Connect with us

RSS

Media’s Misrepresentation of ICJ Ruling on Rafah: A Pernicious Pattern

Judges, including Sarah Cleveland, arrive at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), during a ruling on South Africa’s request to order a halt to Israel’s Rafah offensive in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, May 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an emergency ruling last week as part of South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide.

The ruling read, in part, that the Israel Defense Forces must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

Five of the 15 judges authored an opinion that accompanied the ruling, with four of the five arguing that it does not halt military action in southern Gaza — but only applies to such action that could bring about, in whole or in part, the destruction of the Palestinian people.

The distinction is important: it allows Israel to continue its military action against Hamas in Rafah.

It was, however, a distinction that was lost on the international media — which invariably interpreted the ruling as ordering Israel to halt its Rafah offensive entirely.

Misleading Headlines

The immediate media reaction to the ruling was a rash of headlines that claimed the UN’s highest court was effectively ordering the IDF to stop its campaign in Rafah.

The BBC, NBC News, CNN, and Newsweek all published pieces that stated the ICJ had ordered an “immediate” end to the military offensive:

 

 

 

While the individual articles included the relevant part of the ruling that makes clear it is not a blanket order against military action, their headlines tell readers the opposite.

Unsurprisingly, the media’s presentation of the ruling has been criticized by Israeli officials, who pointed out that the ICJ ruling does not prevent Israel’s right to both defend itself and free the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

“It said genocide is forbidden, and we have no intention of committing genocide. What country would invest so many resources to bring in humanitarian aid, call off attacks and the like, if it intends to commit genocide? We are already doing and will continue to do what the ruling has called for,” one official told Ynet News.

“Sometimes you just cannot confuse them with the facts,” they added. “There is a false narrative that the ICJ ordered a halt to the fighting in Rafah and that is not the case. If the court would have wanted to say anything else, it would have.”

Part of a Pattern

More importantly, the misleading reports on the ICJ’s ruling appear to be part of a trend in which news outlets have misinterpreted critical legal rulings about Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas.

Following the ICJ delivering its initial ruling on South Africa’s case in late January, the majority of media organizations claimed the court had decided there was a “plausible” claim of Israeli genocide in Gaza — an allegation that was immediately refuted by legal experts who had read the ruling in its entirety.

Yet, for weeks, news outlets continued to print the pernicious lie that the UN court had effectively decided that there was credible evidence that Israel was perpetrating genocide.

Indeed, it was not until ICJ judge Joan Donoghue, who served as president of the court between February 2021 and February 2024, appeared on the BBC current affairs program HARDTalk in April that the media started correctly reporting on the court’s decision.

Speaking to the BBC’s Stephen Sackur, Donoghue explained that she was “glad” to have the opportunity to explain the effect of the ruling.

“The court decided that the Palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide and that South Africa had the right to present that claim in the court,” she said. “It then looked at the facts as well. But it did not decide — and this is something where I’m correcting what’s often said in the media — it didn’t decide that the claim of genocide was plausible.”

Donoghue’s unequivocal correction of the media’s misreporting should have served as a valuable lesson for news outlets in navigating the complexity and nuance of legal rulings.

And yet, just weeks later, as the International Criminal Court (ICC) lead prosecutor Karim Khan announced he would seek arrest warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant alongside several Hamas leaders, the media once again skewed the facts.

Failing to understand the distinction between Khan seeking arrest warrants to be issued and them actually being issued, several news outlets suggested the latter had occurred.

NPR, for example, aired a two-minute segment “examining Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer’s statements on the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The Hill also implied warrants had already been issued in a piece headlined, ‘”US lashes out after Israeli officials targeted with arrest warrants,” which told readers that the ICC itself had “filed arrest warrants against two top Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza…”

The media have — whether by intention or carelessness — misinterpreted three separate legal orders that relate to Israel’s war against Hamas.

On each occasion, their misreporting was damaging to Israel.

British author Ian Fleming famously said, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”

How salient his observation seems now.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Media’s Misrepresentation of ICJ Ruling on Rafah: A Pernicious Pattern first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

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.”

Continue Reading

RSS

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.

Continue Reading

RSS

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.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News