We used to know that even Wars have rules, and we have seen the application of those rules exercised by the ICJ and ICC along with many other international institutions. However, there is an exception-Israel. So far Israel has broken countless international laws including hundreds of UN resolutions, laws of war, and occupation mentioned in the Fourth Geneva Convention. But they have yet to face any consequences which implies, Israel is above international law. The double standard and the attitude of the international community toward Israel is the proof.
Since the occupation of Palestine in 1948, Israel has continued to violate international law. Despite that America along with its Western allies has put a blindfold and continues to justify, fund, and support the Apartheid and genocidal State of Israel.
The Israeli War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity—A Genocide
Keeping aside the past, since the 7th of October—it has been over a year—Israel continues to relentlessly attack Gaza. Israel’s war has become the most horrific genocide—recognized by the most—in the world ever recorded. As of now, Israel has slaughtered 43,000+ Palestinians of which more than two-thirds are children and women. According to recent reports, more than 70% of Gaza’s homes are destroyed including 80% of commercial buildings, 87% of school buildings, and more than half the healthcare facilities. 68% of Gaza’s roads and cropland are destroyed as well. Experts state that Israel has dropped an estimated 75,000 tons of explosives on the densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
The EU foreign policy chief says, “Destruction in Gaza ‘comparable, if not higher,’ to WWII Germany”
Due to the Israeli blockade, millions of Gazans are suffering from famine-level hunger as well. They have cut the electricity, internet, water line, medical supplies, and everything else needed for the survival of the millions of displaced people. Even international aid organizations cannot function in Gaza to help innocent people out of fear, because no aid workers are safe. As of August, Israeli forces have killed 172 aid workers by targeted attacks including 7 from the World Central Kitchen. 6 of them are foreign nationals who died in targeted Israeli air strikes. The international media has also reported, and the world has seen numerous recordings that Israeli forces are also firing at civilians trying to collect aid.
Similarly, Israel has killed more than 125 journalists in Gaza in 1 year which is more than double the number of journalists killed in WWII. At least 986 health workers have also been killed by Israeli attacks which made Gaza’s health care system mostly inoperable.
Israel has been carrying out all these attacks and committing all these atrocities on record while the world has been watching. Most absurdly, the IDF soldiers have even been making TikTok videos of their crimes of war and crimes against humanity. However, every time they are criticized by their Western allies and the United Nations, they come up with false claims of Hamas presence in those facilities. But shamefully Israel has not been able to provide any proof or evidence—everything the world has heard is lies from their propaganda machine. On the other hand, there are plenty of proofs of its genocide and violation of international laws.
How the International Organizations React—A Clear Genocide
Since the beginning, the United Nations has been assessing and monitoring the catastrophic events in Gaza and reported on multiple occasions that international humanitarian law has been violated.
The UN Commission report has found that Israel has intentionally destroyed Gaza’s healthcare system as part of its broader assault. It has also stated that Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity of ‘extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities’. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry has also reported that Israel has violated international law, and committed crimes against humanity on the Occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and other parts of the occupied West Bank.
Back in March 2024, the UN Human Rights Council published a report titled “Anatomy of a Genocide” where its special rapporteur, Francesca Albanese stated that,
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide…has been met.”
Israel has violated some specific set of rules of genocide with the intent of destroying a whole national, ethnic, racial, and religious group. We have also seen countless events recorded by the media that IDF has been targeting civilians, ambulances, children, shelters, etc. as it mowed 70% of Gaza’s infrastructure. The report says,
“Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent: causing seriously serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group,”
According to Amnesty International, the occupying power, Israel has violated international law and the law of war on multiple occasions. Thus, it demanded investigations of war crimes against Israel in its recent report. Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, Erika Guevara-Rosas stated,
“The Israeli military’s relentless campaign of ruin in Gaza is one of wanton destruction. Our research has shown how Israeli forces have obliterated residential buildings, forced thousands of families from their homes, and rendered their land uninhabitable,“
Amnesty International also finds that the Israeli military is systematically destroying the entire area. Those houses had nothing to do with Hamas and ‘were not destroyed as a result of intense fighting’. Similarly, it finds that Israeli Occupation forces deliberately ‘razed the land after they had taken control of the area’. These are the direct violations of Article 147 and are grave breaches of the Genocide Convention, and thus a war crime.
Israel’s own Human Rights group B’Taslem said that Israel is committing war crimes and intentionally displacing the people of the Gaza Strip. They also called the Israeli action ‘a General’s plan’ which implies ethnic cleansing. It says,
“Now, when it is clearer than ever that Israel intends to forcibly displace northern Gaza’s residents by committing some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war, the world’s nations must take action,”
Similarly, almost all the international rights organizations, along with numerous journalists, diplomats, and experts have condemned Israel and raised their voices indicating its crime against humanity. If we want to talk about all of them a book even won’t be enough to cover everything.
