To Palestine the doubt and to Israel the certainty

For some Western governments, the 27,000 human beings that Israel has murdered in Gaza are not sufficient proof of the commission of a genocide;

However, a single doubt sown by Israel about the alleged collaboration of UNRWA officials with Hamas is enough for them to suspend funding to this United Nations agency—on which six million Palestinian refugees depend—bringing more death and desolation to the already practically uninhabitable Palestinian strip.

By declaring itself competent to investigate the accusation presented by South Africa, the International Court of Justice has made history, not precisely because of the forcefulness of its provisional measures that several weeks later have proven to be a salute to the flag, but by challenging the governments of the great powers staunch defenders of the Zionist State – to which everything seems to be allowed – by daring to judge it for acts of genocide in Gaza.

When South Africa presented its case before the high court, Germany was the first European government to take action, alleging a risk of “political instrumentation” of International Law.

“The German Government firmly and explicitly rejects the accusation of genocide now brought against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

This accusation has no basis whatsoever," declared Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for whom the evidence contained in dozens of reports from United Nations organizations is not enough to alter the tradition of German governments of wanting to atone for the guilt of the Holocaust by blindly supporting the Israeli colonial project, even if this amounts to exterminating the Palestinians.

Hence the harsh criticism launched by the president of Namibia when he stated that Germany is incapable of “learning from the lessons of its cruel history,” alluding to the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples by the German Empire between 1904 and 1908. “Germany cannot morally express its commitment to the United Nations Convention against Genocide, including reparation for the genocide in Namibia, and at the same time support the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza,” Hage Geingob concluded.

After a compelling list of considerations, including the recognition of the vulnerability of the Gaza population, the tens of thousands of civilians murdered, homes, schools and hospitals destroyed, and the massive displacement of the majority of the population, the Court ordered Israel “to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of any act within the scope of Article II of this Convention.

In particular: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately imposing living conditions intended to cause their total or partial physical destruction, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”

Unlike the vehemence with which the Court ordered Russia to hold a ceasefire in Ukraine in March 2022, these measures err by leaving the fate of their victims in the hands of the perpetrator;

although a more decisive tone would not be a guarantee that this disdain of international legality would stop the massacre.

“The ICJ decision alone cannot put an end to the atrocities and devastation that Gazans are witnessing.

“The alarming signs of genocide in Gaza and Israel’s blatant disregard for international law highlight the urgent need to apply effective and unified pressure on Israel to stop its attack on the Palestinians,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard. , the same day of the ICJ ruling.

The human rights defender recalled that “all states - including those critical or opposed to the case of genocide - presented by South Africa have a clear duty to ensure that these measures are implemented.

“World leaders from the US, the UK, Germany and other EU member states must show their respect for the Court’s binding decision and do everything in their power to fulfill their obligation to prevent genocide.” .

Netanyahu rejected the verdict, but welcomed that the court did not order an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Twenty-four hours later, Israel killed 170 civilians and injured another 310 by intensifying its bombing in southern Gaza and accused, without disclosing the evidence, 12 UNRWA employees of being Hamas collaborators.

The United Nations, in a radical measure to protect the agency and its 30,000 workers, canceled the contracts of those allegedly involved and initiated an investigation.

Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland were weighed down more by the doubt raised and, without waiting for the results of the investigations, they immediately announced the suspension of their contributions.

A way, without going against the ruling, to show support for their ally, even if this amounts to causing even more damage to the population, which would go against the Court's provisional measures.

With UNRWA being the backbone of the entire humanitarian operation in Gaza, the possibility of being forced to cease its operation at the end of February due to lack of funding, just at the moment when Israel is preparing a ground incursion into Rafah - where they have reached about a million displaced people from the north - puts the maintenance of life in the besieged strip on the brink of a precipice and brings Israel closer to its intention of committing genocide.

*Afif Siman Slebi

is a member of the Colombo-Palestine Cultural Foundation of Barranquilla, the city of which he was Secretary of Culture

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