Euro-Med Monitor Calls on ICJ Members to Sever Ties with ‘Israel’, Urgent Appeals for Action

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stated that all member states of the International Court of Justice should sever all forms of political, economic, and military relations with Israel due to its blatant violation of the court’s decision, which called for taking interim measures to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The monitor documented in a report the continued violations by the Israeli army over four weeks of the International Court’s decision. This occurred within the framework of its consideration of a lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa against Israel for violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention during its military operations against the Gaza Strip and its Palestinian residents since October 7, 2023.

The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor based its assessment of Israel’s commitment to the International Court’s decision on six key indicators: mass killing, causing serious physical or mental harm, deliberately imposing living conditions leading to material destruction, hunger, obstructing the arrival of humanitarian supplies, imposing an environment targeting population control, and publicly inciting the continuation of genocide.

It reviewed indicators of the continued commission of genocide by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip against Palestinians in this capacity, supporting it with examples documented since the court’s decision.

The human rights monitor documented the killing of more than 3,847 Palestinians, including 1,306 children and 807 women, since the issuance of the International Court’s decision. This raises the death toll since October 7th of last year to 38,067, including 14,350 children and 8,620 women, including more than 8,000 people whose bodies remain under rubble and in the streets, as medical teams were unable to retrieve them, hundreds of them after the court’s decision.

The Euro-Mediterranean affirmed that Israel continues to violate international law with its imperative commitment to committing the crime of genocide. This is done within the framework of its severe violations and war crimes and crimes against humanity, listed as independent crimes in their entirety against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Euro-Mediterranean condemned Israel’s repeated violation of the International Court’s decision and the Genocide Convention, urging South Africa and all member states in the court to take necessary measures, including cutting all forms of political, economic, and most importantly, military relations. This is because continuing these relationships is considered a form of support and approval of Israel’s violation of the International Court’s decision, thus encouraging Israel to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.

The Euro-Mediterranean welcomed the demand by independent UN experts for an immediate halt to arms exports to Israel. In this regard, it pointed to statements by more than 30 independent UN experts that any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel for use in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must stop immediately. The experts mentioned that such transfer of weapons and ammunition is prohibited even if the exporting state does not intend the weapons to be used in violation of the law or knows for certain that they will be used in such a way, as long as there is a clear risk of that happening.

The Euro-Mediterranean supports what UN independent experts announced, that parties to the Arms Trade Treaty have additional commitments under the treaty to refuse weapons exports if they know that they will be used to commit international crimes or if there is a significant risk that those weapons may be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The experts mentioned that “the need to impose an arms embargo on Israel has been reinforced by the judgment issued by the International Court of Justice on January 26 regarding a reasonable risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since that time.”

The Euro-Mediterranean called on the international community to fulfill its legal and international obligations towards the population of the Gaza Strip, ensuring the implementation of the International Court’s decision to immediately stop the crime of genocide. The court officially decided that the crime is likely to occur in the sector.

It emphasized that there should be decisive international pressure to immediately and rapidly introduce necessary humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip without obstacles to prevent the spread of famine in the sector. It also called for the entry of international and UN inquiry and investigation committees into the sector to prevent the destruction of evidence related to the crimes committed by Israel there.

The Euro-Mediterranean also called for intensifying efforts from national, international, and UN institutions to monitor, document, and report violations by Israel, disseminating and publishing such violations to enhance the ability to hold Israel accountable, especially regarding its violation of the International Court’s decision. It further emphasized presenting the necessary evidence to the court after the deadline, which is one month, granted by the court to Israel to submit a report on the implementation of the measures stipulated in the decision.