Source: Middle East Eye “U.S. doubles down on dismissing genocide claim despite ICJ ruling“
If you look up “moral queasiness” in the dictionary you’ll likely see a picture of some U.S. government official or other spinning support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Above, we see how Security Council spokesperson John Kirby looked when journalists asked at a White House press briefing on January 26 about whether the ICJ ruling would affect U.S. policy.
Short answer: not at all.
Reactions to the ICJ ruling have ranged from squirming while delivering weasel words to thundering jeremiads, such as this one from Shahid Bolsen of Middle Nation which includes his bottom line: “Anything that discredits western colonial institutions is a good thing.”
My friend Janet Kobren put together this nifty side by side comparison chart to help us sort through the provisions the ICJ ordered versus those South Africa asked them to order.
I’ve previously shared former UK ambassador Craig Murray’s reporting from the courtroom which was valuable as he was THE ONLY press person in the room. Now comes his analysis, “Has International Law Survived, or Has the Western Political Class Killed Itself?”
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. [emphasis mine]
No wonder the White House spox is squirming.
Moderates found the ICJ ruling encouraging despite the fact that its opening paragraph condemned Hamas but nowhere in the document was there mention of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israel’s prisons. You know, the prisoners that Hamas wants to swap for the hostages taken on October 7.
In case U.S. taxpayers weren’t thoroughly nauseated yet, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) was defunded by the western axis of evil for supporting Hamas.
As Palestinians in Gaza are literally starving to death! Many see the timing as a ploy to distract from the ICJ ruling.
Not to worry, though. Court cases against Israel and also the U.S. for supporting Israel’s genocide abound. Here’s news of a promising suit filed in on behalf of surviving family members heard in federal court in California last week:
If 11,000 Gazan children slaughtered in four months while Biden and Congress cheer from the sidelines doesn’t induce moral queasiness, there’s probably not much hope for humanity. Will Israel and the U.S. refrain from unleashing the horror of nuclear weapons? Do government officials of those nations have a shred of conscience left to inform this existential decision?
