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Best of the Web: Israel at the ICJ: Has International Law survived, or has the Western political class killed it?

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Sun, 28 Jan 2024 16:15 UTC
international criminal court
© Remko de Waal / ANP / AFPICJ President Joan Donoghue speaks at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prior to the verdict announcement in the genocide case against Israel, brought by South Africa.
In finding there is a plausible case against Israel, the International Court of Justice treated with contempt the argument from Israel that the case should be dismissed as it is exercising its right of self-defence. This argument took up over half of Israel's pleadings. Not only did the court find there is a plausible case of genocide, the court only mentioned self-defence once in its interim ruling - and that was merely to note that Israel had claimed it. Para 41:
international law criminal court israel genocide
© International Criminal Court
That the ICJ has not affirmed Israel's right to self-defence is perhaps the most important point in this interim order. It is the dog that did not bark. The argument which every western leader has been using is spurned by the ICJ.

Now the ICJ did not repeat that an occupying power has no right of self-defence. It did not need to. It simply ignored Israel's specious assertion.
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Eye 2

Israel schemed to oust UNRWA back in December 2023 - Times of Israel


Times of Israel
Sun, 29 Jan 2023 20:56 UTC
UNRWA
© AP Photo/Hassan EslaiahFile: United Nations and Red Crescent workers prepare the aid for distribution to Palestinians at UNRWA warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, October 23, 2023.

Comment: Note that this news article from The Times of Israel is dated December 29th 2023, just a few weeks prior to the ICJ ruling that Israel 'must prevent genocide'. The day after that ruling, Israel launched its campaign against UNRWA, which resulted in the immediate 'pause' in critical funding by its Western allies.


Israel is hoping to push the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, out of the Gaza Strip post-war, Channel 12 reported, citing a high-level, classified Foreign Ministry report.

According to the report, the document recommends three stages to the move. The first involves a comprehensive report on alleged UNRWA cooperation with Hamas, which rules Gaza, and the entanglement of the UN body that provides welfare and humanitarian services for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars and their descendants, with the terror group.

Comment: As SOTT radio notes in its recent show NewsReal: ICJ Orders Israel to Prevent Genocide, West Responds by Slashing Aid to Gaza:
You have to hand it to Israel. In the space of 24 hours it diverted international media focus from the ICJ's ruling that it 'must prevent genocide' and 'allow humanitarian aid into Gaza' into a de facto Western blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza by alleging that the UN agency working to keep Gazans alive was 'involved in the terror attacks of October 7th' - a decision that is going to cause famine and disease, forcing Gazans to die or flee.


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MIB

Disobeying the party line: Hungary accuses EU of blackmail


RT
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 20:39 UTC
Orban and Zelensky
Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine, a representative of Ecuador and Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, attend the inauguration ceremony of Argentina's new President Milei on 10 December, 2023
Budapest has continued to object to a planned aid package to Ukraine ahead of an EU summit this week

Hungary's minister for European affairs, Janos Boka, has said that Budapest will not give in to Brussels' "blackmail" following a report that claimed that the EU would seek to sabotage the country's economy if it does not relent in blocking a European aid package for Ukraine.

Ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Thursday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged to continue to block the use of the European bloc's collective budget to funnel €50 billion ($54 billion) in aid to Ukraine.

Should Orban not relent in lifting its veto, Brussels could seek to sabotage Budapest's economy by pulling funding to the EU member state, the Financial Times said on Sunday, citing confidential plans drawn up by European leaders seen by the newspaper.

The strategy, the FT noted, could impact Hungary's currency and incite a downturn in investment, which would affect "jobs and growth." But Boka, Budapest's European affairs chief, has said that Hungary will refuse to be dictated to by European bureaucrats over its unwillingness to sign off on fresh aid to Ukraine.


Comment: Blackmail is the correct word for what Brussels is doing. The EU is not interested in democracy but instead of power and exercising it to the benefit of those pulling the strings.


