American lawyer Francis Boyle: South Africa has a good chance of winning its case against Israel in the International Court of Justice

By Hafsa Elmi

The world is awaiting the outcome of the upcoming session at the International Court of Justice in The Hague next Thursday and Friday in the context of the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel, accusing it of committing genocide crimes in the Gaza Strip.

International human rights lawyer Francis Boyle - who has won two applications at the court, the UN's main judicial body under the 1948 Genocide Convention - says he is confident South Africa will win the case.

It is noteworthy that no government or lawyer in the history of the International Court of Justice has won two requests in one case since its founding in 1921.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net, Boyle described the United States as "guilty" for aiding and abetting genocide, criticizing the International Criminal Court, which has been "stained with the blood of the Palestinian people since 2009," as he put it.

The following is the text of the interview:

Based on your experience, what is your opinion on the application of temporary protection measures by the South African government?

This file reminds me of the case I won in the International Tribunal for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Yugoslavia to stop genocide against Bosnians, which was the first time any lawyer or state had won under the Genocide Convention.

Based on my careful review of all the documents submitted by the Republic of South Africa so far, I believe it will win against Israel.

What legal facts were you based on?

I compared the documents provided by South Africa to the work I did to ensure that the Bosnians won 3 applications before the International Court.

There is the section related to genocidal intent by senior Israeli officials and acts of genocide, and we find that South Africa filed 4 different charges, which are:

The first charge: committing genocide, as more than 30,000 Palestinians were killed, which means doubling the Srebrenica massacre in which 7,000 Muslims were killed in Bosnia.

The second charge: causing serious physical or mental harm. The number of wounded in the Gaza Strip exceeded 50,000 Palestinians. As for psychological suffering, anyone can turn on any media source - and Al Jazeera in particular - to see the extent of the suffering.

The third charge: Intentionally subjecting individuals to living conditions that completely or partially destroy them. We saw this clearly when an Israeli minister announced that food, water, medical supplies, and fuel were being denied to residents of the Gaza Strip, or when another official said that Gaza should be turned into the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The fourth charge: imposing measures aimed at preventing births, as hospitals were destroyed, doctors were killed, and ambulances were deliberately targeted by the Zionists in a place where there were tens of thousands of pregnant Palestinian women.

In an international issue like this, do you think that powerful countries like the United States could change the outcome of the recent ruling?

They are trying hard, which is why US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is visiting the Middle East, and since Americans are working to aid and abet genocide against the Palestinian people, they will be guilty, under Article 3E of the Genocide Convention, which prohibits complicity and genocide, as well as violating the Convention. of the US government and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act.

Since it is a serious crime, the Americans are doing their best, in cooperation with the Israeli and Zionist forces, to sabotage this lawsuit in some way.

Do you blame Zionist control and its dominance over the American and international judiciary?

I am not saying that this is the case for all judges of the International Court of Justice, but I am certain that the Israelis, Americans and Zionists will threaten these judges and their families, making it a matter of their integrity.

The president of the court, John Donahue, has worked for a long time in the US State Department, and she is volatile, corrupt, and subject to the pursuit of American interests. I am sure that she is in contact with the State Department to inform her of all the maneuvers taking place in the back rooms of the Hague Court, and she will do everything in her power to shape the case in favor of the court. Israel and America.

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is facing harsh criticism because of his delay in examining the complaint submitted by hundreds of lawyers. Could the same scenario be repeated in this case?

I was the lawyer who advised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court after the end of the so-called Operation Cast Lead (Battle of Al-Furqan) in 2009.

Since then, the Criminal Court has not done anything to help the Palestinians because of the power and pressure of the United States and the Zionists. If the Israeli officials were tried at that time for avoiding the Palestinian people, perhaps everything is happening today.

I stress that the International Criminal Court is responsible for all the Palestinian blood that has been wasted and the death and destruction they have suffered since 2009.

Let's expect the worst. What will Israel's legal arguments be if it wins?

It will not win because its main argument is self-defense, and the International Court has previously rejected that argument, saying that Israel is the belligerent occupier of the West Bank, and therefore East Jerusalem and Gaza, and has no right to self-defense under international law or Article 51 of the United Nations Charter against Occupied people.

If South Africa wins, what steps will be taken?

The matter will be left to South Africa, of course, but when I won the Bosnian file, for example, I went to the court’s outer lobby and told the international media that the International Court had just recognized the existence of the Yugoslav genocide, calling for direct military intervention by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries to save the Bosnians.

Later that day, NATO headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Brussels announced that they would establish a no-fly zone over Bosnia.

Do you think that the International Court’s decision will oblige Israel to stop killing Palestinians?

Yes, it will be binding on Israel, but I do not expect Israel to stop because of the resolution alone, as it must be referred to the United Nations Security Council for implementation.

I suspect that based on the Nicaragua case and the current position of Washington, they will veto any executive action adopted by the Security Council, and then South Africa can take the matter to the UN General Assembly for implementation under the “Uniting for Peace” resolution.

This would mean dire consequences for Israel, because the UN General Assembly could suspend participation in all of Israel's activities, and this is exactly what it did with the criminal apartheid regime in South Africa and Yugoslavia, which committed genocide.

Second: The General Assembly cannot accept Palestine as a full member state in the United Nations because it is recognized by a jury of about 139 countries, but if they grant it full membership, this will guarantee the existence of Palestine.

Third: The United Nations General Assembly could establish an “international criminal court for Israel” modeled on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, as a subsidiary body under Article 22 of the United Nations Charter.

I started this initiative before and it was supported by Malaysia, Iran, and many Arab and Islamic countries, but it was not completed, and I hope that it will be reconsidered to begin prosecuting senior Israeli officials.

You have been calling for the establishment of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement on Israel since 2000. Do you think that implementing these methods is difficult today in light of the great support provided to the occupying state?

I did, and in 2005 Palestinian civil society asked me to join them to create the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

When it started, it spread throughout the world like wildfire, and the Zionists were unable to stop the campaign, and I believe that the success of the case in the International Court will contribute to accelerating it.

Despite all the obstacles - they even created a separate ministry in Israel to fight us - we will win and the Zionists will lose.

Source: Al Jazeera