Although not legally binding, an upcoming advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is likely to have a major impact promoting antisemitism and BDS against Israel around the world.
At the end of last year, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution containing a litany of false allegations against Israel. It concluded by requesting the ICJ’s opinion on two loaded questions:
- “What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of… Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?”
- “How do [these] policies and practices of Israel… affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”
To assist the Court, the UN Secretariat has provided over 29,000 pages of documents. One mendacious report and resolution follows another, repeating and enlarging warped allegations that originated in prejudice, or were uttered in fear or concocted by propagandists, and then compiled by credulous, if not racist, NGOs and UN Commissions.
In the last such case against Israel, the ICJ advised in 2004 that the West Bank security barrier is illegal. That opinion, too, was based on false information provided by the UN Secretariat. It was comprehensively demolished by a superb judgment of Israeli Justice Aharon Barak in the subsequent Alfei Menashe case in Israel’s Supreme Court.
Justice Barak pointed out, for example, that the ICJ’s opinion referred to a 40% drop in caseload at the UN hospital in the West Bank city of Qalqilya as evidence of the dire impact of the security barrier on its residents. But he noted that two new hospitals had just been opened in Qalqilya, and it was reasonable to assume this affected the caseload of the UN hospital.
Centuries of libels have resulted in a situation in which conclusions blaming Jews for misfortunes are readily drawn, and false allegations against them are credulously accepted. In modern times, prejudice against the Jewish people has been directed against Israel as the world’s only Jewish state.
This prejudice has been compounded by the successful exploitation of UN bodies by members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and their allies in developing countries to focus, to an utterly disproportionate extent, on criticism of Israel.
The questions asked of the ICJ presuppose that Israel is denying the Palestinian people their right to self-determination. But will the Court be told that according to a 2021 opinion poll by the Palestinian news agency SHFA, 93% of Jerusalem’s Arabs would prefer a continuation of Israeli rule of the united city? And will it be mentioned that the Palestinian leaders have not held a general election since 2006?
They complain that Israel has aimed at altering the demographic composition of Jerusalem. Will anyone observe that the Arab proportion of Jerusalem’s population has increased from 26% to 39% since 1967?
The current process calls to mind medieval disputations, in which there could only be one verdict, that the Jews are guilty. Now, like then, our representatives are faced with a difficult decision: should they try to dispute the masses of falsities, which might give more credibility to the phony process, or simply denounce it as a travesty?
In the security barrier case, Israel argued that the ICJ should not give an opinion and did not address the facts to any great extent. Its arguments were rejected.
But someone should tell the ICJ and the world that it has been presented with a pack of lies. If the Court endorses the false and distorted information, it will promote racist hostility and violence against Israel and Jewish people around the world and make peace more difficult to achieve.
Jonathan Turner is the Chief Executive of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Adam Milstein.