Many observers found the Israeli defense at the ICJ weak, even clumsy. For example, one of the points was to say that in the course of a war, there can be crimes and violations, but that these facts do not amount to genocide. So there is a sort of admission that there could be war crimes or crimes against humanity, but not genocide.
Moreover, the Israeli defense has invok its right to self-defense. However, in a previous deliberation, the International Court of Justice had already consider that as an occupying power, Israel cannot claim that it is acting in self-defense, since its military operations are carri out in occupi or controll Palestinian territory.
Add to this is the pressure exert by many international
humanitarian organizations from all over the world. They legally agree to denounce Israel’s crimes, and to demand official investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prove it.
Thus, if the ICJ finds Israel guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, even without confirming the genocidal qualifiers of these crimes, this decision will be irrevocable. Its transformation, on the peru phone number library other hand, into a mechanism of sanctions, into a demand for an immiate ceasefire, into the implementation of certain measures in relation to the blockade, will have to be approv by a Security Council.
This could be compromis by the risk of an American veto. But even with such a blockage, it would still be historic, because the Israelis would come out of it as legal, moral and therefore political losers.
The International Criminal Court for its part
The International Criminal Court has a different it is important to learn framework. It investigates crimes, but generally prosecutes individuals, not states, unlike the International Court of Justice.
Furthermore, it cannot work in countries that are not ao lists signatories to the Treaty of Rome, which found it. To do so, it nes a Security Council resolution allowing it to investigate. This is the case for Israel, which is not a signatory. Thus, Israel refuses this Court access to its territory.
