UN whistleblower Craig Mokhiber just posted on X: “BREAKING: The #ICJ has just ruled in favor of additional provisional measures in the Genocide case against Israel, ordering Israel to immediately halt its military offensive and other activities in Rafah and to allow aid and genocide investigators in.”
He added that the 13-2 decision “was supported by almost all judges. Only [Julia] Sebutinde (the Ugandan judge who always votes in favor of Israel) and [Aharon] Barak (the Israeli ad hoc judge) voted against. Barak was absent from the courtroom.” See video clip, full video, and written Orders on X and PDF.
The Court stated: “Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
See recent oral arguments by South Africa which led to today’s additional Orders.
FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle@illinois.edu
Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He represented Bosnia at the International Court of Justice in its Genocide Convention case against Yugoslavia. He has been interviewed by MSNBC, CBS News and other outlets on the South Africa case. See prior IPA news releases.
He said today: “Congratulations to the Republic of South Africa and to the International Court of Justice! Exactly what we need to stop the ongoing genocidal humanitarian catastrophe in Rafah at the United Nations Security Council and in the United Nations General Assembly under the Uniting For Peace Resolution.” See IPA news release: “New World Court Order Against Israel: Could Uniting for Peace Stop Israel’s Assault?” about how the General Assembly can address repeated U.S. government vetoes of resolutions addressing Israel’s actions in the UN Security Council.
MICHAEL LYNK, mslynk@uwo.ca, @MichaelLynk5
Lynk served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory from 2016 to 2022. He is a non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now and wrote the piece “Measured Yet Damning: The ICJ’s Genocide Ruling on Israel” earlier this year.
JOHN QUIGLEY, quigley.2@osu.edu
Professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley’s books include The Statehood of Palestine: International Law in the Middle East Conflict (Cambridge University Press). He recently wrote the piece “Forget the Security Council: The General Assembly Can Admit Palestine.”