Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: child soldier

Showing posts with label child soldier. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Another child mujahid, and more silence from @UNICEF and other NGOs about Palestinians recruiting children

The Palestinian Amad news site shows this photo of another "child" killed by Israeli forces as they engaged in a battle upon entering the Al-Faraa camp to arrest terrorists that the Palestinian Authority refuses to.

Hmmm. 17-year old Mahmoud al-Aidi seems to be carrying something. A laptop bag, perhaps?

Not quite.

In this case, the IDF says that al-Aidi approached them with an explosive device.

In related "child martyr" news, 14-year old Qusai Radwan Waked, who was killed Sunday, appears to have been linked to Islamic Jihad, and was referred to as a "mujahid" in the Jenin Qassam Telegram channel while wearing the PIJ headband and showing the "tawhid" hand gesture popularized by ISIS and now used by Palestinian jihadists.

The martyr, the mujahid cub, Qusai Wakada, son of the town of Al-Arqa in Jenin, who was martyred yesterday while confronting the invading occupation forces in Jenin..

Palestinian militias are recruiting children and encouraging them to attack Israeli soldiers, knowing that their deaths are worth far more in public relations value than their military skills.

And yet NGOs that supposedly care about the welfare of children have been completely silent - because that dilutes from the false narrative of Israeli forces wantonly shooting children, which is also worth far more to them in fundraising value.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

A couple of memes on double standards

These have been doing OK on Twitter.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Another child militant, aged 14, appears to have been linked to Fatah (UPDATE: Islamic Jihad)

From CNN:

Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, killing a 14-year-old boy, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. Qusai Radwan Waked was shot in the abdomen, the ministry said.

The target of the raid was Jibril Zubeidi, who was detained, Israeli and Palestinian authorities said.

In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces, Border Police and Israel Security Agency said that during the raid, “armed individuals fired at the forces who responded back with live fire… Furthermore, suspects hurled explosive devices and rocks at the forces.

“We are aware of the reports regarding a number of armed individuals who got injured during the exchange of fire,” the Israeli statement said.

One Palestinian armed group, the Fatah-linked Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, is calling Waked a "heroic martyr," meaning that he was indeed involved in the battle.

But don't expect UNICEF, Defense for Children International Palestine, Human Rights Watch or Amnesty to investigate this poster to find out if Waked was indeed recruited as a fighter for Fatah.

They don't want to know.

UPDATE: It turns out he was a member of Islamic Jihad, which released this photo (h/t Adin):

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

The EU is fighting disinformation. But not anti-Israel disinformation.

Yesterday, EU High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell spoke at the EEAS Conference on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference about the dangers of Russian disinformation campaigns:

Russia is using information manipulation and interference as a crucial instrument of this war. This war is not only [about] using explosives, bombs, bullets, killing people. It is about the mind of the people. It is about how to conquer the spirit, the intelligence, the understanding of the people.

It is not new. It started with the [COVID-19] pandemic. When the pandemic came, we started speaking about “the battle of narratives”. This is a sentence as important as “the Geopolitical Europe”. The battle of narratives started with the pandemic at the latest.

And, today, that is clear: this war is not only conducted on the battlefield by the soldiers. It is also waged in the information space, trying to win the hearts and minds of people.

...This is a major threat for the liberal democracies, which are based on information. Democracy is a system that is based on the information that people have, because they made their choices – their political choices – according to their own perceptions and information that they receive about what is happening in the rest of the world.

If the information is toxic, democracy cannot work. If information is manipulated, people don’t have a clear idea of what is going on. So, their choices are biased, and the information is the oil of the engine of democracy. We have to take care of the quality of information because is the sap, the blood, the oil, the thing that makes democracy work.

The EU created an "EU vs. DisInfo" organization, with at least 16 full time staff, all to fight disinformation. Yet it begins and ends with Russian disinformation.

What about anti-Israel disinformation? Where is the EU on that?

The EUvsDisInfo report released yesterday shows a great graphic of how Russians are manipulating information. But it doesn't mention that anti-Israel forces use exactly the same methods.

