On January 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim ruling in the case brought against Israel by South Africa for the crime of genocide committed against the Palestinian residents of Gaza.
In a press statement, the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ) stated that the ruling is both “historic” and “that South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza is plausible.”
The ICJ ruling concentrated on four of the five definitional meanings of genocide and directed Israel to stop killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinians in Gaza, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within Gaza.
The Australian government almost immediately undercut the power of the ICJ ruling by collaborating in an internationally coordinated campaign supporting Israel’s long-standing effort to destroy the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Since its establishment in 1949, following the Nakba, the UNWRA has been essential to the physical survival of Palestinians, not just in Gaza, but throughout surrounding countries. Existing as stateless refugees, Palestinians have depended on the UNWRA. Israel has targeted the agency for destruction.
ACIJ Executive Director Rawan Arraf said the ICJ ruling puts the Australian government on notice. “The government cannot ignore this ruling from the ICJ that the Palestinian people in Gaza are at serious risk of genocide,” he said.
“The government must immediately review its economic ties to Israel and impose targeted sanctions. All defense industry partnerships must be suspended, and a two-way arms embargo imposed. This means the government must halt any export of arms and arms components to Israel, including exports being diverted through other countries. Any extant permits must be suspended.”
He went on: “The Australian government should ensure that any of its citizens serving with the Israeli military are investigated in Australia for any commission of international crimes.”
A statement by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People quoted the ICJ in saying the “civilian population in the Gaza Strip remains extremely vulnerable” because of Israel’s recurring use of brutal force against the Palestinian people. The ICJ directed Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”
The ACIJ stated: “Despite its attempts to block the ICJ from issuing provisional measures, Israel has failed to deflect attention from its crimes or justify its unfolding genocide.”
However, Israel has attempted to distract attention from its war by accusing UNRWA employees of participating in the October 7 Hamas military incursion into Israel. The Australian government has joined Israel in this ploy.
On January 27, several news outlets reported Foreign Minister Penny Wong as saying that Australia has “temporarily paused” payments to UNWRA.
The New York Times reported on January 28 that the accusations “prompted eight countries, including the United States, to suspend some aid payment to the UNRWA… even as war plunges Palestinians in Gaza into desperate straits.”
Following the allegations that reached the media on same day as the ICJ ruling, the Australian government joined the US in suspending payments to UNWRA. Other rich, imperialist countries doing the same are the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Japan, as well as Estonia.
In this, Israel and its allies are deliberately flouting the ICJ direction to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance. Australia is now an active accomplice of genocide.
According to Axios, the information against the UNWRA originated from the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet and Israeli military intelligence.
“This was strong and corroborated intelligence,” Axios quoted an Israeli official as saying. “A lot of the intelligence is a result of interrogations of militants who were arrested during the Oct. 7 attack.”
A problem with “intelligence” obtained through Israeli “interrogations” is that Israel uses torture.
Amnesty International reported to the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) in 2008 that Israel regularly used torture against Palestinians.
The CAT had earlier found that Israeli interrogation methods “constitute torture”. The standard methods involved combinations of “(1) restraining in very painful conditions, (2) hooding under special conditions, (3) sounding of loud music for prolonged periods, (4) sleep deprivation for prolonged periods, (5) threats, including death threats, (6) violent shaking, and (7) using cold air to chill.”
The Electronic Intifada has reported ongoing Israeli use of torture.
Alternatively the accusations could have simply been made up—like the discredited and racist Israeli state propaganda that Palestinians supposedly beheaded 40 babies on October 7.
The Israeli allegations come after years of slanders against UNWRA. Former UNWRA spokesperson Chris Gunness told the Electronic Intifada on November 28 about the litany of “lies and disinformation” from Israel that he had to deal with when in his official position.
On January 4 Noga Arbel, a researcher at what is described as “the most influential right-wing body in Israel,” the Kohelet Policy Forum told the Knesset Subcommittee for Foreign Policy and Public Diplomacy, “UNRWA undermines the existence of the State of Israel, and is currently run by Hamas. The Palestinian education system is the gravest security threat for the State of Israel, and UNRWA is the core of the problem. If we will allow it to continue to perpetuate the Palestinian refugee problem, instead of resolving it, the threat will only grow.”
Arbel stated bluntly, “It will be impossible to win the war if we do not destroy UNWRA. This destruction must begin immediately.”
This article was originally published on Red Ant.
