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517 points xbar | 36 comments | | HN request time: 1.879s | source | bottom
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smoothjazz ◴[] No.39143094[source]
Glad to see Israel face some responsibility for its horrific acts against civilians.

> The court ruled that Israel must do all it can to prevent genocide, including refraining from killing Palestinians or causing harm to them

Sounds like a ceasefire to me. How else would they do this? Definitely not with any of the military tactics Israel is currently using.

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1. shmatt ◴[] No.39146080[source]
Except SA specifically asked the court to require a ceasefire, which would have immediate consequences via security council vote and no more munitions landing in Israel. And the judges voted it down

This isn't a read between the lines situation, because SA's request was specifically for the court to temporarily rule for a full immediate ceasefire until the larger case could be heard

What is interesting here is that by mis-reading the verdict like yourself, and Israel assuming the worst, both sides immediately came out saying today was a huge win. So at least we have that, everyone (but the Palestinians, who aren't a side in this case) is happy

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2. smoothjazz ◴[] No.39146496[source]
Honestly I'm not trying to mis-read the verdict which is why I asked the question. I think all of Israel's strategies to date include the death of Palestinians. Since that's explicitly forbidden with that ruling, how will they continue to fight? Will they just ignore the ruling or change tactics?
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3. f6v ◴[] No.39146568[source]
> Except SA specifically asked the court to require a ceasefire, which would have immediate consequences via security council vote

The US would block anything against Israel anyway. The UN has no power when it comes to the security council members or their satellites.

4. smoothjazz ◴[] No.39146688{3}[source]
[removed]
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5. johnnyworker ◴[] No.39146715{3}[source]
> They just asked Israel to try hard to minimize damage, which they already demonstrated they do.

Where, other than with mere hand waving? How did they explain away blowing courts and universities with rigged explosives? Soldiers bragging about "occupation, expulsion, settlement, annexiation"? All the talk about how there are no civilians in Gaza? How many people who said that has Israel prosecuted so far?

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6. dang ◴[] No.39146733{4}[source]
You've been using HN primarily* to conduct political battle on this topic for a long time now. You've already taken to doing this again, repeatedly, in this thread.

That's not in the intended spirit of what we want on HN, and especially not the spirit which I attempted to describe in my pinned comment at the top. Therefore, please stop.

* In fact, it looks like you've been doing nothing but that. I've already explained to you repeatedly and at length why that's not ok on HN. If you keep it up, we're going to have to ban you. (And lest anyone worry: no, this has nothing to do with agreeing or disagreeing with your views. You're plainly breaking both HN's rules and intended spirit, that is all.)

replies(1): >>39149475 #
7. xenospn ◴[] No.39146748{4}[source]
Sounds like you’ve been spending a little too much time on TikTok.
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8. dang ◴[] No.39146792{5}[source]
Please don't cross into flamewar, regardless of what anyone else is doing.
9. bawolff ◴[] No.39146800[source]
From what i understand, the ceasefire was an extreme long shot by south africa and nobody really expected the icj to grant it. Particularly because the court cant order hamas to do anything and a one sided cease fire seems kind of unreasonable, but also the right to self defense is pretty fundamental in international law.
replies(1): >>39147982 #
10. layer8 ◴[] No.39146853[source]
The measures ordered by the UN court are in references to Article II of the Genocide Convention [0], which limits the scope to “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, where the court identifies the group as “Palestinians in Gaza”. So it’s the intent of genocide towards that group which is the deciding factor. As long as the actions do not carry that intent (and are plausible as such), they are not prohibited.

My reading is that the court is basically saying “You are presently running the risk of committing genocide, please take all measures in your power to prevent that.”

[0] https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-...

