcolm X, let’s use every means necessary to SHUT THIS GENOCIDE AND THE ETHNOSTATE OF ISRAEL DOWN FOR GOOD.
