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International Court of Justice rules that some allegations of Israel committing genocide are ‘plausible’

(JTA) — The International Court of Justice ruled that South Africa’s claims that Palestinians are at risk of genocide, and that they merit protection, are “plausible.”

But the court stopped short of ordering a stop to the fighting.

“In the court’s view, the aforementioned facts and circumstances are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible,” said the ruling read in court Friday by Joan Donoghue, an American who is one of 17 judges considering the case. “This is the case with respect to the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts.”

Israel must report back to the court in a month, based on which the court will decide whether to issue a final ruling in the case. But Friday’s ruling was a milestone in the case, which opponents of Israel hope will provide an imprimatur to their claims that Israel is committing war crimes. Israel contested the case in part because it was founded in the wake of the Holocaust and rejects that its war against Hamas meets the definition of a genocide.

The ruling repeatedly made clear that the court had not found evidence of genocide, only that South Africa, in bringing the case, had made a plausible case that the Palestinians deserved protective measures from genocide.

In a statement after the ruling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried a “vile attempt” to strip Israel of the right to self defense. He said the charge was “blatant discrimination against the Jewish state, and it was justly rejected.”

“The charge of genocide leveled against Israel is not only false, it’s outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it,” he said. “Israel will continue to defend itself against Hamas, a genocidal terror organization.”

The operative part of the ruling requires Israel to carry out protective measures that the government says already are underway, including taking all measures to prevent harm to civilians, to allow in humanitarian assistance and to prosecute officials for incitement to genocide. Israel is to report back to the court within a month.

The court said measures to protect Palestinians that Israel has already taken, and to prosecute officials for incitement, are “to be encouraged” but are not enough.

The ruling cited statements by Israeli leaders as examples off language that could be seen as “dehumanizing,” including quotes by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, President Isaac Herzog and Energy Minister Yisrael Katz. Israel has said the relevant quotes were removed from context, were descriptive rather than prescriptive, or were made by officials — like Katz — who are not members of the war cabinet and do not affect decision making.

Aharon Barak, the Israeli former Supreme Court chief justice whom Israel named to the court under the rules of the proceeding, was one of two judges who voted against the key provision requiring Israel report back to the court within a month. The other was Julia Sebutinde, a Ugandan judge on the court.

Notably, the court refrained from ordering specific stops to military action, short of what many of those advocating for a genocide ruling were hoping for, pointing to the more than 25,000 Palestinians killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The court also emphasized that the war was started when Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people, and that more than 130 of the hostages abducted that day remain captive.

Israel is a party to the Genocide Convention which founded the court, but the court has no enforcement mechanism. However, should Israel ignore the court’s ruling, that could serve as a predicate for other nations to boycott Israel or to seek prosecution of its officials. The United States has said that the case South Africa brought lacks merit.


The post International Court of Justice rules that some allegations of Israel committing genocide are ‘plausible’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.

The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.

The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.

Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.

Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.

The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”

“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.

Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”

The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.

The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week

Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot

i24 NewsPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.

The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes

Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

i24 NewsThe Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of ​​operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”

The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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