As the Gaza genocide unfolds, we have seen, that the Israeli military has willfully killed many Palestinian civilians on record. They have snipped pregnant women, children, and even people receiving aid. Israeli forces have also targeted the shelter of the displaced people multiple times which were declared as “safe zones”. The occupation forces have also demolished entire villages, towns, and cities with controlled detonations. Moreover, since the beginning, the IDF has been using White Phosphorus which is strongly prohibited in war. With all of these, even a person with a conscience and average judgment can understand that Israel has been violating international law.
In South Africa’s case against Israel, ICJ prosecuted Israel for Genocide in the Gaza Strip. For the first time in history, Israeli crimes have been brought into legal questioning by the highest court in the world formed by the Western world. Starting on December 2023, the 17 judges bench of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prosecuted Israel for genocide. The bench gave a landmark ruling on 19 January 2024 declaring, that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful, along with the associated settlement regime, annexation, and use of natural resources. ICJ also found “a plausible genocide” ordering Israel to stop the indiscriminate bombing of civilians and civilian structures which they have never followed.
In another case, the International Criminal Court (ICC), convicted Israeli PM Netanyahu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant—who recently got fired by Netanyahu—for war crimes against humanity in May 2024. Recently, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for both criminals.
Palestine is not the only place where Israel is committing the act of genocide, it is also committing another genocide in Lebanon. It has been indiscriminately bombing civilian infrastructures and killing children and innocent people in the name of self-defense. Last month, on 17 and 18 September, Israel carried out a terror attack in Lebanon and Syria using beepers which killed 37 people wounding more than 2,931. Israel has killed more than 3000+ people including children in Lebanon so far.
International humanitarian law prohibits any ‘indiscriminate attacks that fail to distinguish between civilians and military targets’. Besides, it also prohibits the use of any type of booby-traps. But no matter what Israel has carried out these illegal attacks in Lebanon and Syria neglecting the international law that it has been continuously violating since its illegitimate birth.
Israel’s War on International Organizations and Crime Against Justice
International rights organizations, the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and many other organizations along with individuals are being literally threatened by Israel and its partners in genocide with complete impunity, only because they have been doing their job—trying to create awareness and prevent the Israeli genocide in Gaza. This is awfully pathetic which raises further questions on whether Israel is above the law, and the way the Western nations act proves so.
Since the 7th of October, the UN has issued five UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. However, these resolutions didn’t get through only because of the U.S.—Israel’s best partner in crime. Israel has ignored all the UN efforts to ceasefire and continued to carry out its mission of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Not only have they ignored the resolutions, but it has also described UNRAW, the UN’s Palestinian Refugee Agency as a terrorist organization. They didn’t stop there, the Israeli authority launched a campaign to bankrupt UNRAW so that they could starve the people of Gaza to death as it is the only organization still functioning for managing aid. Believing Israeli lies, many of their Western allies stopped funding UNRAW, some of whom resumed the funding sometime later because Israel could not provide any evidence against UNRAW staff’s involvement on October 7.
Last month Israeli forces attacked and threatened the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL in Lebanon as Israel invaded Lebanon on October 1. Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on UNIFIL positions injuring several peacekeepers. They have also attacked their Medics and first responders trying to rescue the injured—pretty similar to Gaza. Similarly, Israeli authority has been buying Google ads to run smear campaigns against other organizations including UN Watch.
Along with the UN organizations, Israel has also been threatening a vast number of UN staff including its Secretary-General António Guterres because of their position against the genocide in Gaza. On October 2nd the Israeli bench banned the UN secretary-general from entering Israel. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese remains one of the top Israeli targets because of her brave position against the Israeli atrocities. The Israeli government ran a smear campaign against her too labeling her ‘antisemite’ and demanding her resignation from the position.
The ICJ ruled against Israel’s ‘plausible genocide’, illegal occupation of land, and extermination of Palestinian people ordering Israel to stop its settlement activities and disproportionate attack on Gaza. In response to the ICJ verdict, the Israeli authorities have come up with rejection, and smear campaigns as well. The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the verdict ‘absurd’ rejecting to comply with it. Similarly, the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz indicated further violation of the court’s order saying, “The opinion only distances the possibility of resolving the conflict,” which they have never wanted to resolve. U.S. and other Israeli allies also joined hands with Israel in rejecting the highest court in the world, just because they could due to their immense economic, political, and military power.
The world’s highest criminal court, the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Israeli PM Netanyahu and its former defense minister Yoav Gallant guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, recently issuing arrest warrants for both. But as shameful as it sounds, the highest court in the world is not even spared from Israeli hostility. The chief of Mossad, Yossi Cohen, Israel’s foreign Intelligence Agency covertly threatened ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda during the prosecution because she requested to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.
