Judge White ruled that Israel’s military goal of eliminating Hamas ‘plausibly’ falls within the prohibition of genocide.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Federal Judge in the United States ruled that Israel’s declaration to eliminate Hamas can “plausibly” be interpreted as genocide, and he urged the Biden Administration not to be “complicit” in Israel’s actions.
The ruling was in response to a petition filed by Defense for Children International – Palestine which charged the US government with “failure to prevent and complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide against them, their families, and the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.”
The organization demanded that all US government aid to Israel be canceled.
Although the petition was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California urged President Joe Biden “to examine the results of their unflagging support of the military siege against the Palestinians in Gaza.”
Judge White ruled that Israel’s military goal of eliminating Hamas “is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide.”
He said he based his decision on seven “uncontroverted” testimonies from Palestinians whose families were killed or harmed in Gaza, “expert opinion proffered at the hearing on these motions as well as statements made by various officers of the Israeli government.”
Judge White said that although the ICJ didn’t call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in its case brought by South Africa against Israel, the fact that it imposed guidelines for avoiding genocide implied that Israel wasn’t entirely free from the charge.
The ICJ, which is based in The Hague, ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent the commission of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, to ensure that Israel Defense Forces troops do not commit acts of genocide, and to punish alleged public incitement to genocide.
ICJ judges did reject Pretoria’s request to order a halt to the war against Hamas. In its provisional ruling, the court also dismissed South Africa’s demand that residents of the northern Gaza Strip be allowed to return to the area immediately.
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