In July, the ICJ issued a groundbreaking advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The Court found Israel responsible for racial segregation and apartheid against the Palestinians, and laid out a long list of abuses and violations of international law by Israeli authorities. It found that Israel’s occupation is illegal, and set out clear standards for Israel to provide reparations to Palestinians.
Since January, in a case brought by South Africa, the ICJ has issued three binding rulings listing urgent measures that Israeli authorities should take to prevent the risk of genocide in their military operations in Gaza. Israeli authorities have largely flouted those rulings, and continue to use starvation as a weapon of war, and to impose arbitrary and onerous restrictions on entry and distribution of desperately needed humanitarian aid throughout Gaza.
The ICJ rulings are consistent with evidence of very serious crimes by Israeli authorities provided by the UN secretary general, a UN Commission of Inquiry, UN experts, and numerous nongovernmental groups, including Human Rights Watch. They are also consistent with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Nothing that the EU has unanimously denounced and taken action against Hamas, HRW said: “some EU member states continue to prevent the bloc from even acknowledging, let alone condemning and addressing, the Israel’s war crimes and other international law violations in Gaza, and from taking more decisive action against worsening abuses in the West Bank. Governments of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Italy have often opposed or vetoed any action beyond sanctioning a handful of violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and have reacted poorly to the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants.”
Furthermore, on September 18, only 13 EU member states voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution largely reflecting the ICJ advisory opinion findings and requests, with 12 EU states abstaining and Hungary and the Czech Republic even voting against. Those spoilers are also among several countries that temporarily suspended financial assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency most able to provide lifesaving aid to people in Gaza.
" The ICJ rulings make EU inaction no longer tenable, not only on moral but also on legal grounds...The July ICJ advisory opinion set out clear obligations for UN states. These include distinguishing between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory; not supporting Israel’s unlawful acts and the unlawful situation it has created in the OPT; and ensuring Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL), or the laws of war. The ICJ ruling says that states have an obligation to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the [OPT] or parts thereof which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory” and “to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the [OPT].”
"EU states should also reflect on how their decades-long reluctance to call out and meaningfully address the very serious abuses by Israeli authorities and settlers has helped sustain those abuses, and failed to fulfill the obligations to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law as set out by the Court. The advisory opinion makes explicit reference to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which concerns the protection of civilians, and to which Israel and all EU states are party. The Court has meticulously outlined how Israeli policies and treatment of Palestinians seriously violate those obligations” says HRW.