The Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (ECAJ), the peak body rep­re­sent­ing the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty nation­al­ly, has warned that although the ICJ has made it clear that it has not made any find­ing about whether Israel has com­mit­ted geno­cide, or even whether the court has juris­dic­tion to hear the case,  the ICJ’s deci­sion to indi­cate pro­vi­sion­al mea­sures to be tak­en by Israel will set a prece­dent that will incen­tivise future acts of inter­na­tion­al ter­ror­ism, which is a con­cern for all peace and free­dom-lov­ing nations, not only for Israel.

“Israel’s oppo­nents failed in their pri­ma­ry aim of obtain­ing an order for an imme­di­ate cease­fire, how­ev­er if Israel is to com­ply with the ICJ’s deci­sion, it may only be per­mit­ted to fight Hamas with one hand tied behind its back”, said ECAJ Pres­i­dent Daniel Aghion KC.”

“This means that nations which are attacked by ter­ror­ists in the future may no longer be able to defend them­selves effec­tive­ly if the ter­ror­ists shield them­selves behind civil­ians, as Hamas has done.  The deci­sion thus sets a prece­dent that will incen­tivise future acts of inter­na­tion­al ter­ror­ism, using sim­i­lar tac­tics.”

“On 7 Octo­ber 2023, Hamas ter­ror­ists car­ried out a pre-planned attack against Israel dur­ing which it tor­tured, raped, muti­lat­ed and butchered 1200 peo­ple, most­ly civil­ians, and took 240 hostages.  It videoed and open­ly cel­e­brat­ed its atroc­i­ties, and threat­ened to repeat its crimes again and again,“

“Yet it is Israel, the par­ty that is now defend­ing itself against these cru­el and sadis­tic mur­der­ers, that is now under scruti­ny for alleged “geno­cide”, while the per­pe­tra­tors, Hamas, are treat­ed with impuni­ty.  This is not jus­tice.  This is a trav­es­ty that turns jus­tice on its head.”

“The court’s deci­sion is a con­cern for all peace and free­dom-lov­ing nations, not only for Israel.”

We are grate­ful to Israel’s allies who have stood up to South Africa’s false accu­sa­tions, and clear­ly reject­ed the geno­cide claim against Israel. We hope that those gov­ern­ments and those of oth­er like-mind­ed states will con­tin­ue to stand with Israel in defend­ing itself against ter­ror­ism.”

“A cam­paign such as the defeat of ISIS in Mosul by an inter­na­tion­al coali­tion in 2016–2017, which caused a high­er per­cent­age of civil­ian casu­al­ties than have occurred in Gaza, may no longer be legal­ly per­mis­si­ble.”

“Although the ICJ has also called for the imme­di­ate release of all hostages and for ‘all par­ties’, which includes Hamas, to com­ply with inter­na­tion­al human­i­tar­i­an law,   Hamas has no respect what­so­ev­er for the ICJ or inter­na­tion­al law. Yet it is only Israel, not Hamas, which will come under any real pres­sure to com­ply with the ICJ’s deci­sion.  This is yet anoth­er indi­ca­tion of how unjust it is.”

Con­tact
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax: 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au