THIRD-STATE COMPLICITY IN GAZA GENOCIDE: WHITHER INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ICJ RULINGS?

A foundational question tackled in the study of international law is, 'Is international law really law?' Nothing provides a more robust response to this question than the actions of Israel and the imperial West that sucks up to Zionism, Israel's state ideology

- By Ameen Izzadeen

This aerial view shows Palestinians burying 54 unidentified bodies in a cemetery at Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on October 22, 2025, after they were returned by Israel under a US-brokered ceasefire deal.AFP.

(AFP)

While international law unequivocally holds that occupation is illegal and that resisting occupation is a legitimate right of the people of an occupied territory, the imperial West—comprising, among others, the United States, Britain, and Germany—extends unwavering support to the violator of international law. They recognise Israel's right to defend itself by occupying and annexing Palestinian land but condemn the Palestinians as terrorists for resisting occupation. They do not denounce Israel's horrors in Gaza. For them, every atrocity Israel commits in Gaza and the West Bank is not considered a crime, because Israel is merely exercising its right to defend itself—a supreme principle the imperialists hold high above justice for Palestinians.

The imperialist West's all-out support for Israel's acts, which international law and tribunals condemn as crimes against humanity and genocide, is a sign of perversion that makes them unfit to be called civilised or to be a member of the United Nations or the international community.

With their perverted policy, the Western imperialists render useless all UN mechanisms designed to create a peaceful world. In their contempt for international tribunals' rulings and for reports by UN experts and committees, these imperialists and their cronies won't acknowledge that Israel's disproportionate military action in Gaza amounted to outright genocide.

Given the Western imperialists' perverted policy, what effect does Wednesday's landmark International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling have in addressing the obscene injustice inflicted on the hapless Palestinians by mighty and arrogant Israel and its imperialist allies?