By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on Friday to order that Israel “must ensure” its forces do not commit genocide and take measures to improve the humanitarian situation is “truly a historic decision,” according to a prominent British scholar.
“I think what is most significant is the fact that the ICJ accepted the standing of the case brought by South Africa,” Anas Altikriti, the CEO and founder of UK-based Cordoba Foundation, told Anadolu.
Altikriti said the ICJ ruling is significant “because any future criticism of activists, or politicians or writers or anyone, any criticisms against Israel cannot be deemed to be antisemitic, simply because the ICJ has deemed the case brought by South Africa, accusing Israel of committing genocide, has been accepted in format.”
“And that alone, I believe, opens many, many doors now. Also, amongst the rulings today, on the provisional orders, the mentioning of genocide, the fact that the ICJ acknowledged the fact that Israel was killing civilians.”
The British scholar added that “all these issues I think, are extremely significant.”
Altikriti said: “And the most important part to me, and this is something that I truly felt when ICJ were presenting their case a few weeks ago, I thought to myself that this particular documents, the file that the South Africans brought to the ICJ is in itself, a historic document by any stretch of the imagination, and it can be used, you know, the verdict, the final verdict could take years but during that time, that particular file, I think, should be translated, dispersed, promoted, made into novels, into pieces of art, poetry, prose, articles, research papers for master and doctoral degrees, and use for the full because it's one of the most glorious legal documents I've ever come across, outlining and cataloguing the crimes committed by Israel, alleging that it has, to all intents and purposes, committed war crimes and acts of genocide.”
On Israeli reaction that it has the right to defend itself, following the judgement from The Hague, Altikriti said it was “no different from its reaction after it's committed all of its crimes in the past so that doesn't come as a shock or as a surprise.”
"But what we wait to see now is the stand of states such as the United States, such as the United Kingdom, such as France and Germany, and many others who commit as they claim to international law to see how they are going to respond not only in terms of talk, but in deed," he added.
- UK politicians 'parroting Zionists etching their names as war criminals'
The intelllectual said the ICJ order "opens the doors not only for legal experts, but also for diplomats or activists, for writers, intellectuals, to challenge the policies of states that continue to support and are supporting Israel to commit the crimes that it is committing.”
“The world now is divided into two quite distinct camps [over Gaza],” he added.
“The overwhelming majority, as I said, 80%, probably 85% of the global population, who see truth who are on the right side of history and side with the Palestinians and the 15% probably powerful political, financial, arms wise, who constitute basically the states of the US and UK in the such and various other individuals of particular interest, who are absolutely on the wrong side of history.”
“And the thing that our politicians here in the UK to understand that by parroting you know the words that designers keep telling them to parrot they are essentially writing their names down, they are etching their names down in the books of history as war criminals or people who supported the committers of genocide and war crimes,” Altikriti asserted.