Is the Purpose of Israel to Destroy International Law?

The shredding of international law is a feature not a bug of Israel to the wider imperial system

Ramy Abdu: “Farewell to the child Misk Alayan, who was martyred following the Israeli attack on Khan Younis in southern Gaza.”

At the end of her comments to the International Court of Justice yesterday, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh stated: “In addition to seeking to destroy the protective application of international law to the Palestinian people, Israel appears set on destroying the very international framework created to ensure compliance with international law with profound consequences that reverberate far beyond Palestine and Palestinians.”

I have been arguing for some time that this is actually imperial Israel’s purpose.

I regularly hear people say that the US government’s backing of Israel is costing the US government in various ways, including eroding international law.

I don’t buy it.

That is a feature, not a bug.

The imperial system wants at times to instrumentalize international law, which is one way of effectively, tacitly destroying it as a meaningful thing.

And at times, working hand in glove, it may seek to obliterate it completely. It’s Biden and Trump, colluding.

Here are Ní Ghrálaigh’s remarks which contain lots of good information, though the headline of the video — “This is about Gaza’s future” — is not really accurate, it’s about the world’s future as she says:

She added: “If these venerable institutions are to survive ... the international community must act while it can to uphold them.”

Indeed.

Then she claims: “The international community is so acting", citing the advisory proceedings ongoing at the ICJ.

Here, I think she’s wrong. The “international community” is failing. It is seeking advisory opinions when it should be seeking further orders under the Genocide Convention. It should finally be moving with a General Assembly Uniting for Peace resolution as I’ve repeatedly urged.

Additional points made in the accuracy.org news release I just put out:

Is Israel Set to Shred International Law? How to Stop It -- Interviews Available

AntiWar.com reports Tuesday: "Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 57 Palestinians Over 24 Hours."

The Guardian reports in "Israel seems set on destroying system of international law compliance, ICJ hears," that Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, the counsel for the Palestinian state, described Israel’s actions as “antithetical to a peace-loving state." She said the restrictions on “the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, [Israel’s] attacks on the United Nations and on UN officials, property and premises, its deliberate obstruction of the organisation’s work and its attempt to destroy an entire UN subsidiary organ” were “unprecedented in the history of the organisation." See clip and full statement. (Ní Ghrálaigh had also represented the South African government in its Genocide Convention case against Israel, a separate but related case.)

Available for a limited number of interviews:

CRAIG MOKHIBER, craigmokhiber@gmail.com,

Craig’s Newsletter

Mokhiber is an International human rights lawyer and former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, who stepped down from his post in 2023 and penned a viral letter on unfolding genocide and the UN’s failures.

He noted on Monday: "Five days of hearings have begun at the ICJ [Monday] on the Israeli regime’s attacks on and interference with UNRWA and other UN agencies in Palestine. The Court’s opinion will undoubtedly find against the regime, given its flagrant violations of international law in attacking international organizations & obstructing humanitarian aid. The U.S., which has been complicit in these violations, will shamefully intervene in support of the Israeli regime, alongside a few other complicit countries."

He recently warned: "If Israel gets away with genocide, all of that nascent project of a world governed by human rights and the rule of law crumbles, and then it's every person for themselves."

He has recently written that the UN General Assembly should "organize a protective force for Palestine and a global embargo on the regime. Arab governments: get up off your knees and protect the Palestinian people before it’s too late. Other governments: join The Hague Group, isolate & cut off all relations with the regime, arrest perpetrators, prosecute complicity within your own borders. ICJ & ICC: end the delay, act now on the genocide."

He has spoken in favor of the UNGA using Uniting for Peace to overcome the U.S. veto.

Mokhiber states that the Trump administration "is trying to strip UNRWA, a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), of its diplomatic immunity (which is a serious violation of international law). The appropriate reciprocal response from all 193 countries that are members of the UNGA would be to strip all U.S. diplomats of their diplomatic immunity, wherever they are."

See stream for the current ICJ proceedings.

See accuracy.org news release from last year: "Report: Israel Tortured False Confessions Out of UNRWA Staff."