Pallywood manipulation of photos and videos? Check. Overwhelming social media with anti-Israel memes? Check. Changing the context to not allow pro-Israel voices to make a point? Triple check. Using diplomatic methods to attack Israel? Not only the PA but many of its allies, check.

But does the EU even notice anti-Israel propaganda techniques? No, they agree with their messages. And when they agree, they don't think they are being manipulated. For example, when Defence for Children Palestine says that Israel killed a child earlier this week, they won't bother to check whether the "child" was a member of a terror group. (Yes, there are some that are too extreme for the EU, so they can pretend that they are discriminating between truth and lies.)

Anti-Israel lies - that Jews visiting the holiest Jewish space are a threat to peace, that illegal Palestinian outposts in Area C are legal while legal Jewish towns are illegal, that Palestinian NGOs have no terror links, that Israel is attacking civilians, that Palestinian attacks are all in response to Israeli "crimes" and wouldn't happen if they weren't "provoked" - those lies are accepted by both official EU bodies and their media, and therefore the public.

The fact that they happen to align perfectly with traditional European antisemitism is just a coincidence, I'm sure.

The fight against disinformation assumes that there is an objective truth. I agree. Yet the progressive crowd emphasizes that there is no truth, that narratives are the only acceptable form of reporting, and only certain narratives are acceptable. The EU vs. DisInfo site seems to state that there is objective truth when it comes to Russia, but it doesn't seem to have an issue when its own intelligentsia seems to embrace a post-truth worldview where narratives rule - especially when it comes to Israel. It would be interesting if they use their own methodology against the "progressive" narratives.

But they won't.

(h/t Irene)

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Another Palestinian "child" soldier killed

Last night, another Palestinian under 18 who was a member of an armed group was killed - and he will be counted as one of the "children" Israel "murdered" this year.

Hamza Al-Ashqar, 17, was killed in Nablus while shooting at soldiers.

As is often the case with child soldiers killed who had been recruited by terror groups, part of Palestinian media emphasizes that he was a "child" while the other part proudly mentioned that he was a "heroic fighter." It all depends on the audience and which narrative will incite more people to be angry.

Al-Ashqar was a member of the Lion's Den and apparently one of the Fatah armed groups. Fatah issued an obituary, "With more pride and esteem, the Fatah movement mourns in the camp of the new soldier, the martyr hero Hamza Amjad Al-Ashqar, who was assassinated by an Israeli sniper, while he was a frontman defending the soil of the homeland to join the planet of martyrs."

It is becoming more obvious that Palestinian terror groups are purposefully recruiting children to be killed, since the Western media rarely mentions that they are child soldiers. As far as so-called human rights NGOs, I have yet to see a single one of them condemn the recruitment of child members of terror groups.

It is a winning formula, so why not recruit more teenage cannon fodder?

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Francesca Albanese once again proves how utterly unsuitable she is as UN Special Rapporteur

Earlier this week, Francesca Albanese - the UN Special Rapporteur for the territories - tweeted out a call for issues she should write reports about.

I responded asking her to write about Palestinian terror groups recruiting children.

Of course she didn't answer. But in a way, she did.

Shortly thereafter, Albanese tweeted "As I took office 8m ago, I committed to making children & youth a priority for my mandate," then calling on Israel to release a Ahmed Mansara who, at 13, had stabbed and critically injured a 13-year old Israeli boy on a bicycle outside a candy shop.

Clearly, she doesn't consider the human rights of Jewish children to be under her mandate.

But she doesn't seem to care about many Palestinian children, either.

Joe Truzman, of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, unearthed a video made last summer from Jenin. It shows masked terrorist going around the city, followed eagerly by children. Sometimes the terrorists give the children guns.

During a parade, the terrorists - and teenagers - are firing into the air in the middle of the crowded streets with young children all over.

Between this video and the five child militants who were killed this year after being recruited and brainwashed into wanting to become martyrs, it is pretty clear that there are serious human rights violations happening against Palestinian children - by other Palestinians.

