Criminals of a Feather
By: Nadia Ahmad
It has been over 90 days since the start of Israel’s most recent aggression on Gaza, and ever since, most of us have been doom scrolling our feeds for the latest atrocities to hit the people of Palestine.
A televised genocide occurring in real time with seemingly zero consequences to the perpetrator. However, South Africa, which successfully overturned their own apartheid in 1991, brought about a beacon of hope for some kind of legal accountability for these horrendous crimes, in the form of a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice alleging violations of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In the decades-long David and Goliath battle for Palestine, will we finally be seeing some iota of justice served at the ICJ?
Genocide is a war crime…
This is a historical decision on South Africa’s part; it’s the first time a country has decided to take Israel to court over genocide at the ICJ.
Although this is not Israel’s first legal proceeding at the ICJ, in 2004, the court rendered an advisory opinion on the construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, deeming the wall contrary to international law. Israel didn’t heed the opinion and constructed the wall anyway.
Since the submission of the 84-page claim by South Africa at the ICJ at the end of December 2023, the case has picked up support from Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Bolivia.
The ICJ, established in June 1945 operates as the UN’s judicial organ, settling disputes between states.
The most difficult part of the case is proving genocidal intent, although Israeli officials did not spare the world of more than sufficient statements proving said intent, most of which were included in South Africa’s application.
A live-streamed genocide
Despite the intentional targeting of journalists, it would be difficult for the court to disregard the heavily documented massacres, restriction of aid, use of starvation as a weapon of war, forced displacement, and the deliberate destruction of healthcare infrastructure and holy sites.
The South Africa case seems airtight, and with a legal team led by highly respected former UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard, we can expect high stakes proceedings, scheduled to start on January 11th, 2024.
With repercussions that could include sanctions on Israel binding all the 153 states that ratified the genocide convention with the responsibility to prevent the genocide, a decision against Israel could serve the criminal state a tough blow.
So who will be representing Israel in this fateful case at the ICJ?
From sexual assault to genocide
It has been reported that American defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz was tapped to represent Israel in the legal proceedings at the ICJ. An ardent Zionist, Dershowitz has written several books on Israel including “The Case for Israel” and “War Against Jews, How To End Hamas Barbarism”.
He was a distinguished professor at Harvard Law before retiring in 2013 and has represented celebrity clients in several high-profile criminal cases including the OJ Simpson case. He was part of the legal team representing Donald Trump during his first impeachment and was lead counsel to Jeffrey Epstein in his sex trafficking cases.
The documents related to Epstein’s case, which were recently unsealed, revealed that Alan Dershowitz himself has been accused of raping a minor several times via Epstein’s trafficking operation, as well as being an eye witness to sexual assaults against minors.
In an exceptionally brazen display of white patriarchal entitlement and impunity, while the accusations of his own sexual misconduct were emerging, Dershowitz took to Twitter to defend a 1997 column he had written questioning the legitimacy of statutory rape laws and advocating for the age of consent to be lowered to 14.
His audacity is flagrant in claiming that the global feminist movement has failed Israeli victims of sexual abuse from the October 7th attack, when there is no survivor testimony of such crimes for the feminist movement to champion.
In stark contrast, there does exist extensive sworn survivor testimonies of his own assault on minors, evident that his legal tactics are quite harmonious with that of Israel’s; a primary one being ‘Gaslight the World’.
Sexual exploitation: an Israeli political weapon
Ari Ben-Menashe: “it was an “intelligence operation to entrap international politicians to become Israel’s assets”
Taking into consideration the numerous investigations into Israel serving as a safe haven for pedophiles, including in-depth reports by Haaretz, The Times of Israel, and CBS News, it only makes sense that the choice lawyer for pedophiles, and a possible pedophile himself, would also be Israel’s choice for the ICJ.
However, what makes this whole scenario even more gruesome are the 2020 allegations from former Mossad agent Ari Ben-Menashe claiming that Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey’s long-time companion and associate in the sex trafficking operation, and daughter of Robert Maxwell, an Israeli agent himself, as well as Jeffrey Epstein, were working for the Israeli government.
Ari claims that Epstein’s entire operation was designed as a sort of ‘honey trap’; in fact, it was an “intelligence operation to entrap international politicians to become Israel’s assets”, says Ari. With Bill Clinton and Donald Trump having fallen into Epstein’s trap and both eagerly serving Israel’s interests, this is not difficult to believe. After all, criminals of a feather…
The amorality of using underage girls as political currency to serve the Zionist agenda appears on-brand for Israel.
Will Israel be finally sued?
What is beyond belief though, is how well Israel operates as an oppressive, patriarchal machine disguised as a model of social progress compared to ‘backward’ Arab states.
Not only is the criminal state of Israel so obviously committing genocide, as well as a 75-year military occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, but on top of that, it has excelled in protecting pedophiles and exposing the children of the occupied territories to sexual predators. Israel has additionally compounded the harm by promoting pedophilia amongst international politicians and celebrities, via sex trafficking operations like Epstein’s, to claim their political loyalty.
With Israel reportedly creating the largest skin bank in the world with skin from the bodies of Palestinian victims of occupation, and their admitted harvesting of Palestinian organs, the amorality of using underage girls as political currency to serve the Zionist agenda appears on-brand for Israel.
It could never be clearer that liberation from the patriarchal occupation that is Zionism is and will always be at the heart of the global Feminist struggle.
In the decades-long David and Goliath battle for Palestine, will we finally be seeing some iota of justice served at the ICJ? Or will the criminal flock fly free?
Mark your calendars for the start of the ICJ proceedings against Israel on January 11th!
