Here are Israel’s defiance of the international order and the war crimes it has committed in the last two years alone!
Here are Israel’s defiance of the international order and the war crimes it has committed in the last two years alone!
By Adem Kılıç, political scientist
Israel violated international human rights law, The Hague Statutes, the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute by bombing hospitals, schools, UN buildings, places of worship and humanitarian aid centers. At the same time, it used hunger as a weapon of war and building settlements in the areas it occupied.
In other words, Israel, in the Gaza war that has left 2 years behind, has ignored and continues to ignore all the rules of the international order that ensure sustainability, almost every norm in force and historically entered the literature.
In addition, by violating the Genocide Convention of the International Court of Justice, to which Israel is a party, and by putting pressure on this court through the United States, it is destroying the sustainability of the global system.
What are the details of Israel’s war crimes?
What is happening in Gaza contains many grave violations within the framework of the basic principles of international law.
The indiscriminate targeting of civilians, the disproportionate use of force and the systematic destruction of infrastructure constitute a clear violation of the customary rules of global precedent set by the Geneva Conventions.
On the other hand, according to international law, hospitals, health workers and aid organizations must be under absolute protection during a war.
However, in full view of the world, Israel has systematically destroyed the health infrastructure in Gaza and continues to hit even ambulances carrying civilians.
The blockade of Gaza and the obstruction of the flow of humanitarian aid violated the Rome Statute, which prohibits the starvation of civilians, and 18 different UN Security Council resolutions on this issue.
Preventing food, medicine, and fuel from reaching the area has the effect of mass collective punishment on civilians, which are explicitly called war crimes under the Geneva Convention.
In addition, reports that white phosphorus and incendiary munitions, which are banned in wars, are used extensively in civilian areas bring about a serious legal debate.
Israel’s policies of forced displacement mean that it is carrying out crimes against humanity and apartheid practices under the Rome Statute.
The International Criminal Court’s interim injunction decision on January 26, 2024, reveals that the crime of genocide has been committed in Gaza, and although the final verdict has not yet been rendered, this decision is binding and imposes a responsibility on the international community to act.
Why can’t the world stop Israel?
Today, despite all these facts, the main reason why the international community has not been able to stop the grave violations in Gaza is that geopolitical balances have taken precedence over the law. More precisely, we are living in a period where “might is right” and “the law of the jungle” is valid.
Because the UN Security Council has become dysfunctional, especially due to US vetoes, Israel’s military supply chain, intelligence sharing, and regional security networks effectively bind a significant part of the Western bloc.
All this, combined with the so-called “war on terror” doctrine that the West has used for decades to justify its invasions and the hypocrisy of framing it with self-defense, relegates the basic principles of humanitarian law to the background.
Although there is a great division in the world on this issue, some countries in Europe are slowly approaching Gaza from a human rights perspective, while others still prefer to remain silent due to energy, security, defense interests and the influence of Jewish lobbies.
The Arab world, on the other hand, continues to fail to exert collective pressure due to internal rivalries, so-called normalization processes and Iran-based power balances.
On the other hand, the enforcement power of international legal mechanisms is extremely limited.
Because there is no coercive structure for the execution of the decisions of the International Criminal Court. The arrest warrants obtained by the International Criminal Court depend entirely on the cooperation of states, and this documents that the law is only on paper, with an understanding that serves the West.
How can Israel be stopped?
In order to stop the violations in Gaza, fundamental changes in the implementation architecture of the international system are first required.
Limiting the veto power in the UN Security Council or enabling the UN General Assembly to make binding decisions through a mechanism similar to the “Uniting for Peace” used in history could be an important first step.
Much tighter control over arms supply chains should be exercised, and a mandatory embargo mechanism should be put in place where there is a serious risk of humanitarian law violations.
National courts exercising universal jurisdiction should be made more active, targeted financial sanctions against individuals should be imposed, and the obligation of companies to review human rights should become the global standard.
In addition, international institutions such as the UN should ensure the safety of the civilian population by establishing humanitarian corridors, sea and air bridges when the risk of genocide and ethnic cleansing is identified.
But the ultimate solution certainly lies in the reshaping of the global order and on the political ground.
It is time for the world to get rid of the structure that is built on the interests of the West and allows such genocides with the right of veto alone.
The “World is bigger than the Five” and the “West”
Gaza has become a mirror of the most fundamental problems of international law.
The gap between the strength of international law, justice and global norms and the weakness of enforceability has reached a point where it can no longer be bridged.
War crimes, genocide and gross human rights violations in Gaza have already been documented by UN resolutions and the findings of high judicial bodies.
But the global will to stop them has also been paralyzed by geopolitical calculations and the veto mechanism.
At this point, truly stopping Israel’s crimes in Gaza does not require rewriting international law, but establishing a global will and mechanism to enforce existing law.
And although the global elites are still trying to ignore it, the peoples who have taken to the streets all over the world have already decided to do so.