Truzman tweeted, "The amount of militants in Jenin, guns, and children walking around who are seemingly armed in this video is astounding, yet not surprising. There's a serious problem in the West Bank, especially in Jenin, and this video demonstrates it perfectly. "

In an astounding response, Albanese tweeted, "Yes there is a serious problem and not only in Jenin. It is called colonial occupation."

Yes, when children are exposed to gratuitous violence by Palestinians, Albanese blames...the Jews.

It is quite clear that Albanese's claim that she "committed to making children & youth a priority" for her mandate only applies to a specific subset of children: only Palestinian children whose situation she can blame on Jews.

All the others can go to hell because they don't advance her anti-Israel, antisemitic agenda.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

FIVE Palestinian child soldiers killed so far this year

On Wednesday, Muhammad Ali Abd Musa Muhammad Ali, 16, was killed after aiming a (fake) gun at IDF soldiers in Shuafat.

Hamas said that he was a member.

That is the fifth Palestinian child soldier killed this year - fully 25% of all the Palestinian militants killed by Israel this year have been children.

All of them were claimed as members of terror groups.

These include:

1/2 Fuad Mohammad ‘Aabed, 17 (Hamas)

1/3 Adam Essam Ayyad, 15 (PFLP)

1/5 Amer Abu Zeitoun, 16 (Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades)

1/16 Amro Khaled Al-Khumour, 14 (PFLP)

1/25 Muhammad Ali Abd Musa Muhammad Ali, 16 (Hamas)

These kids are being groomed to be cannon fodder. Some of them wrote notes to their families, meaning that they intended to be killed.

I have not seen one word from "human rights groups." about Palestinian child soldiers this year. Nothing from UNICEF. Nothing from Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Nothing from the EU. Nothing from the State Department. Nothing in the Western media.

And each "child" is promoted as an innocent victim by those who want to destroy Israel,with no fact checking.

The child soldiers is a scandal. The lack of information about them in the West (indeed, the fact that the media has not once mentioned that nearly every Palestinian killed was participating in fighting at the time) is perhaps an even greater scandal.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Israel admits it mistakenly killed one Palestinian - the exception that proves the rule

Last week, at an impromptu checkpoint, IDF soldiers pulled a young man out of his car. His father, Ahmed Kahla, leaped out of the car (Haaretz' words) towards the soldiers. Fearful that they were being attacked, the soldiers shot the father, killing him.

The IDF investigated and determined that lethal force was not necessary, and that the soldiers' stories about what happened - that Kahla tried to grab one of their guns, or tried to stab them - were not accurate.

So far this year, there have been 18 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. In nearly all of the cases, the person killed was actively involved in hostilities when killed and/or was a member of a terror group. (Given that there are millions of Palestinians and, at most, only several thousand members of terror groups in the West Bank, the chances that terror group members were not involved in hostilities and were coincidentally killed is quite small.)

Here is what most of those killed looked like:

Adin Haykin has been keeping track of the deaths and the circumstances/affiliations.

Notice that two of those pictured here are children (#1 and #8.) There have been four child terrorists killed this year, three of them PFLP and one Fatah Al Aqsa Brigades. That story, that terror groups are actively recruiting and training children, is simply not reported anywhere.

The case of Ahmed Kahla is the exception that proves the rule - the IDF tries as much as possible to only kill those who are directly attacking at the time, which is the vast majority of those killed. Moreover, the deaths are investigated, the investigations are done by high level authorities and the IDF will admit when their soldiers violate policies and kill without enough justification. (The last time the IDF admitted to have made a mistake was in December.)

Soldiers are under intense pressure, knowing that they are targets 24/7. They often have to make split second decisions as to whether they are being attacked and from where. And, crucially, they know that if they make a wrong decision, not only could they be responsible for the death of an innocent person, but they may face investigations.

The media typically does not report on most of these cases of actual gunmen attacking soldiers; far more often they will just report a tally of those killed and imply that most of them were uninvolved civilians.

