Yesterday I attended a session called by Palestine at the United Nations in Geneva. Over 120 states attended. While the formal session consisted of statements of national position with few surprises, I was able to discuss with a large number of delegates in the corridors why the Genocide Convention has not been activated triggering a reference to the International Court of Justice.
The answer is now clear to me. It is not that people are worried that a claim of genocide will not be successful at the International Court of Justice. It is that everybody is quite sure it will succeed. There is no respectable argument that this is not a genocide in the terms outlined above.
The problem is that once the ICJ has determined that this is a genocide, it follows that not only are Netanyahu and hundreds of senior Israeli officials and military personally liable, but it is absolutely plain that “Genocide Joe” Biden, Sunak and members of their administrations are also criminally liable for complicity, having provided military support for the genocide.
The International Criminal Court cannot ignore a judgment of genocide from the International Court of Justice and will have no choice but to issue arrest warrants.
A genocide is the worst of crimes. Just how appalling this one is has been shown to the world like never before, through the power of social media.
But to the global 1% whose interests rule the world, no number of dead Palestinians makes any real difference to their interests. On the other hand, the ramifications for the international system of wealth concentration, if western political elites start to be held accountable for their crimes, are uncertain and therefore carry more risk. This is particularly the concern of ruling classes of both Western and Arab states.
It may sound astonishing, but to the world’s diplomats the enormity of a genocide appears less troubling than the enormity of doing something about it.
Re: CM: Murder
Posted by Ken Waldron on December 14, 2023, 1:43 am, in reply to "CM: Murder"
"...The answer is now clear to me. It is not that people are worried that a claim of genocide will not be successful at the International Court of Justice. It is that everybody is quite sure it will succeed. There is no respectable argument that this is not a genocide in the terms outlined above..."
-well said Craig.
Here's Finkelstein also on the matter of Genocide and Gaza...:
Posted by Dovetail Joint on December 14, 2023, 6:50 am, in reply to "Re: CM: Murder"
I wrote to Murray about this exact point, which his latest piece seems to corroborate. Accusing the West of complicity in genocide in Gaza, has really serious implications for relations with the West.
Going forward it could mean issuing arrest warrents for virtually every western political and military leader, even the journalists who are, arguably, complicit in justifying and 'selling' genocide to their own populations.
Then one has to consider whether the momentum for imposing economic and cultural sanctions, a boycott of western goods, against the West would become unstoppable as public pressure for action in the rest of the world grows.
A legal 'war' agaisnt the West, sliding into an economic war, could escalate over time into somthing else, something worse, and how would the West react to all this? If they are capable of supporting genocide in Gaza, then, they are capable of anything going forward, if they feel threatened.