The first hearing in a landmark lawsuit against Israel enters its second day on Friday at the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ).
This is the best summary I could come up with:
As ICJ cases traditionally take years before a ruling is reached, South Africa has asked the Court to provisionally call for a ceasefire to appease suffering in the besieged Gaza Strip, where, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 23,000 people have been killed since October.
By contrast, other nations, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Turkey, Venezuela as well as the 57-country Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), have formally backed the move.
The tight-lipped response follows the EU’s efforts to tread a neutral line on the conflict, endorsing Israel’s right to self-defence while calling for the protection of civilian life in Gaza and unhindered provisions of humanitarian aid.
Speaking from Israel on Thursday as the hearing took place in the Hague, Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said: “You can criticise the Israeli army for acting too harshly in the Gaza strip, but that is not genocide.”
Hungary is the only country that has explicitly condemned South Africa’s ICJ case, with foreign minister Péter Szijjártó denouncing the “legal attack launched against Israel” on social media platform Facebook.
Spain, also an outspoken critic of Israel’s war campaign in Gaza, has also refrained from commenting despite 250 legal experts submitting a petition calling for the government’s backing on Wednesday.
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Because they’re good doggies and know to stay quiet when the US says so
Are we still pretending this all started Oct 7, and that Gaza has been a normal place to live for the last 50 years? With all the modern luxuries like, you know, drinking water? Electricity?
Oh no that’s an exaggeration. They’ve only not had drinking water and electricity for 17 years. Before that they were only being subjected to a slow-burn genocide like the West Bank. Smh ungrateful brown people.
And that’s so weird when people say “Hamas-run Gaza” but it’s Israel that cuts power, water, controls the border, has a blockade on the territory (an act of war), controls the population database and ID cards, and even sells rights to extract natural gas from Gaza.
Most of these countries pretend that they were the ones that helped the South Africans fight against apartheid from behind the scenes. These same countries also adhere to the opinion that Israel isn’t an apartheid state. So are we really surprised that they defend the genocide that is going on?
Because the EU has a ton of countries and some have been silent and some haven’t. The EU doesn’t really speak for its member states. Like Germany has been both vocal and wrong on the topic. The baltics and Poland doesn’t care much since Ukraine is a more important topic currently due to their border with Russia and never having much of a relationship with Israel.
EU staff members express fury over von der Leyen stance on Israel-Hamas conflict - Fri Oct 20 2023
Letter with 842 signatures accuses European Commission of giving ‘a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime’ in Gaza
Staff members of EU institutions have written to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expressing fury over her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, in a letter that accumulated 841 signatures.
The letter, which has been seen by The Irish Times, accuses the commission of giving “a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip”.
It begins by condemning the Hamas attack on Israel before continuing: “We equally strongly condemn the disproportionate reaction by the Israeli government against 2.3 million Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip”.
“We hardly recognise the values of the EU in the seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our Institution toward the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip,” it continues.
Yea, seems about right. Like the only other thing the EU can even do, other than the strongly worded letter, is an embargo I guess but I don’t think the EU does much business with Israel anyways so it would be symbolic anyways and Germany would veto it the first chance it got.
You honestly don’t think the EU does much business with Israel?
Well, they do.Check out this link from the EU for more details: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/israel/european-union-and-israel_en?s=200
Delegation of the European Union to the State of Israel
The European Union and Israel
The European Union and Israel share a long common history, marked by growing interdependence and cooperation. Both share the same values of democracy, respect for freedom and rule of law and are committed to an open international economic system based on market principles. Over five decades of trade, cultural exchanges, political cooperation and a developed system of agreements have cemented these relations.
…Huh, 1/3 of Israel’s total trade, that is a surprise for sure. Must be more western European countries then. Well I hope the Hague finds them guilty and the EU does some heavy sanctions then.