But as we have seen, well over 90% of those killed are very involved and active in hostilities when killed. And in Arabic, their "heroism" is celebrated.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Another apparent PFLP child soldier, 14, killed (update)

On Monday morning, during Palestinian clashes with the IDF at the Dheisheh camp, a 14-year old boy named Omar Lotfi Khumour was shot and killed.

While the IDF didn't specifically acknowledge killing anyone, they did say that troops opened fire after Palestinians attacked them with rocks, petrol bombs, and improvised explosive devices.

The boy appears to have been a member of the PFLP terror group.

Their press releases refer to him as "comrade," a term they only use for members. His body was wrapped in a PFLP flag, and his funeral procession was dominated by PFLP flags, which organized it.

He is the second child member of the PFLP to be killed this year.

I don't recall ever seeing NGOs like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International condemn the recruitment of children to Palestinian terror organizations, even though it is well documented - even children as young as 9 have been praised by Palestinian groups for helping in war.

As far as I can tell, every single one of the 14 Palestinians killed by the IDF this year was a member of an armed group and/or actively engaged in an attack. Not a single innocent civilian hs been killed in 2023 up until now. Here are the most recent 10:

Also, while it appears that Israel has accelerated its incursions into Palestinian cities recently, according to the UN biweekly OCHA report the number of such operations was virtually the same in 2021 and 2022.

The difference is that the Palestinian armed groups are far more active in attacking the IDF, with predictable results.

UPDATE: Khumour wrote a will before he was killed, indicating that he planned to attack and to die.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

15 year old PFLP "martyr" intended to die - and wrote a farewell note.

Yesterday I noted that Defence for Children International - Palestine falsely claimed that Israel had killed 3 children so far this year - one of them was 25, and the other two were active militants at the time of their deaths.

One of them, 15 year old Adam Ayyad, was killed throwing Molotov cocktails.

It might be thought that he was just like a stone thrower, play-acting at being a hero, and Israel shot him for no legitimate reason. But Arab media sites have been showing that not only was Ayyad an active fighter - but he planned to die that day.

He had a note in his pocket, written in his handwriting, with a message he intended to be seen after his death.

“I am very happy that our Lord fulfilled one of my dreams, martyrdom..and I tell you that martyrdom is not just a martyrdom death, but pride in yourself and pride in the whole world.”

He continued: “Martyrdom is a real victory. Your life is over, but it's over and you're happy."

He ended the note with, “Do not forget me, I do not want to say goodbye to you, we have a meeting in paradise.”

This was "suicide by Zionist."

Ayyad had been brainwashed to want to die a martyr's death. This is the child abuse that every single Palestinian child is exposed to - they are taught this in schools, indoctrinated with music videos, inundated with martyr posters glorifying death.

Where is the world outrage over a generation of Palestinian kids who are told by adults that they should want to die?

Perhaps there is none left over after it was expended over a man taking a walk on a hilltop.

In fact, these kids are dying because the world doesn't want to criticize this cult of death. Whether it is because of baseless fears of being accused of Islamophobia, or because they want to shore up the false narrative of Israel as evil and Palestinians as oppressed victims, the world's refusal to get involved is what allows Palestinian leaders to think it is OK to raise children this way.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Here are the poor, innocent Palestinian "children" killed so far this year

Defense for Children International - Palestine issued a press release claiming that Israel has killed three innocent Palestinian children already so far this year.

The first one was Fouad Mahmoud Ahmed Abed, who they say was 17. He wasn't: he was 25, killed along with Mohammad Samer Houshieh, 22:

So young and innocent!

Then came the death of Adam Ayyad, 15, on Tuesday. DCI-P and Palestinian English news sources don't mention that he was a member of the PFLP terror group and was throwing firebombs at the time he was shot.

And today, another poor innocent child was killed: Amer Abu Zaytoun, 16.

