The United Nations’ fall from grace: Abandoning hostages and Justice

Judges at the top United Nations court ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in a landmark emergency ruling in South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide.

Reading out the ruling, World Court president Nawaf Salam said the situation in the Palestinian enclave had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it. Conditions had been met for a new emergency order.

"The state of Israel shall (....) immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part," he said.

The ICJ ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid. Israel must provide access to the besieged enclave for investigators, it added, and report back on its progress within one month.

The World Court order was adopted by the panel of 15 judges from around the world in a 13-2 vote, opposed only by judges from Uganda and from Israel itself.

It was handed down a week after it was requested by South Africa as part of its case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention enacted in the wake of the Holocaust.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, is the highest U.N. body for hearing disputes between states. Its rulings are final and binding but have been ignored in the past, as the court has no enforcement powers.

An Israeli government spokesman said on the eve of Friday's decision that "no power on Earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza".

Nawaf Salam vaguely mentions the hostages held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the imperative to free them. However, there is no reference to the fact that Rafah is the last command base of these terrorist organizations. If the Israeli army is in Rafah, it is precisely to recover the hostages - many of whom have likely been murdered by Hamas - and to end the terror.

The World Court has ridiculed itself. And it is the entire United Nations organization that has lost all credibility. Clearly, this body prefers Russia and the African and Arab dictatorships of the Global South.