The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution on December 30 requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issue an advisory opinion against Israel.
The resolution urged the ICJ to weigh in on the “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory,” according to The Times of Israel. The final vote was 87 in favor, 26 against and 53 abstentions. Among those who voted in favor of the resolution were Russia, China, Poland and Saudi Arabia.
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, who heads the International Legal Forum (ILF), called the resolution “appallingly obscene” and “legally baseless” in a statement, noting that the resolution also ignored the “Jewish connection to the Temple [Mount], the holiest site in Judaism” and questioned “Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem.” “That the U.N. shamefully chose to hold the vote on the Shabbat, only underscores the utter disdain with which it holds the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” he said. “To all those countries who voted to support this resolution, or cowardly abstained, all they have done is rewarded Palestinian terror, while emboldening their relentless campaign of lawfare and historical revision at the U.N., and pushing peace further away.”
Ostrovsky added: “While the ILF will continue to vigorously defend Israel and stand up for the Jewish nation’s inalienable legal rights, this non-binding resolution, like the copious other one-sided, morally deficient and legally baseless ones that preceded it, does not deserve any credence and ought to be placed in the dustbin of the U.N.’s relentless antisemitic history.”
Israeli officials similarly slammed the UN resolution.
“Just like the hundreds of distorted U.N. General Assembly resolutions against Israel over the years, today’s disgraceful resolution will not obligate the government of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “The Jewish people is not occupying its land and is not occupying its eternal capital Jerusalem. No U.N. resolution can distort this historical truth.”
“No international body can decide that the Jewish people are ‘occupiers’ in their own homeland,” U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said in a statement. “Any decision from a judicial body which receives its mandate from the morally bankrupt and politicized U.N. is completely illegitimate.”
Jewish groups also criticized the resolution.
“The resolution referring Israel to the ICJ condemns Israeli actions in advance, even while soliciting the judicial ‘advisory opinion,’” B’nai Brith International said in a statement. “This singling out of the Middle East’s sole democracy, one continually forced to battle regional fanaticism and brutal terrorism, is deplorable. Representing more than politicization of legal instruments, and the diverting of resources and focus from truly critical global priorities, it seeks to delegitimize, indeed criminalize, only the presence of Jews in their one ancestral homeland.”
They added: “The U.N. has failed to encourage censure and accountability for a single Palestinian misdeed. We must ask: Are no Palestinian actions, whether by the Palestinian Authority (called the State of Palestine by the U.N.) or Hamas and Islamic Jihad, deserving of greater scrutiny?”
The Anti-Defamation League tweeted, “We continue to believe that only a mutually negotiated solution can yield a viable peace between Israel & the Palestinians. Circumventing & misdirecting this process through outside opinions & interventions (based on biased assumptions) will only further distance viable peace.”
We continue to believe that only a mutually negotiated solution can yield a viable peace between Israel & the Palestinians. Circumventing & misdirecting this process through outside opinions & interventions (based on biased assumptions) will only further distance viable peace. https://t.co/BoLF248L7s
— ADL (@ADL) January 2, 2023
The American Jewish Committee similarly tweeted, “We thank the 26 countries that voted against the UNGA resolution calling on the @CIJ_ICJ to provide an advisory opinion about the legality of ‘the Israeli occupation.’ The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through negotiations, not one-sided U.N. resolutions.”
We thank the 26 countries that voted against the UNGA resolution calling on the @CIJ_ICJ to provide an advisory opinion about the legality of “the Israeli occupation.”
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through negotiations, not one-sided UN resolutions. pic.twitter.com/NF0lyXNGFB
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) January 2, 2023
There are mixed views on the significance of an ICJ opinion against Israel. The Times of Israel’s Lazar Berman argued that the ICJ poses a “serious threat” to Israel. “Though the ICJ will render only an advisory opinion, there is a real danger that a strident ruling in favor of the Palestinians could alter Israel’s standing in the world, while kicking off a wave of calls for sanctions on the Jewish state,” Berman wrote. “It could indeed drive the Palestinian Authority further from compromise with Israel.”
By contrast, former Israeli Foreign Minister Alan Baker told reporters that he believes the ICJ will act with caution to avoid stepping “into a minefield” and will instead “come to some kind of a reasonable compromise,” per The Jerusalem Post.
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