He just happened to also be an armed member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

In Arabic, terror groups freely admit that he was fighting at the time. Palestine Today says, "A special force belonging to the 'Israeli' occupation stormed the Balata camp, and surrounded several houses, which led to the outbreak of armed confrontations and clashes with the resistance fighters, which resulted in the rise [to Paradise] of the boy Abu Zaytoun."

Here's his "martyr poster" from the Fatah-affiliated terror group:

It says he was a "heroic martyr."

The DCI-P NGO certainly knows all of this, including the fact that one of their "children" was quite a bit older. But they aren't a real human rights organization: they are a PFLP front whose entire purpose is to create anti-Israel propaganda.

If they were a real human rights organization, they would condemn Palestinian terror groups for recruiting and training child soldiers, which violates international law.

They never have, because that would be admitting that Israel isn't targeting innocent children but armed terrorists.

(h/t Adin Haykin)

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

01/01 Links: From Jew vilification to the delegitimization of Israel; Netanyahu slams ‘disgraceful’ UN request for ICJ opinion on Judea and Samaria; The NYTs Rush to Whitewash Palestinian Terror

From Ian:

From Jew vilification to the delegitimization of Israel - opinion

From the dawn of time, Jews have been maligned and slandered. Apion's vilification, the blood libels, the Dreyfus trial, and of course, the antisemitic propaganda of the 20th century are just a few examples. All of these manifestations of antisemitism got an "upgrade" to vilifying Israel, where the majority of world Jewry resides, by taking away the very legitimacy of Jewish presence in its ancestral homeland.

This effort began when the Roman emperor Hadrian renamed the land of Israel "Palestine" in order to detach the Jews from their homeland. In a nutshell, the vilification of the Jew has evolved into the delegitimization of the State of Israel. Words have power, and we still suffer the consequences of those words written and spoken over the last two millennia.

Today, the effort to delegitimize Israel has gone global and has permeated organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International, which routinely try to undermine Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state within any borders. Furthermore, with the democratization of communication due to the emergence of social media, the average person has been handed the power and platform to throw misinformed accusations at Israel with the click of a button.

Making matters worse, influencers and celebrities can reach three, four, or even ten times the number of all Jews on the planet, spreading incorrect information. They share inaccurate content out of ignorance (like the star of Netflix's hit show Wednesday, Jenna Ortega) or out of pure malice (like antisemite Kanye West). Thus, the average person, who forms their opinions, including geo-political stances, based on memes, Instagram stories and TikTok videos, will easily be misinformed by these influencers. I experienced this firsthand when my friends around the world would easily share misinformation, while terrorist organizations were unleashing thousands of rockets upon Israeli civilians.

Seth Frantzman: The UN's vote against Israel and its historic contradictions

This is the essence of the contradictory policies behind “international law.” Western colonial powers were able to set up various administrations all around the world, sometimes only for a few decades. During that time they often carved up areas and created arbitrary lines on maps and then partitioned the areas they had taken over. But the Western powers were rarely accused under international law of “illegal occupation.” The concept of “international law” was primarily inaugurated after western colonial powers left most areas of the world.

The remaining vestiges of colonial-era rule, such as some islands here and there, are not considered “occupied.” In this narrative, Western countries never “occupied,” but when they decided to partition countries or draw arbitrary lines on maps, cutting peoples and tribal territories in half, it was always "legal." This was the case in the partition of India and the creation of the Kashmir dispute.

It was also the case with areas in the Middle East. The Golan Heights are part of Syria, not because of some ancient legal reason, but because the British and French colonial authorities demarcated the border this way. Neither side of that equation was ever “occupying.” Only when the European countries decided to give “independence” to various states or leave, did international law suddenly swoop in and say that the borders the former powers had drawn would be set in stone. Now any changes were against international law.

The strangest thing is that the partition plan the British and UN left behind in 1947 was unworkable. International status for Jerusalem and a patchwork of areas for two states, one Arab and one Jewish, in what had been British mandate Palestine. Yet the “law” today isn’t entirely based on the 1947 decision. Instead, there was a ceasefire in 1948 and then a war in 1967. International law has a way of swooping in only when changes are made in Israel’s favor.

