Palestinian envoy to UK says there is no way ICJ would rule in favor of Israel

By Behlul Cetinkaya

LONDON (AA) - The Palestinian ambassador to Britain said Tuesday "there is no way" that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would rule in favor of Israel, and for the first time in history, the "genocide" has been recorded and transmitted live by the people who were executed.

Husam Zomlot's remarks came during a news conference in London on the ongoing Israeli attacks and genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel before the ICJ in the Hague in the Netherlands.

Touching on the Israeli attacks, Zomlot said the destruction of Gaza is a "deliberate genocide and ethnic cleansing...deliberate in its intent and execution."

"Despite this unprecedented manmade humanitarian disaster, we see no serious efforts by the most important international actors to bring about an immediate, sustainable, comprehensive and permanent cease-fire," he noted.

"Without that immediate cease-fire, we see no hope of addressing the apocalyptic situation," he said, asserting that all those who want to discuss other issues are missing the point.

"This remains our top priority," he stressed, adding that in addition, there also has to be "massive international humanitarian efforts" to address Gaza's acute needs.

He referred to the need for reconstruction efforts to make the area "livable again."

"Unfortunately, countries like the US and the UK have so far resisted calling for an immediate cease-fire," said Zomlot, adding: "Do these countries really want to support what I have just described?”

Turning to the genocide case filed by South Africa at the ICJ, Zomlot said it is the first serious international effort at ending this "appalling situation" and "demanding accountability" after 75 years of being denied basic rights.

He went on to say that this attempt came because the international community "has failed" in its duty to protect civilians according to their own commitments and responsibilities as contracting parties to the rules-based international order.

He stressed that Israel chose to conduct "a war of vengeance," adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "not only conducting a war of vengeance, but a war for his own political survival."

"Israel has refused to cooperate with any international investigations for 75 years," he added.

Zomlot said that Israel wants to reserve for itself judgment about who is violating international law and international humanitarian law.

"Israel wants to be the only referee of its own crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide."

-'ICC has been dragging its feet since 2014'

Criticizing Western countries, the Palestinian envoy highlighted that Israel can do this because "certain key Western governments have let Israel do so."

"There must not be another mass expulsion of Palestinians like the Nakba of 1948. Never again," he said, reminding that 70% of the Palestinian population were "ethnically cleansed" in 1948.

"We shall not see that experience again and we will not."

Zomlot also recalled that Palestine asked the ICC to investigate war crimes during and after Israel's 2014 aggression on Gaza, long before Oct. 7.

"We have given full mandate and jurisdiction for the ICC to investigate all war crimes, all crimes committed in the occupied land of Palestine, and the ICC has been dragging its feet since 2014," he said.

He stressed that the political solution should come as "irreversible and credible steps."

Zomlot said that one of Israel's "constant goals for decades" has been to separate Gaza from the rest of Palestine, which he rejected, adding that Gaza is an integral part of the state of Palestine.

"The state of Palestine is ready to take charge of the whole territory of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, immediately."

On British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asking a Muslim member of parliament on Monday "to call on Hamas and the Houthis to de-escalate the situation” in the Middle East rather than the UK government, Zomlot said this is not a Muslim or Jewish issue.

"It's a ridiculous proposition to assume that we have an issue with Israel because of their identity...That's not true. The issue is with the fact of our oppression."

He went on to say that it could be any identity, warning any leaders of using such language.

Sunak has been accused of using an "Islamophobic trope" against Zarah Sultana, a Muslim Labour party member of parliament.

It came on Monday during a debate in the House of Commons following Sunak's statement on last week's strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

- 'There is no way'

On the case at the ICJ, Zomlot said "there is no way" the court would rule in favor of Israel, no possible legal way.

"This was the first time in history that the genocide has been recorded by the people who were executed, transmitted live all over the world," he said.

“There is no way Israel can hide its intent of committing genocide."

"We want to see an immediate injunction for Israel to stop now," said Zomlot, stressing that "we must make sure" that what has taken place over the last 100 days will never happen again.

"The normalization of mass killing of children, the normalization of mass destruction of homes, schools, the normalization of starvation, the normalization of the use of diseases as a weapon is the most dangerous thing that happened in our history since World War II and even before," he added.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.

At least 24,285 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,154 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.