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11. bawolff ◴[] No.39146856{4}[source]
No, that was from south africa's request. That wasn't the wording the court used in its decision
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12. esafak ◴[] No.39147169{3}[source]
They will claim they are attempting to kill Hamas militants and any non-Hamas Palestinians deaths are incidental. You can do anything with this excuse. Did the court close this loophole?
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13. layer8 ◴[] No.39147494{4}[source]
Any accusation of genocide will be for the relevant courts to decide. False pretexts (excuses) can be identified as such. The present court order is a shot across the bow. The court is explicitly saying that the intent of genocide appears plausible at this time, and explains the reasons for that assessment. Meaning that Israel will have to show with their actions if they want to turn it implausible.
14. smoothjazz ◴[] No.39147597{5}[source]
[removed]
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15. layer8 ◴[] No.39147641{6}[source]
Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39146853.
16. nashashmi ◴[] No.39147982[source]
Is ICJ even able to order a ceasefire? ICJ did not recognize the activities of Israel as the right to self defense. ICJ would have recognized the activities of rebel force against the genocide as the right to self defense, but I don't think that is a question that came up.
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17. bawolff ◴[] No.39147983{6}[source]
Do you mean from page 2? Because that is the court just saying what each side requested. The actual order that the court gave is much later in the document.
replies(1): >>39148060 #
18. smoothjazz ◴[] No.39148060{7}[source]
Ah ok, I see. You are correct, I did misread that part.
19. bawolff ◴[] No.39148123{4}[source]
Its not really a loop hole but kind of the main intention of the law.

Too many civilian deaths is for war crimes & crimes against humanity, not the crime of genocide.

20. sebzim4500 ◴[] No.39148262{4}[source]
I don't think it's really a loophole. For example, the Nazis could not possibly claim that the people they killed in death camps were merely collateral damage.
21. brighteyes ◴[] No.39149287{3}[source]
Yes, the ICJ can order a ceasefire. It ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine, for example. In this case it decided not to, but it did order other measures (which hopefully will save lives, but time will tell).
replies(1): >>39152910 #
22. ◴[] No.39149309{3}[source]
23. bakuninsbart ◴[] No.39149801[source]
You are allowed under international law to lead war with significant amounts of civilian casualties. The issue being judged is claims of Israel committing a genocide. This is just a preliminary order while the full case is considered, and it might be bad PR to disregard it, but nothing else will come of it.

When hearing 'genocide', most people immediately jump to the Holocaust, but the definition used by the ICC and IL in general is far more permissible:

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

A to E are horrible acts by themselves, but what makes a genocide is intent, and intent is very hard to prove. Personally, I think SA brought a very strong case forward, the genocidal tendencies of key Israeli decision makers and exeters are well published. In the US and Europe, the political class and general public just ignore the evidence currently, and a ruling of the ICC might help people 'wake up', but not much tangible consequences will result from it otherwise.

replies(1): >>39151065 #
24. alexisread ◴[] No.39150363{3}[source]
Generally the proportion of civilians in a hospital vastly outweighs any fighters. Bombing a hospital does in no way count as reasonable steps to prevent collateral damage. Shooting people queueing for food aid similarly does not count.
replies(1): >>39153723 #
25. smoothjazz ◴[] No.39150377{3}[source]
I don't believe this and the court found reason to further investigate genocide. The statements from Israeli leadership alone contradict what you're saying.
26. vcryan ◴[] No.39150688{3}[source]
Up is down!
27. adhamsalama ◴[] No.39150938{3}[source]
Does killing over 25000 Palestinians in 3 months and starving the rest not involve deaths of Palestinians civilians?
replies(1): >>39153752 #
28. rashkov ◴[] No.39151065{3}[source]
You might find this to be an interesting read, even if it may not change your mind. “What Did Top Israeli War Officials Really Say About Gaza? Journalists and jurists point to damning quotes from Israel’s war cabinet as evidence of genocidal intent. But the citations are not what they seem.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/01/is...

Archive version: https://archive.ph/GV14c

29. xdennis ◴[] No.39151586{4}[source]
So Israel told people to move to avoid collateral damage and you call that ethnic cleansing?
replies(1): >>39151611 #
30. dang ◴[] No.39151611{5}[source]
Please don't post flamewar comments to HN. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

I'm sure that you have legitimate reasons to feel the way you do, but you're posting to this thread in a way that is against the intended spirit, as I tried to explain it in the pinned comment at the top. Please don't do that. If you can't post in the intended spirit, that's understandable, but in that case please don't post until you can.

(Exactly the same thing, of course, goes for the commenters you're in disagreement with - for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39150923)

31. bawolff ◴[] No.39152910{4}[source]
There is some nuance there because russia's justification for the war was that ukraine is comitting genocide. It is less clear that the icj can order it for a war of self-defense.