Earlier this year, Tel Aviv also threatened ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan because he requested an arrest warrant for the Israeli PM and DM while the U.S. along with other Israeli allies joined hands threatening Karim Khan and the ICC. Recently, on 21st November, the ICC’s verdict was put into action issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant. But as funny as it gets, Netanyahu accused the ICC of antisemitism. We need to realize that Karim Khan did not issue the arrest warrant, the 3 judges did. Moreover, the ICC also convened 6 senior experts on international and humanitarian law to analyze the evidence and assess the ruling. One of the experts is none other than the renowned Judge and Jewish Holocaust survivor—Theodor Meron. Thus they all are labeled as antisemites by Netanyahu. Israel is not alone in this threatening business, its greatest ally, the U.S. has vowed to sanction the ICC. The U.S. Senator, Lindsay Graham went even far beyond ICC, threatening all the other allies if they arrest the Israeli leaders.
These are not the only organizations that Israel showed its hostility—there are countless organizations. The international aid organizations have been finding it hard to do their job because Israel keeps killing aid workers. There are countless organizations that cannot enter Gaza because Israel has either blocked them or banned them.
The same goes for media. Most of the media outlets are not allowed to enter Gaza to cover what is happening there. However, those who are working for the Israeli Propaganda machine can cosplay as journalists such as Douglas Murrey, who doesn’t even know the difference between a prosecutor and a judge—according to his latest New York Post column. A very limited number of journalists were covering the atrocities but most of them are dead—killed in targeted Israeli attacks. They have not only killed a vast majority of journalists—we have already discussed earlier—but they have censored most mainstream media outlets. Al Jazeera Media Network was shut down by the Israeli government closing its offices in Jerusalem and the West Bank. There are reports that the IDF has also confiscated the equipment from journalists including from AP. This is a clear violation of media freedom.
Israel’s threats are not limited to these organizations only, they have threatened several nations and their governments as well. Earlier, Norway, Belgium, and Spain recognized Palestine criticizing Israel’s violation of international law and its horrific acts in Gaza. Later the Israeli government expelled 8 Norwegian diplomats serving in the occupied Palestinian territory over that matter. They have also threatened Belgium and Spain accusing ‘they have sided with Hamas’ because of the canceling of the trade agreement. France is one of the closest western allies of Israel but they were also threatened by Israel because they banned Israeli arms companies from participating in Paris Naval Fare. Israeli PM threatened its PM Macron stating they will take legal action. The list goes on and on.
The Western Hypocrisy and Double Standard—The West’s Complicity in Israeli Crimes!
For more than 1 year, Israel has been running its latest genocidal operations in Gaza with complete impunity. Most of the Western world has put their blindfolds on and kept supporting this inhuman act. They have not only supplied endless amounts of ammunition to kill innocent civilians—most of whom are children—but also justified Israeli criminal conduct without any shame. No wonder, the world is witnessing a full display of Western hypocrisy, double standards, and complicity in the Israeli Genocide in Gaza.
The very United Nations that was established by the Western nations is ineffective in preventing this genocide because the United States exercises its veto power to keep the genocide running. Until now, the UN has proposed 5 draft resolutions for a ceasefire in Gaza, but none went through because the U.S. was willing to paint their hands with blood enabling Israel to continue it. It is not just 5 resolutions; from 2015 through 2024, the UN General Assembly has adopted 164 resolutions on Israel, and from 2006 through 2024, the UN Human Rights Council has adopted 108 resolutions against Israel. Still, Israel has violated all of them with the help of its Western allies. Until now, there have been more UN resolutions against Israel than the whole world combined. But it doesn’t matter, it is Israel’s birthright to violate any international law and resolution because it is an ally of the West, especially the White House.
Germany is the second largest weapon supplier to Israel and it continues to do so despite knowing that it has violated all the international law in Gaza. Like the U.S., Germany also justifies Israel’s criminal conduct without any shame letting the world know that they are happily supporting a genocide again. The UK, France, and Italy have also been playing an important role in justifying Israeli crimes along with providing a huge supply of weapons throughout the Gaza Genocide. No matter what Israel does—kill aid workers from the allied nations, threaten these nations, run smear campaigns against the UN, or attack their soil for the Zionist goal—these Western nations never criticize Israel. We can forget about sanctions. It is because Israel is above international Law, and every Western nation is willing to bend their principle and break the rule-based order in the world. This is pure double-standard and hypocrisy which reveals the true face of the West that always claimed to be the “torch bearer of humanity”.
Let’s take the recent ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu as an example compared to that of Vladimir Putin for a better understanding.
Experts say that the Gaza genocide is the worst humanitarian crisis the world has ever seen since WWII. In comparison to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, the death toll and destruction in Gaza are way too high in every perspective than that of Ukraine. However, according to human rights organizations, Russia breached two articles of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Therefore, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin citing war crimes. On top of everything, Russia has also been suffering from heavy economic sanctions from the Western world.
When the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin, the whole Western world praised the court’s decision. But when it comes to Israel, the West is now threatening the ICC itself and has taken a vow to sanction this organization and those who comply with its ruling. Moreover, there is no sanction on Israel from the West yet, only because Israel is the Western ally, which implies that Israel is above the law and has the right to genocide. However, the ICC ruling has created a perception that the international Judicial system is still holding onto its principles, unlike the corrupt Western governments and their politicians owned by the Israeli Lobby groups, who now have vowed to destroy it.
