I imagine that many of you have already listened to Irish barrister, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh’s speech “as part of the Palestinian delegation at the ICC in their case against Israel, where she went into immense detail on the failure of Israel to ensure the basic human rights of Palestinians in Gaza.”
Even if you have, it is well worth listening to again as she sets forth the damning case against Israel so concisely with her soft Irish lilt.
I am also including the following companion piece written by a new writer I came across today on X whose voice well deserves being heard, particularly so since it brings a sense of hope for the end of the depraved genocide of Palestinians in their home and native land.
The destruction of Rafah, as shown in a screenshot from an UNRWA video posted on X on January 22, 2025.
I write to bear witness, to be counted as someone who didn’t stay silent as the most grotesque western-backed atrocities in most of our lifetimes were taking place in Gaza, but my heart has been breaking for the last two months as Israel resumed its genocide after breaking the six-week ceasefire, firstly via the reimposition of a complete siege on all supplies of food, water, medical supplies and fuel, and then, for the last six weeks, via a resumption of its intensive bombing of the civilian population.
With no end in sight to Israel’s screamingly illegal project, over the last two months, of coercion, starvation and murder to pressurize Hamas to free all the hostages and to surrender, and with the only "reward" being the supposed "voluntary migration" of the rest of the population, I turn to Israel itself as perhaps our best hope, as, over the last month, over 140,000 former officials, members of the military and academics have openly condemned the resumption of the genocide.
One of the first to speak out was Ami Ayalon, a former director of the Shin Bet (Israel’s security agency), and a former commander-in-chief of Israel’s navy, who, with 17 other high-profile colleagues, took out adverts in two Israeli newspapers, and who, today, in the Guardian, wrote, "The truth is that our hostages in Gaza have been abandoned in favour of the government’s messianic ideology and by a prime minister in Benjamin Netanyahu who is desperate to cling to power for his own personal gain. Our government is undermining the democratic functions of the state to shore up and protect its own power. It is forcing us into a perpetual war with no achievable military objectives and which can only result in more loss of life and hatred."
As protests against the renewed genocide increase in Israel, Holocaust survivors Veronika Cohen and Ilana Drukker Tokotin (3rd and 4th from left) protested in Jerusalem on Holocaust Memorial Day. (Photo: Quique Kierszenbaum / The Guardian).
I also highlight the baleful role played by Donald Trump, both in his support for the resumption of Israel’s genocide, and in his assault on freedom of speech in the US via the kidnapping and intended deportation of peaceful students whose only "crime" has been to oppose the genocide, and I provide a warning about how "a depraved darkness within Israel itself has been deliberately spread so thoroughly throughout the western world that we are left gazing at the face of a renascent fascism, leeringly suggesting that there is nothing to protect any of us."
More hearings at the International Court of Justice
For the whole of this week, the International Court of Justice is hearing submissions regarding the “Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, which I’ll be reporting on soon. Verbatim records can be found here, and I also wholeheartedly recommend the video of the devastatingly controlled but emotionally resonant submission by Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, one of the lawyers representing Palestine. It should make you cry.
I continue to believe in the importance of international humanitarian law, but as I explained when I posted a link to her presentation on X today, “In a sane world”, her presentation “would be broadcast on news channels”, but also “the ICJ would reach a ruling that didn't take years. The Genocide Convention was established to prevent as well as punish genocide”, but the global courts (the ICJ and the ICC) are forever looking backwards, lamenting atrocities that have already happened, while the people of Gaza need action now.
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Thanks for this, Azra. I can't believe this is still going on.
Come on now