I accuse, by Manuel Valls

 

Manuel Valls

Google translate from French  https://www.tribunejuive.info/2024/01/15/jaccuse-par-manuel-valls/ 

Source: https://www.lexpress.fr/idees-et-debats/guerre-israel-hamas-jaccuse-par-manuel-valls-ZMJHJJJRABE7BG2RZC54UDKMTI/

January 11, 2024, in The Hague.

The crowd is going wild. Palestinian keffiyeh hanging around the necks of the men present in the vast majority, the songs and the jumps make the flags dance above the heads galvanized by the idea of ​​a curious victory. A few meters away, the atmosphere is one of mourning. Israeli flags slowly come to life from the tired steps of their carrier. The faces are sad, many came accompanied by a photo of a hostage. It's been a time of pain since October 7.

The day before, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was delighted on X to be invited to this event. In what capacity, one wonders, but he will be “present for peace”, in the camp of the celebration of what for some is the trial of the century. It is a “choice” according to him “which challenges the law of the strongest, the most armed or the injunctions of murderous theories such as that of the “clash of civilizations” or “the war of good against evil”. » A political choice, in short.

Between the walls facing the demonstrators stands the International Court of Justice where South Africa has indicted Israel for genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza, part of a “Continuous Nakba for 75 years”. Grotesque initiative of this government of the African National Congress, eaten away by corruption, which seeks to divert attention while the country experiences 30% unemployment and faces, each year, 30,000 assassinations and 40,000 rapes...

If political indecency has raged in all countries of the world in recent months, it finally finds its peak in the main judicial organ of the United Nations. The trial of the century, they said, or the Dreyfus affair of our time. “Since they dared, I will dare too. " 126 years later, it's my turn to tell the whole truth.

The truth first about the trial and the false accusations made against Israel.

Because the South African pleading is distressing. Edited around videos found on social networks and shocking sentences published in the press and on the web, the lawyers follow one another to assert a single message: in the bombings of the Gaza Strip, Israel's sole objective is to to destroy the “subgroup” of Palestinians in Gaza.

A particularly attractive idea for anti-Zionists who dream of Israel as the great tyrant of the Middle East, but what about the 1,200 people murdered in the wildest hatred, dismembered, raped, decapitated, burned? What about the more than 7,500 injured and the 139 hostages including 19 bodies removed during the massacre of October 7, 2023, not counting the 110 released and traumatized for the rest of their lives? What about the 500,000 displaced within Israeli borders? What also about the incessant salvos of rockets unleashed by Hamas? What about common sense and self-defense?

The myth of a country thirsty for Palestinian blood fueled by South African accusations is a brazen lie. The accusations of genocide also seem very weak in the face of the only democratic state in the Middle East. It would be a disgrace to recall the considerable efforts made by Israel to protect civilians from this war, despite the trouble Hamas goes to to shield them. It would be disgraceful to recall that for a State which wishes the disappearance of Palestinians from Gaza, treating Gazan children and terrorists in Israeli hospitals would be counterproductive. It would be disgraceful to point out that a genocidal state would probably not welcome tens of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank to work with the end goal of creating the conditions that could lead to their demise. And in the face of this, it would be disgraceful for a third country to persist in condemning Israel of genocidal acts.

Then the truth about a political class steeped in anti-Jewish hatred guided by an insatiable electoral thirst.

For part of the European and international political class, none of all the abominations committed by Hamas on the Gazan population and the Israelis in particular on October 7, 2023 was enough. With Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Jeremy Corbyn at the head, and also major guests of the Hague trial at the ICJ, without us understanding in what capacity, neither the hijackings, nor the hostage-taking, nor the murders, nor beheadings, nor dismemberments, nor rapes, are sufficient to qualify Hamas as a terrorist movement. One more indignity which adds to the long respective lists of the two former elected officials of defamatory, anti-Semitic and hateful remarks. A real disaster for the French and British leftists who no longer retain any credit for the defense of humanist and universal values. Their Manichean vision of power and minorities deprives them of all lucidity, finding legitimacy in barbarism, and making them complicit in acts and crimes which should shake their most deeply held convictions, if any remain. This nauseating left has agreed to sell its weak convictions for the benefit of the supposed new proletariat that they set out to conquer: the great mass of immigration and Muslims and to hell with the defense of the popular classes and workers who no longer make enough victims to still be attractive.

