Introduction
The carnage being perpetrated by the Israeli army at hospitals, schools, residential homes, water sources, including molestation of children, women and the elderly under the pretext of defeating Hamas, which is sanctioned by Benjamin Netanyahu and ably supported by the political elites of the United States of America (USA) and some European states, in the occupied state of Gaza, not only violates international law but also distorts the proportionality principle. This blog examines the essence of international law and the principle of proportionality, and the implications of the audacious miseries Israeli forces are foisting on Palestinians.
The Antecedents to the Current Israeli Carnage in Gaza
In early October 2023, Hamas, the militant Islamist group, which wields political influence in Gaza since 2006, evaded the supposedly tight southern Israeli security borders and crossed into their towns, killing more than 1,300 Israelis, injuring 3,300, and taking hundreds of hostages. The attack took Israel by surprise, and Israel quickly mounted a deadly retaliatory operation. Barely a day after the October 7 attack, the Israeli cabinet formally declared war against Hamas, issuing a directive emboldening the defence minister of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to carry out a “complete siege” of Gaza. Unreservedly, this blog condemns unequivocally the indiscriminate killings of innocent children and old people coupled with the hostages held by Hamas within Israel. The unprecedented and persistent levels of human sufferings, wreckage of public and private buildings/ properties by Israeli forces in Gaza coupled with muted silence among the heads of governments in the USA, Europe and parts of North America, undoubtedly makes the case that international law is floundering in flames.
International Law in Flames
International law, which is commonly known as public international law or the law of nations, is the body of norms, rules, and standards that govern the relations between sovereign states and other actors that interact in the international system. Under the patronage of Mrs Roosevelt and supported by the late President Roosevelt, the United Nations (UN) system was created, principally with a view to promoting economic and social development, as well as advancing international peace and security. Thus, article 33 (1) of the UN Charter requires and enjoins member states of the international community to resolve their disputes in a peaceful and amicable fashion. Also, section 2 of article 33 further obliges the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to urge and adopt peaceful strategic means of resolving conflicts between warring states parties. However, in contrast to section 2 of article 33, the five permanent members- China, France, United Kingdom, USA and Russia of the UNSC- have expediently abused their privileged status under the Charter by vetoing resolutions that sought to stem the carnage in Gaza and related ones down the years. However, the unfolding examples of sordid abuses of children, women, the elderly, destructions of hospitals, schools and private houses in Gaza, which have been supported by President Biden, Premier Rishi Sunak and Labour’s Keir Starmer not only undermine the potency of the international system, but also consigns international law to the flames of capital hypocrisy engulfing the western political elites. Furthermore, on November 8th 2023 in Miami, without shame and responsibility, all the republican candidates vying to become the flag bearer to contest the 2024 presidential election, offered mundane responses encouraging the Israeli and its forces to continue the carnage against the Palestinians. A situation that manifestly portrays them as hawkish and desperate to win sympathy of their constituencies for mere political advantage.
Conversely, over the decades, international law has hold its own by playing pivotal roles in securing socio-economic and political fortunes to augment human transformation and communal enhancement. Examples and precedents of such positive contributions of international law pervade the frontiers of society as in: promoting of bilateral relations between states, intra trading activities among states and across regions; protecting of the environment on which human life and socio-economic ventures depend as well as safeguarding water-bodies and the climate. Yet, considering the immense financial and moral support given to Ukraine in the proxy war against Russia, and more currently to Israel in the carnage against Palestinians in Gaza, one is safe to argue that the principle of proportionality which defines the duties and obligations of combatant states is severely butchered.
Butchering the Principle of Proportionality in Gaza
Proportionality is a central principle/tenet of international humanitarian law (IHL) which is also known as the law of war, and ranks as the oldest branch of international law. Primarily, the aim of IHL is to “prevent” suffering of people who are not, or no longer, taking direct part in the war/ hostilities, namely the captured, wounded, sick, and even dead soldiers and medical personnel, vehicles and installations such as schools, hospitals, churches, children, women and the elderly. As stated at the onset of this blog, the cruelty with which agents of Hamas penetrated the southern parts of Israel to inflict heinous crimes against innocent civilians and held others hostages is condemned in clearer terms. Similarly, juxtaposing Israel’s responses to Hamas’s atrocities through the prism of the carnage ensuing in Gaza testifies to the principle of collective punishment, which is not only illegal but also renders proportionality irrelevant and non-existent. In the past years, Israelis and Palestinians have adopted strategies geared at breaching several international peace initiatives such as the Oslo Agreement and Camp David Accord, including UN resolutions 242 and 465. Those violations point to perennial constraints that have acted in undercutting the international community’s efforts to reconcile both factions, thereby straying the peace which had eluded the region for many decades. However, Israel’s penchant to consolidate its illegal settlements and occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, coupled with the current carnage in Gaza, has rightly attracted continuous condemnations and criticisms from most states except the USA, UK, Canada and allied European countries. The implications of such indifferent responses have dire and damning/consequences for peace among the international community as explored subsequently.
The Carnage in Gaza and its implications on international law and World Peace
Since October 7th 2023, the Israeli responses to Hamas’ crimes committed against innocent civilians have elicited mixed responses from presidents, prime ministers, academics, politicians and humanitarian workers, majority of whom appeared indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians. Indeed, the current destructions of human lives, private properties and subsistence means of livelihood in Gaza have raised doubts about the utility and efficacy of international law of which proportionality is a constituent. Although international law has held its own down the ages in the face of grave violations and breaches, the current carnage in Gaza potentially threatens its validity as well as exposes the western powers-mainly the USA, Britain, Germany, France and Canada- as capital hypocrites. The reason is simply to enhance their political interests to secure and gain political expediency. Conversely, the international system which is anchored in international law is grossly undermined as follow. First, it weakens the political and global respect accorded to western powers in world diplomacy especially among the peoples of the global-south. This engenders scepticism and renders future negotiations with western powers at international fora unachievable due to their double standards positions in the conflict. Also, the double-standard, lukewarm and hypocritical postures exhibited by western powers in calling out the Israeli government to cease the carnage in Gaza have potential implications for their governments/political parties in the forth-coming 2024 general elections. Furthermore, the continuous failure by western states to prevail upon Israel to cease its cranage against Palestinians in Gaza has severe impact on global warming and sustainable development agenda of the United Nations; because states’ borders are contiguous linked together, thus the chemical and pollutants emanating from the bombings in Gaza compromise the international community’s efforts geared to stem the crises.
Concluding Remarks
Whilst international law permits states facing imminent danger from external forces to adopt self-defense strategies to protect the welfare and sovereignty of their peoples, Israel’s carnage against Palestinians in Gaza is brazenly disproportionate and holds the force to butcher the international system by sanctioning illegal and inhumane means of exacting revenge. Disgracefully, the western powers erratic stance on Israeli responses brands them as capital hypocrites on a “sliding slope”.
