On 26 January, the World spoke to Israel and its supporters – on the issue of Gaza. The World spoke through the International Court of Justice (ICJ). There can be no doubt about that. A number of provisional orders were made. Israel, and its primary accomplice, the United States – hereinafter “the Empire” – did not like what the World said. The Empire has struck back. Let us consider what it has done.

The first thing that it has done is to make absolutely clear that its minions must toe the line. That includes Australia. How should it toe the line? The first thing to do was to limit publicity of the ICJ’s judgement. That has definitely happened here in Australia. Such public announcements as there were from the Empire, and the Australian government, were to present the ICJ’s ruling effectively as a defeat for South Africa. No ceasefire was ordered. Such presentation was grossly misleading.

Then the press was to all intents and purposes muzzled. Four weeks have passed and the ICJ ruling is all but forgotten. Moreover, when Israel threatened to take the war to Rafah, and South Africa saw the need to seek a further provisional order to prohibit same, which it did on 12 February, our press did not even report on the application.

But the Empire saw the need to do more than simply go on the defensive, i.e. in respect of the original ruling; it had to go on the offensive. It was necessary to do so by ignoring the provisional orders and blatantly breaching them. Alternatively, it might be said that they simply redefined the........

© Pearls and Irritations