July 22, 2024
The Rabbinical Alliance of America—Igud HaRabbonim (RAA), representing over 950 American rabbis—expresses its outrage over the unjust decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that finds Israel to be an occupier of its liberated territories. The RAA strongly criticizes the non-binding advisory opinion released today by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The opinion was issued at the request of the United Nations General Assembly. The ICJ advisory opinion is not only factually and legally problematic; it irresponsibly jeopardizes the prospects for peace in the Middle East and its potential detrimental effects can destabilize the Middle East and place American security and international peace at risk.
Deplorably, the ICJ falsely concluded that Israeli practices are “inconsistent” with the state’s legal obligations under international law and that Israel’s presence in the territories is “unlawful” and should end “as rapidly as possible.” In doing so, it ignored the historical circumstances that led to the current situation, namely Israel’s 1967 capture of the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, and Gaza in response to existential threats and unprovoked attacks by neighboring Arab states in a clear-cut case of self-defense. It also ignored the multiple peace overtures that Israel has made toward the Palestinians over the years and the Palestinian leadership’s repeated rejection of these offers or to live up to the bargain of an agreement. Further it is the long-established position of the RAA that the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland. The RAA insists that no absurd, biased, factually incorrect, morally bankrupt and ethically flawed opinion in the Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home. Israel cannot be considered colonizers of what lawfully belongs to them, namely the liberated territories recaptured from unlawful occupation in the Six Day War of 1967.
The Court further ignored the immense security challenges Israel faces today, including Hamas’ use of the Gaza Strip as a launching pad for firing tens of thousands of rockets against Israel’s civilian centers for years following Israel’s voluntary withdrawal from the Strip in 2005 and its misuse of billions of dollars in international humanitarian funding to build a robust terror infrastructure rather than improving the lives and living conditions of Gazan civilians. These security risks were on full display by Hamas’ rampage of rape, torture, murder, and kidnapping of Israelis in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Ultimately, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved around the negotiating table, not in the courtroom. The travesty and miscarriage of justice caused by the ICJ decision makes that reality more difficult and hinders the prospects for peace for both Israels and Palestinians.