British jurist Malcolm Shaw and Yaron Wax look on at the ICJ, during a ruling on South Africa's request to order a halt to Israel's Rafah offensive in Gaza on 24 May 2024.
Israel by direct defiance of ICJ decisions and by perpetrating genocide and other illegal acts that constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, and whose very presence in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, made even more so by recent attacks and murders of Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers.
What is clear is that Israel did not break the law simply in passing. Israel and the United States consciously intended to sideline international law. It was a show of force to impress on the Palestinians and the world beyond Gaza their impunity. Israel has been allowed, since its inception, to act lawlessly without any fear of consequences for its violation of international law. The UN Security Council may act very speedily on former Yugoslavia, Myanmar or Sudan. But it is unwilling to take steps against Israel. Not unwilling overall, but constrained by the US veto powers.
Nevertheless, it was a constraint and we no longer have a situation where the US, the sole superpower, faces a counterweight.