The argument goes that the ICJ derives its authority from the UN charter, where article 51 states "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security..."

So just because icj can tell someone to knock it off if they (falsely) claim the reason for the war is to prevent genocide, it is unclear they can do so when the reason is self-defense after an attack

[IANAL dont know how accurate this is]

replies(1): >>39157873 #
32. halflife ◴[] No.39153752{4}[source]
Regarding starving, they are getting aid but Hamas steals it for their own us (fighters and black market), so it’s Hamas that starves the Palestinians, not Israel.

The previous poster said the Palestinian dead are collateral while targeting Hamas terrorists. Not from direct action of Israel trying to kill uninvolved. He didn’t say there are no dead civilians. Any war has civilian casualties

33. alexisread ◴[] No.39153807{5}[source]
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/07/1211133698/gaza-hospitals-air...
replies(1): >>39154012 #
34. halflife ◴[] No.39154012{6}[source]
The source for that is Gazan eye witnesses, Same one that argues that Israel killed 500 people bombing Al Ahli hospital, that was eventually found out to be from a failed Hamas rocket.

Even if what they claim is true, as you can see from multiple sources, al Shifa hospital still stands and operational. The article has multiple inaccuracies. It glosses over the fact that many weapons were found inside the hospital (https://www.npr.org/2023/11/15/1213145028/israel-hamas-gaza-...), It ignores the fact that there was armed Hamas forces fighting Israeli military on hospital grounds (https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/11/13/hospital-gaz...). And just plain inaccuracy telling that the solar panels were the only source of electricity for the hospital, since the hospital was operating from the start of the war, up until today, with generators.

replies(1): >>39154274 #
35. alexisread ◴[] No.39154274{7}[source]
Whether or not weapons were found is not the point here, this is evidence. We can debate credibility such as whether days of the week are terrorists but again, that's not the point. The ICJ found enough evidence of merit to show the plausibility of genocide, I'm displaying evidence here that says eyewitness accounts of attacks.

Additional, evidence for shelling: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/world/middleeast/israel-g...

36. ImPostingOnHN ◴[] No.39157873{5}[source]
> So just because icj can tell someone to knock it off if they (falsely) claim the reason for the war is to prevent genocide, it is unclear they can do so when the reason is self-defense after an attack

In this matter, they are the judge of whether the actions are self defense, and they are the judge of whether the actions are genocidal. Otherwise, even the most monstrous and illegal acts could be excused by unilaterally declaring "self defense!". Russia, for example, also claimed all their actions were "self-defense", and continues to do so, to this day.

The similarities don't end there: Much like russia claims Ukraine isn't a real country, and should be demilitarized, and Ukrainians should be controlled by Russia; Israel claims Palestine isn't a real country, and should be demilitarized, and Palestinians should be controlled by Israel. Both Israel and russia attack civilian buildings full of civilians (!), and justify it by unconvincingly claiming there was a military target somewhere around there, plotting to harm them. russia usually doesn't level the entire block like Israel does, but not for want of trying. All in the name of "self-defense".

russia: goal is removing the government of Ukrainians by force and dominating Ukrainians. Israel: goal is removing the government of Palestinians by force and dominating Palestinians. russia: 'we must deprogram Ukrainians to remove their extremist, anti-russian feelings and get them to accept our domination of them'. Israel: 'we must deprogram Palestinians to remove their extremist, anti-Israel feelings and get them to accept our domination of them'. That last bit of abuser gaslighting is particularly gross and scary to me. All in the name of "self-defense".

With that in mind, the reasons claimed by each side for each action may inform the judges, who then judge what the actual reasons are, and rule accordingly. Indeed, Israel sought to have the case dismissed, claiming a jurisdictional issue like the one you suggested. The judges heard the arguments and evidence for and against such a claim, and judged that they had jurisdiction under the law.

Israel's participation in these proceedings, in front of the judges who judge such matters, on both jurisdiction and merit, seems to only further legitimize the judges and their judgement on such matters. Could Israel be cynical enough to join russia in doing an about-face on their recognition of the judges' legitimacy, simply for being ruled against?