For instance, there was no “occupation” of Jerusalem or “demographic change” issue between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan ran east Jerusalem. Even though Jews were ethnically cleansed from areas of the Old City, this was not a “demographic change.” When Israel took over Jordanian-occupied east Jerusalem, then international law says the situation in 1967 must be set in stone. Not the situation in 1947 or 1887. How does the law know when to draw the line?

Similarly, it’s not clear why international law often portrays Israel as an “occupier” of Gaza. The Gazans were not consulted on whether they wanted to be occupied by the British or the Egyptians. Yet the “law” seems to only relate to Israel’s temporary control of Gaza and in essence forces Israel to forever be the “occupying power.” This is the same international concept that underpins the Oslo Accords, in a sense abrogating those very accords and making it impossible for Israel to give up control. This is problematic because even if Israel wanted to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and enable a full-fledged Palestinian state, the “law” would always portray Israel as continuing to “occupy” something. This is the case in Lebanon, for instance, where even though Israel withdrew in 2000, Hezbollah continues to accuse Israel of occupying the Har Dov/Sheba’a farms area. It’s hard to imagine a way Israel can ever extricate itself from the endless UN focus, even if it wanted to. The focus on Israel is convenient since it means more contentious issues such as focusing on Turkey’s occupation of Syria, are not spotlighted. Many countries agree to shift the focus to Israel.

The related features of international law, that it is often rooted in arbitrary European colonial power decisions, and in arbitrary dates, create many contradictions. It’s hard not to see it as merely being made up as it goes along to single out Israel. Some of the countries that created the “law” and the chaos of 1948, then condemn Israel for controlling the very thing they created and also refuse to let Israel leave areas they demanded Israel leave. Increasingly this is a tool of countries in the global south and authoritarian regimes. Many western countries do not see the constant focus on Israel as helpful. Some countries have realized that letting Iran and Russia hijack international forums is also no longer helpful. It is unclear if there will be more pushback against these kinds of resolutions and decisions that focus on Israel.

What are possible legal ramifications of an ICJ advisory opinion on Israel?

International Legal Forum CEO and human rights attorney Arsen Ostrovsky, agreed that “Such opinions of the ICJ are non-binding on the parties involved. They are purely of an advisory nature,” but warned that “they do carry considerable moral weight and are regarded highly as a reference point by the legal community, as well as civil society and the United Nations.”

Daphné Richemond-Barak explained that the ICJ advisory opinion “doesn’t obligate a state as such” but the body could urge member states to take action. Member states could use the ruling as a basis to make political decisions. Whether the states’ local courts would use the advisory as legal precedent was not the main concern. The opinion was more relevant in international fora.

“It’s not so much what the opinion is going to say but how it's going to be used in the future,” she said.

Richemond-Barak gave the example of the 2004 ICJ advisory opinion on the security barrier, and how it became the keystone for many reports and resolutions by international bodies. The ICJ’s opinion of the legal consequences Israel’s practices and control of the territories would likely be held in high regard due to the court’s prestige and air of authority.

Shany said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government would have to decide how to approach the ICJ opinion.

“There is always a question about what Israel should do, participate in the process or boycott.” said Shany. “If you don't make your case you may politicize the process but may face a more hostile decision.” He said that in the case of the 2004 advisory opinion on the security barrier, that Israel made a compromise between the two

In response to the ICJ’s 2004 evaluation on the “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the government submitted a statement challenging the “jurisdiction of the Court and the propriety of any response by it on the substance of the request,” but refused to address the legality of the fence.

According to Shany the opinion could take between 1-2 years to formulate, and in that time, even if the new government doesn’t directly respond to the proceedings, statements made by ministers could influence the decisions. This legal specter could therefore impact the speech of Israeli ministers.

“Although the new process began prior to the new government, the statements made by the ministers will impact the deliberations,” said Shany. Talk of “exclusive rights of Jews over all the territory of Israel, while this may play very well to the home base, in the Hague proceedings could be damaging.”