The reason why the ICJ case was so powerful—and why it was very important that South Africa filed it—is because insofar as there is a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict that does not involve ethnic cleansing or genocide, it will have to look like the South African model.
What I mean, to be clear, is that whether or not it’s a one- or two-state solution, it has to be predicated on the acceptance of the common humanity of the residents of the region and a rejection of maximalist ethnonationalist claims.
Yes, and the IDF is currently doing operations to remove a maximalist, ethnonationalist group that nobody else stands up to, while doing what it can to spare Gazan civilians. And yet it's on trial for the crime of having a free press that says what politicians say everywhere that's in war.
In the future, ICJ should be abolished, because the message South Africa's lawfare sends to every flawed democracy is, arresting journalists without trial will not get it accused of anything, but having those journalists report on what politicians say will. It tells everyone, "be like Sudan."
I found the arguments that Israeli policy has been focused on minimizing civilian casualties today to be incredibly unconvincing given the weight of the evidence presented yesterday.
What I *did* find interesting was the insistence by counsel that 10/07 was a genocidal act that justified a maximalist response.
One can make out the contours of a doctrine that demands pre-emotive ethnic cleansing/genocide.
Hamas announced genocidal intentions and, in Be'eri, killed or kidnapped 20% of the population (cf. the IDF killing 1% of Gaza). It's not actual genocide, but only by virtue of the IDF, same way Putin hasn't been able to commit genocide in Ukraine only by virtue of the Ukrainian defense.
And those were announced by top leadership, not by some glorified minister without portfolio as is the case with Gila Gamliel's ethnic cleansing plan. (Gamliel has less power over Israeli defense policy than Ron DeSantis does over US defense policy, and the US hasn't actually invaded Mexico.)
Evacuation warnings before bombings (and the IDF waits for full evacuation before leveling blocks unless it's a targeted assassination of a senior commander), humanitarian corridors, increased food shipments and coordination of airdrops. There's a reason the civilian:combatant death ratio is this.
