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The Views and Personal Opinions
of Joel Block
The International Court of Justice has rendered its verdict on
the defensive wall that Israel is erecting as part of the fight
against Palestinian terror. The verdict is not at all surprising,
nor should it be. A look at the composition of the court is enough
to show us that Israel never had a chance of a fair hearing in The
Hague.
Shi Jiuyong, the President of the court is from China (the People’s
Republic of), the Vice President, Raymond Ranjeva is from Madagascar,
and the judges are from the following countries:
· France
· Sierra Leone
· Russian Federation
· United Kingdom
· Venezuela
· Netherlands
· Brazil
· Jordan
· Egypt
· Japan
· Germany
· Slovakia
· The United States
Rounding out the list, the Registrar of the Court is from Belgium.
I tried to find out the voting records of each of these nations
in the United Nations General Assembly on anti-Israel resolutions,
but was only partially successful. The information I found pertains
only to the votes of certain countries for the years 1998-1999,
and covers 21 resolutions. The results are as follows:
· China voted against Israel 20 times out of 21
· France voted against Israel 17 times out of 21
· The Russian Federation voted against Israel 18 times out
of 21
· The UK voted against Israel 17 times out of 21
· Japan voted against Israel 17 times out of 21
· Germany voted against Israel 15 times out of 21
· The US voted against Israel 1 time out of 21
Further, two of the judges are from Arab countries. That both of
these countries are at peace with Israel with diplomatic relations
does not change the fact that they have consistently voted against
Israel in the GA. I would like to point out that the anti-Israel
resolutions in question were passed in 1998 and 1999, when the Oslo
Peace Process was still going on.
The US Judge, Thomas Buergenthal, was the lone dissenting voice
on the tribunal.
It is safe to say that the countries for which I don’t have
details either voted against Israel or abstained from voting.
Given this information, should anyone have expected a different
outcome in The Hague? Should any reasonable person have thought,
even for a minute, that the ICJ would be influenced in the least
by last week’s decision by the Israel High Court of Justice
against part of the route of the fence? I don’t think so.
© Joel Block, 2004
Send comments to: jbloch@bezeqint.net
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