The truth finally about this “war of good against evil”

“Martyrdom is undoubtedly the greatest secret of our success. Your adversary [always] seeks to kill you, except if it is not serious for you to lose your life, [if] what matters is to achieve your goal, he loses all control over you.” It is on these words of Naïm Qassem, number 2 of Hezbollah revealed in a documentary series on France 2, that this war crystallizes, not of good against evil, but this war of value. From Hamas to Hezbollah, from Daesh to all contemporary Islamist terrorist groups, the objective is the same: to destroy the West and wage a global jihad. The urgency, for Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and behind them Iran, is to put an end to the "Zionist entity" which they also call the "little Satan", and above all to overcome the American threat (“the great Satan”).

Understanding what is happening today in the Middle East means understanding the challenges we will have to overcome tomorrow. The barbarity that was expressed and the inhumanity of the actions of October 7 gave us all a lesson about the enemies, the Islamists, terrorism, which Israelis have to fight. Ours in France and in Europe have not been and are not very different.

In this war of life against death, it is neither the Israeli bombings nor the words of the leaders that are genocidal, but rather the very existence of the State of Israel as a genocide in itself. For too long, the Palestinian flag has not been raised in pain to mourn the loss of civilians. No, for too long the Palestinian flag has been brandished with fierce rage as the political symbol of a war waged today against Jews and Israel, and tomorrow against democracies and the West. It is this visceral hatred of the values ​​that Jews and Israel embody that unites terrorists, sovereign states and political leaders without any other apparent coherence. This “war of good against evil” that Jean-Luc Mélenchon calls is none other than a war of values ​​between two worlds, a tireless repetition of history, and the precipitous fall into an era that we would have liked to forget.

For the reasons given, I accuse Hamas terrorists of genocidal acts against the Palestinian population in Gaza and specifically of murder and torture of homosexuals and political opponents; serious attacks on the physical and mental integrity of Gazans by using the population, women and children, as human shields as well as schools, universities, hospitals and ambulances for terrorist purposes; intentional submission of Gazans to conditions of existence leading to its partial destruction by diverting international aid for the benefit of the development of weapons and the financing of terrorism, by confiscating humanitarian aid from civilians and holding the population hostage despite the Israeli bombing announcements; measures aimed at hindering births by depriving Palestinian women in Gaza of quality care in hospitals widely used as weapons warehouses.

I accuse Hamas of incessant attacks aimed at threatening Israeli territorial security and of war crimes and hostage-taking that led the State of Israel to initiate a military response in self-defense. I accuse Hamas of being solely responsible for the dramatic situation in Gaza for the Palestinians since its takeover in the strip, and for the war waged there by Israel.

I accuse Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran of making genocidal remarks against the Jewish community, Israel, the United States and Western nations.

I accuse South Africa and their supporters of bringing the voice of Hamas and their propaganda to the highest authorities in the world. I accuse them of guilty silence when it was necessary to condemn Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq and Iran for genocide against their populations and war crimes. I accuse South Africa and their supporters of failing in their duty to prevent and punish genocidal remarks made directly and publicly against Israel. I accuse South Africa and their supporters of ignoring the massacres of October 7, which they do not consider as part of the Israeli response. I accuse South Africa and its supporters, for the reasons set out above, of bringing to the International Court of Justice an unfounded and politically motivated complaint by a rejection of the right of the State of Israel to exist and to enjoy assertive territorial security.

I accuse Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Jeremy Corbyn of acting as political relays for the anti-Zionism carried by Hamas by refusing to recognize the organization as terrorist and by attributing resistance activities to it.

I accuse the UN of lacking impartiality towards Israel, targeted by 17 resolutions in 2020 compared to 7 for the rest of the world (including one against Iran and one against Syria). I accuse the UN of incomprehensible blindness until January 8, 2024 on the rapes and sexual mutilation carried out on October 7, 2023 in Israel. I accuse the UN of a lack of distance from the information provided by Hamas concerning the deaths and attacks attributed to Israelis. The pitiful response given by the UN to Hamas's misleading information on Al-Shifa Hospital should have alerted us. I accuse UNRWA of complicity with Hamas terrorists to the detriment of the civilian population. I condemn in the strongest terms the misappropriation of European and international funds by Hamas to finance anti-Semitic school books, weapons and war infrastructure, and the terrorist group's food rationing.

