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Netanyahu Blasts ‘Absurd’ UN Court Ruling on Israeli Settlements: ‘Jews Can’t Be Occupiers in Own Land’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel’s wars and victims of attacks, at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, May 13, 2024. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted the top UN court for saying on Friday that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including its establishment of settlements in the territories, is illegal and violates international law.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) detailed its ruling in an advisory opinion, which is not legally binding.
“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” President Nawaf Salam said while reading the findings of the 15-judge panel.
The ICJ urged Israel to evacuate settlements in the West Bank, pay reparations to Palestinians displaced by settlements, and stop the construction of new settlements. The court argued that Israel’s “occupation” has trampled on Palestinian “self-determination” and therefore must end.
Netanyahu rebuked the court’s opinion, arguing that Jews have a right to inhabit their historical homeland of Judea and Samaria in the West Bank.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland,” Netanyahu wrote on X/Twitter. “No absurd opinion in the Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home.”
While Netanyahu has long been a proponent of a Jewish presence in the West Bank, settlement construction intensified after the formation of the current right-wing Israeli government in 2022. Critics argue that the erection of West Bank settlements undermine the possibility of a Palestinian state. However, many proponents of settlements assert that Jews have a right to live in the Biblical lands of Judea and Samaria.
Israel has also ramped up construction of settlements in the months following Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of over 1,200 people throughout southern Israel. In February, Israel approved plans to build over 3,300 new homes in the West Bank as a response to a fatal Palestinian shooting attack. Earlier this month, Israel reportedly approved 5,295 new housing units in the West Bank.
The ICJ case was set off by a December 2022 UN General Assembly resolution.
Opponents of Israel have been increasingly using the ICJ to pursue legal cases against the Jewish state. South Africa, for example, has accused Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against Hamas in Gaza. Israeli officials have strongly condemned the ICJ proceedings, noting that the Jewish state is targeting terrorists who use civilians as human shields in its military campaign.
Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the Jewish state “rejects” the ICJ’s “one-sided” opinion issued on Friday.
“The opinion is completely detached from the reality of the Middle East: while Hamas, Iran, and other terrorist elements are attacking Israel from seven fronts — including from Gaza and Judea & Samaria — with the aim of obliterating it, and in the aftermath of the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the opinion ignores the atrocities that took place on October 7, as well as the security imperative of Israel to defend its territory and its citizens,” Marmorstein wrote.
Marmorstein added that the ICJ opinion “distances the possibility” of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-governance in the West Bank, “is not interested in peace.”
“It should be emphasized that the opinion is blatantly one-sided. It ignores the past: the historical rights of the State of Israel and the Jewish people in the Land of Israel,” he said. “It is detached from the present: from the reality on the ground and the agreements between the parties. And it is dangerous for the future: it distances the parties from the only possible solution, which is direct negotiations.”
US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) argued that negotiations for a potential Palestinian state should commence after the conclusion of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“Today’s ruling by the so-called ‘International Court of Justice’ reaffirms that the UN discriminates against Israel. They have consistently denied Israel’s legitimate security needs and the right to defend her people,” Wasserman Schultz wrote.
“The discussion about the borders of a future Palestinian state should be part of a two-state solution negotiated by Israelis and Palestinians. However, no path forward exists until Hamas releases the hostages and lays down its arms, so that Israelis can live in a safe and secure environment free from another terrorist threat from Hamas,” Wasserman Schultz added.
The post Netanyahu Blasts ‘Absurd’ UN Court Ruling on Israeli Settlements: ‘Jews Can’t Be Occupiers in Own Land’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.