Comment: The strongarm tactics of the EU will only make Hungary look for alternatives and so will other countries who sees what the EU is doing versus what it is saying. The most popular party in Germany, AfD, has called for a referendum on an exit from the EU. If there is something the EU loathes, then it is asking the opinions of the people and in the case of Hungary, then the leaders there are only representing the will of the people. In Germany there are talks of banning the offending party altogether mirroring what the EU wishes to do with Hungary.

See:

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Calculator

Hezbollah can launch about 1,000 missiles at 'Tel Aviv' on first day - Israeli media


Al Mayadeen
Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:43 UTC
Missile silo
© Resistance MediaMissile silo
Israeli media reports that Hezbollah can launch approximately 1,000 missiles at 'Tel Aviv' within a span of just two hours. Among these missiles, some are expected to be precision targets, while others may target skyscrapers within the city.

Israeli media has reported that Hezbollah possesses the capability to launch approximately a thousand missiles at 'Tel Aviv' within a two-hour operational window. The report suggests that some of these missiles will be precision-guided, while others will be directed toward the skyscrapers in 'Tel Aviv'.

However, the report refrained from discussing potential targets adjacent to these towers, which Hezbollah has identified as "targets in the next war," according to their statement.

Comment: Unfortunately it's likely that the majority of Israeli media aren't reporting this in a bid to dissuade its people from continuing to support the genocide and relentless attacks and provocations against multiple Middle Eastern countries, instead, this is likely being used to stoke fear in the population and incite it into demanding their government take the mania to the next level:

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X

Israel rejects 'outrageous' ICJ genocide ruling


RT
Fri, 26 Jan 2024 19:30 UTC
Nety
© Ohad Zwigenberg/APBenjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting • Kirya military base
Tel Aviv, Israel • December 24, 2023
The International Court of Justice has ordered West Jerusalem to prevent such circumstances in Gaza...

The Israeli government has brushed off a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering it to prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the very claim that Israeli is committing genocide is "not only false, it's outrageous."

The Hague-based court ruled on Friday that "the state of Israel shall take all measures to prevent the commission of genocide to Gaza," punish any members of its military who commit genocidal acts, punish all public calls by officials for genocide, and immediately allow more humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

The court ruled that South Africa may pursue its genocide case against Israel, but stopped short of demanding that the predominantly Jewish country "immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza," as Pretoria had requested.

While South Africa described the court's decision as a "decisive victory for the international rule of law," the first official comment from West Jerusalem was one of scorn.

Comment: As expected from the impotent ICJ: Israel remains 'untouchable'.

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Briefcase

Jonathan Turley says Hunter Biden's financier threatened him with defamation lawsuit

James Lynch
Daily Caller
Fri, 26 Jan 2024 06:04 UTC
Turley
© Bonnie Cash/Getty ImagesGeorge Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley
George Washington University law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said Friday that Hunter Biden's financial benefactor threatened to sue him for defamation.

Turley published a column on his website Friday and revealed that Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris's lawyer allegedly sent him a letter Wednesday warning him of a potential defamation lawsuit if Turley does not retract or stop repeating previous statements he made about Morris' representation of Biden.
"The letter warns that I could face a defamation action if I do not retract (or if I repeat) my criticism of Morris's representational relationship with Hunter. I will not issue a retraction despite the threats of Morris and Sullivan. I did, however, publish another column repeating my objections to Morris's blurry representational claims."
Turley's original column cited a section of California bar rules barring attorneys from paying business and personal expenses for prospective or existing clients. Morris's attorney, Bryan Sullivan, allegedly countered in the letter by citing a subsection of the law granting an exception for attorneys who agree to lend their client money after they sign a retainer.
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X

Don't mess with Texas

Josh Hammer
Daily Caller
Sat, 27 Jan 2024 12:39 UTC
Abbott panel
© Erich Schlegel/Getty ImagesAbbott Panel
The adjective "Orwellian" can be overused in our political discourse. But how else to describe a situation in which the federal government abdicates its responsibility to secure the nation's wide-open border and then, when a state steps up to help stanch the bleeding, is told by that same federal government to stop — and, for good measure, that its efforts to help secure the border via a new razor wire barrier will be undone?

