World Court: Israel’s “Occupation” of Palestinian Territories Illegal

World Court: Israel’s “Occupation” of Palestinian Territories Illegal

The United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ, also known as the World Court), released its advisory opinion last Friday, July 19. According to the Court, Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian territories is illegal—and thus, Israel’s settlements there (in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem) are illegal, too, and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

The World Court: What Its Advisory Opinion Means

The advisory opinion, which a minority of members of the United Nations General Assembly requested two years ago (UNGA resolution 77/247), is non-binding, and the whole exercise was patently biased and slanted against Israel from the beginning. But it will be used by the Palestinians to fuel further their ongoing efforts to demonize and delegitimize and eventually destroy Israel.

On Thursday, July 18, Israeli law professor Avi Bell, a scholar on international law, explained in an ICEJ webinar that the most critical part of the ruling involves what the World Court tells the international community they must do in response to the “illegal Israeli occupation.” While not mandatory, the nations will be told they need to sanction and boycott Israel in various fields, most notably through an arms embargo. The intent is to weaken and eventually destroy Israel by completely stripping the Jewish State of its legitimacy and right of self-defense.

Christians Stand for Israel

In anticipation of the ICJ’s ruling, some eight hundred Christians from over 40 countries gathered in The Hague two weeks ago to take a stand for Israel and its historic and biblical rights to the Jewish homeland. The conference was organized by Jack van der Tang, an Evangelical minister and life-long resident of The Hague and was supported by several Christian organizations—including the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ).

During the event—named “The Trial” and held near the Peace Palace, where the International Court of Justice is seated—participants signed a Decree supporting Israel’s right to its historical homeland and warning the Court about the dire consequences that could flow from “dividing the land,” as foreseen in Joel 3:1–3. The World Court normally does not bother to listen to ordinary citizens like us. They hear only submissions from nations and their legal teams. But after much prayer, we were able to deliver the Decree to the Court registrar for distribution to the 15 justices of the ICJ.

The Christian Embassy joined this initiative in The Hague to ensure that the judges of the Court heard the voices of tens of millions of Christians worldwide who stand by the Jewish people and their 4,000-year-old claim and connection to the Land of Israel. It is neither just nor fair that the Organization for Islamic Cooperation was allowed to present its shameful position questioning the very existence of Israel since its founding in 1948, while the voices of Christians from around the world were ignored. For us, the return of the Jews to their ancestral homeland is the greatest example of “historic justice” in the annuals of human endeavors.

The UNGA’s request for an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the Israeli “occupation” is just one of several serious legal challenges converging upon Israel at present in the world’s highest judicial forums in The Hague. There is also South Africa’s petition to the same Court to declare that Israel is violating the Genocide Treaty of 1949 by its actions in Gaza. In addition, the International Criminal Court has opened an official probe into alleged Israeli “war crimes” against the Palestinians, and now the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is seeking arrest warrants against Israel’s most senior leaders over how they are conducting the war in Gaza.

***Evangelical Minister*** ***Jack van der Tang signs the Decree in The Hague*. *(Photo: Chris van Beek)***

A Long Campaign of Hate

These legal actions are all part of the Palestinian Authority’s long, deliberate lawfare campaign against Israel. In a devious division of labor over recent decades, Hamas has continued waging “armed resistance” (i.e., terrorism) against the “Zionist entity,” while the Palestinian Authority (PA), ruled by the rival Fatah faction, has used lawfare tactics to try to delegitimize Israel, deny Israel of its right of self-defense, undermine the Jewish people’s historic rights and claims to their ancestral homeland, and force upon Israel a unilateral Palestinian state outside the agreed framework of direct negotiations.

Sadly, many Western democracies have encouraged and even funded the PA’s lawfare campaign against Israel to squeeze Israel into accepting a Palestinian state. But after the brutal Hamas terror attacks last October 7, some Western leaders are suddenly realizing they may have gone too far. The genocide case against Israel in the ICJ, the official war crimes probe against Israel at the International Criminal Court, the Hamas atrocities, the masses of antisemites marching in Western cities, and the ominous threat of Hezbollah and Iran are hanging over Israel at present—and it is unfair and undeserved. Hopefully, more world leaders will reverse course and take the nations off this current dangerous path.

Even so, we have witnessed ominous developments over recent months concerning Israel, and as Christians, we must awaken to the lateness of the hour. We are currently only one vote away in the UN Security Council from the nations forcing the division of the Land, including Jerusalem, in a way that could trigger the divine judgment of the nations warned of in Joel 3. And the United States, the one nation standing in the way, supports dividing the land through the two-state solution—they just want Israel to agree with it first.

In the end, God has set the nations on a course that will lead to their ultimate humbling and divine judgment over their maltreatment of the Jewish nation and people. In Zephaniah 3:8 the Lord says: “I am determined to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, all My fierce anger; all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.” God wants to judge the nations for opposing the return of the Jews to their homeland and to Jerusalem. Joel 3 adds that this judgment is coming because of the way the gentile nations have always mistreated the Jewish people and never respected the calling and election of God over Israel and Jerusalem.

Thus, as Christians, we are called to carry out a ministry of warning, much like Noah, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets—and this we did in The Hague two weeks ago. We need not fret if the world’s highest leaders and judges will listen. Just like the Lord said in Ezekiel 3, we do not have to worry if they heed the warning; we must only deliver the message, and thus, their fate will not be on our hands.

—By David R. Parsons, ICEJ Senior Vice President & Spokesman

Be sure to watch the replay of the ICEJ webinar: “Will the World Court Divide the Land?” with special guest Prof. Avi Bell.