Six Urgent Questions for the ICJ

Israel has come to dominate the calendar of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Last winter, South Africa asked the ICJ to find Israel in violation of the Genocide Convention. In July the ICJ delivered an advisory opinion requested by the UN General Assembly regarding the legality of Israel’s continued occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Then just this December the General Assembly requested another urgent ICJ advisory opinion, now about Israel’s obligation to allow UN agencies to distribute aid in Palestinian territories.

No other country is scrutinized with such intensity by the ICJ. And it should be noted that both advisory opinion requests were composed in a way that is clearly biased against Israel. The question posed by the General Assembly regarding the occupation already presumed that Israel’s actions were illegal, only wanting to know what the punishments should be. The most recent one came with a lengthy and accusatory preamble endorsing UNRWA and presenting Israel with demands.

But these few questions hardly exhaust the international law scrutiny demanded by the current conflict, and Israel is not the only party whose legal rights and obligations need to be fairly and fully examined. Here are six additional, important international legal questions that also need immediate attention:

Hamas and UNRWA Violations of ICCPR

Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights obligates countries to forbid propaganda for war, along with advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. What consequences does international law impose on UNRWA and Hamas for violating this article by using the Gaza school system to train children to hate Israel, hate Jews, and to glorify and encourage violence against them?

Do Threats of Atrocities Restrict the Right to Self Determination?

What limitations or restrictions does international law impose on the Palestinian right to statehood and self-determination due to Hamas repeatedly calling for Israel’s destruction and threatening to use a potential Palestinian state as a base to commit atrocity crimes against Israel?

Consequences for Stealing Aid and Impeding its Delivery

What consequences does international law impose on Hamas for stealing humanitarian aid intended for Gaza citizens and impeding the distribution thereof? To what extent does this relieve or limit Israel’s obligation to provide aid?

Diversion of Items Needed by Civilian Population for Military Use

Does Hamas taking civilian items for military use, such as by digging up water pipes to transform them into rockets, give Israel the international legal right to restrict the importation of such items to Gaza even though they may be needed by the civilian population? What steps may Israel take to prevent this recurrence?

UNRWA Status and Reparations

Does UNRWA allowing Hamas to use its facilities for military purposes, and keeping numerous Hamas soldiers on its payroll, cause UNRWA to forfeit its status as a humanitarian organization? What reparations are owed by the United Nations to Israel and to individual victims of Hamas due to UNRWA’s Hamas entanglement?

Egyptian Responsibility for Gaza

As Egypt was the last sovereign state to control Gaza, what special obligations does Egypt have to ensure the well-being of Gaza’s population? What is Egypt’s responsibility to prevent Gaza from being used to commit atrocity crimes against Israel? What reparations is Egypt liable when those duties are not fulfilled?

Israel should propose to the UN General Assembly that these questions be urgently referred to the ICJ. Of course the United Nations has shown tremendous bias, continuously condemning only Israel and requesting advisory opinions solely when it anticipates being able to use the response against it. So the General Assembly will likely decide that it prefers that these questions above remain unanswered.

In that case, Israel should encourage respected legal scholars around the globe to research these topics and present their views. This will help Israel better understand the true nature of its rights, responsibilities, and obligations, and help make the basis for its positions on many controversial issues clearer to the world.

When law is invoked selectively against one party to a conflict, it becomes yet another tool of oppression and injustice. The solution is to take a closer look at the full range of international legal issues surrounding Israel and Palestine. Defining the additional questions that must be answered is a good start.