The horror of Gaza is spilling into the Red Sea. After members of the Ansar Allah militia attacked cargo ships perceived as Israeli, the situation took an international turn which risks reviving barely dormant tensions between Iran and the United States.
Ansar Allah is a primarily Shiite political and military organization emerging from Yemen in the 1990s, often referred to as “Houthis” due to their regional affiliation or their co-founder Hussein Badreddine al-Houthi. They want to thwart Israel’s economic and military activities in the Red Sea, particularly in response to attacks from Tel Aviv to Beirut that killed a senior Hamas leader.
These assaults led the United States and Great Britain to form a multinational force including Canada, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Bahrain (the only Arab country ), in order to ensure the safety of carriers of a State which is increasingly being described as genocidal. It is also Thursday that the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest judicial body of the United Nations (UN), will examine the request filed by South Africa, which accuses Israel of genocide in its ongoing military campaign against Hamas.
In addition to this regional military escalation, what is happening in Gaza has never been limited to its borders. First, the support of Israel’s allies has been a catalyst for the sense of impunity with which Netanyahu’s government has orchestrated attacks on the Palestinian people. Repeated calls for the “right to protect oneself” in the international media repeated Tel Aviv’s statements in full, creating a tidal wave of support for it. This is in addition to the sale of weapons, technological devices and artificial intelligence tools amplifying the slaughter, from the United States, but also from Canada and the United Kingdom.
Secondly, according to the Times of Israel, there would be negotiations to deport Palestinian refugees overseas to African countries, negotiations that the Congo denies. Netanyahu’s government would attempt to force the displacement of Gaza residents on a “voluntary” basis, a process that would logically be overseen by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Third, international pressure was the main reason for the short ceasefire last November. The activist movements were supported by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which is pushing Tel Aviv and Israeli companies to abdicate settlements on Palestinian soil. In early January, more than 800 academics specializing in the region and international law also called on Israel to respect its international obligations.
Ultimately, South Africa filed a formal 84-page complaint to the ICJ detailing Israel’s brutalities in Gaza, a request supported by Malaysia, Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Although the complaint requires further substantiation and support, it adds to other complaints filed at the International Criminal Court. Among others, a collective of 300 legal and civil society actors as well as a group of 100 Chilean lawyers filed requests to this body which prosecutes individuals for genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity.
To international problems, multilateral solutions
International organizations too often fail to legislate and organize the transnational effectively, in particular because of the sacrosanct sovereignty of member states. But faced with such international ramifications, multilateral solutions are essential, i.e. negotiations and measures involving several countries. The institutions of international law are too ineffective, but they are the only ones capable of legislating on such horrors.
While it is boycotting most UN institutions, Israel has announced that it intends to defend itself at the ICJ, of which it is still a member. The court usually provides a preliminary judgment within weeks, although an official verdict can take years.
South Africa’s complaint is inspired by the case of Gambia, which filed a complaint on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation against Myanmar over the forced displacement of the Rohingya. ICJ judgments are sometimes ignored, such as the recent case of Russia, but it is an increasingly used and increasingly effective body. Note that it issued interim measures in 10 cases in its first 50 years of existence (1945 to 1995), but in 11 cases in the last decade only. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, is slow to lay official charges against members of Netanyahu’s government, although he had acted quickly in the case of Ukraine.
Currently, States are the only ones able to regulate transnational phenomena through a multilateral system based on rules of law. More governments should also coordinate to impose sanctions on Israel, such as freezing its assets on international markets. In cases of massacres supported or amplified by international actors, social protest movements can also have a real snowball effect.
As for the strength of multilateralism, it is not about supporting a world government or encouraging political interference between countries. However, we must think about policies and solidarity to prevent the exploitation, dispossession or elimination of certain populations. And this, all together.