“Once the commission of genocide or crimes against humanity has been declared, there should be clear legal implications for all states that act in a manner that ignores or undermines the decision or opinion of the Court.”
Anayansi Rodriguez, Cuban Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister
By Tim Young
Cuba has demanded legal measures against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza. It also accused the U.S. of complicity in Israel’s genocide at the International Court of Justice.
On Wednesday, during public hearings on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, Cuba urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to declare its findings in “clear, strong, and forceful legal terms.”
Cuban Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Anayansi Rodriguez stated that the Court’s advisory opinion should establish the legal consequences for Israel, other states and the United Nations following violations of the norms regarding the use of force, people’s right to self-determination, and human rights.
Recalling international law principles, she also emphasised that the United States is complicit in the genocide that Israeli occupying forces are committing against Palestinians, whom Israel seeks to keep within its apartheid regime.
The Minister continued: “All this with the complicity of the United States, which prevents the international community from acting to protect the Palestinians. The justifications for fighting terrorists and exercising the right to self-defence are spurious when they are raised by the aggressors themselves.”
Rodriguez demanded that ICJ addresses the status of Jerusalem in light of Israel’s ongoing violations and referred to “the regrettable inaction of the United Nations,” which is a direct consequence of the “abusive and irresponsible” exercise of the veto privilege that Washington has within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
“Once the commission of genocide or crimes against humanity has been declared, there should be clear legal implications for all states that act in a manner that ignores or undermines the decision or opinion of the Court,” Rodriguez said, stressing that the ICJ must “provide the peace and justice that the Palestinian people deserve.”
She concluded by emphasising that those responsible for the excessive use of force against innocent civilians in Gaza will not be able to evade justice forever.
In a parallel move welcomed by solidarity campaigners here and internationally, Nicaragua has threatened the British Government with action in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying that arms it has provided to Israel may have been used “to facilitate or commit violations of the Genocide Convention” in Gaza, and that their action is a “decision to hold them responsible under international law”.
It has also issued a written warning to Germany, the Netherlands and Canada as part of the same action.
In its communique, Nicaragua said the states were being made aware of its “decision to hold them responsible under international law for gross and systematic violations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.
Nicaragua’s latest move comes after the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following an action taken by South Africa, found that allegations Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza were “plausible.”
- Tim Young is an organiser for the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign.
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