Paris
For French lawyer Gilles Devers, who leads a team of Palestinian civil society defenders against Israel in a lawsuit before the International Criminal Court (ICC), the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this Friday (26) is a “terrible rebuke”. “for Israel and “more than encouraging” for the Palestinians.
Devers highlights as key aspects of the decision of the International Court of Justice, the main judicial body of the United Nations, the fact that at no point in his text does the term “terrorism” be used; the right to selfdefense asserted by Israel is not accepted; and adopt the term “Palestinian people” to recognize this population's right to protection.
He also points out that the ruling was almost unanimous of the court's 17 justices, 15 voted in favor. This, according to the lawyer, gives the text “even more strength”. “This does not give us lawyers wings, but it gives us special strength to carry on before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and all United Nations bodies.”
While the ICJ, also known as the Hague Court, judges states, the ICC deals with individuals. At this very second, Devers is launching a lawsuit against Israel filed by a group of 600 lawyers, demanding arrest warrants for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and army commanders.
For Devers, Netanyahu's condemnation of the court order brings the Jewish state “to a dead end.” “How can one belong to the international community if one does not respect its highest jurisdiction, the International Court of Justice, which is part of the United Nations? If you join the United Nations as a state but do not respect its jurisdiction, you are putting yourself on the sidelines.” . Israel is being abandoned on all sides.”
Although the judges did not decide whether genocide had occurred or not, Devers said setting emergency measures was a “good start.”
“Whether there is a genocide or not is not the current debate, which is complex. The work of judges takes time and there are many elements that need to be checked. “Apart from those in the rubble, there are 26,000 dead,” citing a figure released on Friday by Gaza's Hamaslinked health authorities.
“I remember it in Srebrenica [massacre na guerra da Bósnia, em 1995] It was considered a genocide with around 8,000 deaths.”
The lawyer downplays the fact that the ICJ has not decided on a ceasefire. He explains that the instrument falls outside the jurisdiction of the judges since the two parties involved in the decision, South Africa and Israel, are not in an armed conflict.
Regarding another point of criticism of the decision, namely the supposedly vague wording of the text, he said it was “impossible to do otherwise” since the decision had to be made in accordance with the Convention for the Prevention of Genocide in the Gaza Strip. “The decision remains very 'readable'. They are experienced judges working with assistants and one word cannot be used in place of the other.”
Although Devers says that as a lawyer he cannot comment on President Lula's stated support for the South African petition, he says the position of Brazilian diplomacy “will be of great importance” if the matter reaches the International Criminal Court.
“The support of states is of great importance for the spirit of the prosecutors.” He mentions other countries such as Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Comoros, Djibouti and Bangladesh, which also expressed solidarity with the South African position.
“We are witnessing a failure of the Western claim to say: 'We are the ones who defend the law and the others will follow my lesson, which has accelerated in the last few days'. Today it is the countries of the South that are teaching us the lesson,” he adds.
As for the powers supporting Israel in the conflict, the French lawyer believes the decision gives them the freedom to take an independent position.
“These are states that felt trapped into supporting Netanyahu and his infamous 'war on terrorism', which the court ignored and viewed as a mere rhetorical argument with no legal content. These states can change their stance and we have already seen a statement from Germany to this effect.”
Germany is one of Israel's most steadfast supporters, also given the sensitivity of Holocaust commemoration in the European country. In a statement issued after the International Court of Justice's decision, Berlin said: “The court has made it clear that Israel's actions in Gaza follow the barbaric terror of October 7th.” However, he stressed that the court's decisions are binding and that Israel have to stick to them.