On Monday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 — with moderate Chief Justice John Roberts and center-right Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining their liberal colleagues — in favor of the Biden administration, which had requested that the court permit its Border Patrol agents to cut or remove protective razor wire fencing installed by Texas officials along the besieged Rio Grande. The court's ruling is simply astonishing.

In America's federalist constitutional order, both the federal government and the states act as fully sovereign actors operating within their delineated spheres of legitimate governing authority. The federal government — which was itself initially created in the late 1780s by the then-preexisting states — is in no position whatsoever to demand that states deliberately undermine their own sovereignty. That is especially true when the federal government itself obstinately refuses to secure the nation's territorial integrity, as has been the case throughout Joe Biden's disastrous presidency.

That both the federal government and the states may wield power as fully sovereign entities within our constitutional order is constitutional law 101.

Comment: See also:

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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: NewsReal: ICJ Orders Israel to Prevent Genocide, West Responds by Slashing Aid to Gaza


Sott.net
Sun, 28 Jan 2024 21:52 UTC
newsreal musk israel icj
© Sott.net
You have to hand it to Israel. In the space of 24 hours it diverted international media focus from the ICJ's ruling that it 'must prevent genocide' and 'allow humanitarian aid into Gaza' into a de facto Western blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza by alleging that the UN agency working to keep Gazans alive was 'involved in the terror attacks of October 7th' - a decision that is going to cause famine and disease, forcing Gazans to die or flee.

Also on this NewsReal, Joe & Niall discuss the growing attacks against Anglo-American targets in the Middle East, the widespread farmers' protests in Europe, the promotion of 'World War Three' in NATO countries, and the Texas border showdown.


Running Time: 02:01:23

Download: MP3 — 83.4 MB

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Jet2

Quid pro quo: US approves sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey


Al Jazeera
Sun, 28 Jan 2024 20:42 UTC
f-16
© U.S. Air Force/ Senior Airman Armando A. Schwier-Morales
The $23bn deal was finalised after Turkey's parliament ratified Sweden's long-delayed NATO membership.

The United States has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after the Turkish parliament this week ratified Sweden's NATO membership.

The US Department of State notified Congress of the $23bn agreement to sell the warplanes to NATO ally Turkey on Friday night, along with a companion $8.6bn sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Greece, also an ally in the Western military bloc.

The department's notification came hours after Turkey deposited its "instrument of ratification" for Sweden's accession to NATO with Washington, which is the repository for alliance documents and after several key members of Congress lifted their objections.

Comment: Edorgan continues to walk the tightrope between East and West as one of the pivotal countries politically and geographically. He is indebted to Russia for his government's survival, but will still bargain to get what he can as a member of NATO.

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Briefcase

House Republicans meet to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas on two articles

Anna Giaritelli
Washington Examiner
Sun, 28 Jan 2024 19:25 UTC
illegal migrants border mayorkas
© Getty(L) Illegal migrants cross into the U.S.
(R) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
House Republicans plan to impeach President Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on two articles in a historic committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, the Washington Examiner has learned.

The House Homeland Security Committee will take up articles of impeachment for Willful and Systemic Refusal to Comply with the Law and Breach of the Public Trust against Mayorkas, according to the committee.

"These articles lay out a clear, compelling, and irrefutable case for Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' impeachment," said House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) in a statement. "He has willfully and systemically refused to comply with immigration laws enacted by Congress. He has breached the public trust by knowingly making false statements to Congress and the American people, and obstructing congressional oversight of his department.

Comment: The House Committee has correctly articulated Mayorkas' failings. His brazenness in the face of them is something to behold.

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