Backing Israeli Apartheid Isn’t Just Immoral — It’s Illegal
Last month, the International Court of Justice issued a damning assessment of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and the apartheid system it has built. All states now have a clear obligation to impose sanctions on Israel until the occupation ends.
A Palestinian protester confronts an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against Israeli forces conducting an exercise in a residential area near the Palestinian village of Naqura in the occupied West Bank, on September 4, 2019. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP via Getty Images)
Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark ruling on the status of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The court affirmed that the occupation was unlawful and must be ended “as rapidly as possible,” in a way that “cannot be conditional on the success of negotiations whose outcome will depend on Israel’s approval.”
Israel is currently facing two other challenges on the international legal front. The South African case at the ICJ accusing it of genocide is proceeding, and the court has ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has also asked for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
John Reynolds is a professor of law at Maynooth University and the author of Empire, Emergency, and International Law. This is an edited transcript from Jacobin Radio’s Long Reads podcast. You can listen to the interview here.
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