More than 100 days after the greatest pogrom that Israel has known and the attempted genocide that it had to combat, I condemn the unworthy summons of Israel to answer to accusations of genocidal acts and provide my support for democracy Israeli in this unbearable political war of which it is the target. I join the Israelis who mourn their dead and share their terror of knowing that at a time when Israel is being tried for genocide, 120 Israelis are still hostages of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, and victims of the abuses of which we know they are capable.

I expect from France the same commitment as Germany alongside the Israelis, a total and clear commitment, and an unequivocal condemnation of South Africa's initiative.

Manuel Valls served as Prime Minister of France (2014–2016)

South Africa-Israel ICJ case | Israeli ministry of justice: Dr. Galit Raguan

 

ICJ transcript 

Ms RAGUAN: FACTS ON THE GROUND

Madam President, Members of the Court, it is an honour to appear before you on behalf of the State of Israel. As Professor Shaw noted, at this stage, South Africa does not need to prove that genocidal acts have been or are being committed. But it does have to show that the Genocide Convention is actually relevant.It has to show some level of acts and some level of intent. Professor Shaw has spoken to the issue of express intent. It is my task to speak to the circumstances of Israel’s actions. 

Israel cannot possibly comprehensively address today all of the allegations made in South Africa’s Application in this regard. The Applicant paints a dire picture. But it is a partial and deeply flawed picture. The Application is so distorted in its descriptions that it prevents the Court from properly assessing the plausibility of the rights asserted by South Africa. Plausibility cannot be determined based on the unsubstantiated allegations of one party to the proceedings alone, if Article 41 of the Court’s Statute is to have any meaning. In the time available, I will address three aspects of reality on the ground that the Applicant has either ignored or misrepresented.

First, Hamas’ military tactics and strategy. Second, Israel’s efforts to mitigate civilian harm during operational activity. And third, Israel’s efforts to address humanitarian hardship in Gaza, despite Hamas’ attempts at obstruction. 

With respect to Hamas’ military tactics and strategy, it is astounding that in yesterday’s hearing, Hamas was mentioned only in passing, and only in reference to the 7 October massacre in Israel. Listening to the presentation by the Applicant, it was as if Israel is operating in Gaza against no armed adversary. But the same Hamas that carried out the 7 October attacks in Israel is the governing authority in Gaza. And the same Hamas has built a military strategy founded on embedding its assets and operatives in and amongst the civilian population. 

Urban warfare will always result in tragic deaths, harm and damage. But in Gaza, these undesired outcomes are exacerbated because they are the desired outcomes of Hamas. In urban warfare, civilian casualties may be the unintended, but lawful, result of attacks on lawful military objectives. International humanitarian law recognizes this reality and provides a framework for balancing military necessity with humanitarian considerations. These do not constitute genocidal acts. 

 In the current conflict, many civilian deaths are directly caused by Hamas. Booby-trapped homes detonate and kill indiscriminately. Mines in alleyways collapse structures around them. And over 2,000 rockets misfired by Hamas have landed inside Gaza, causing untold levels of harm. One telling example is a blast at the Al Ahli Hospital on 17 October. Hamas claimed that the IDF attacked the hospital; headlines around the world rushed to repeat this claim. The IDF later proved, and United States intelligence and other national security intelligence agencies independently confirmed, that the blast was the result of a failed rocket launch from within Gaza. It was not, as Hamas claimed, the fault of the IDF.

Damage to civilian structures is another fact claimed by South Africa as evidence of genocide. But South Africa does not consider the sheer extent to which Hamas uses ostensibly civilian structures for military purposes. Houses, schools, mosques, United Nations facilities and shelters are all abused for military purposes by Hamas, including as rocket launching sites. Hundreds of kilometres of tunnels dug by Hamas under populated areas in Gaza often cause structures above to collapse. 

In the slides before you, you can see a militant priming projectiles for launch on IDF forces in Gaza. You can see the holes in the residential house to hide and launch them. Here you can see projectiles discovered underneath a bed in a child’s bedroom. Here, a rocket being fired from a school. The launch site is circled in red.. Here you can see militants firing from a United Nations school. You can see letters “UN” on the roof and the fire is circled in red. Here, long-range rocket launchers hidden inside a Scouts club building. Finally you can see part of a tunnel that runs for four kilometres, including nearby the Erez Crossing, which is adjacent to Israel. 

Gaza’s infrastructure has certainly been harmed during the conflict. However, South Africa would have the Court believe that Israel is deliberately and unlawfully destroying homes without cause. But harm caused to lawful military objectives, and harm caused as a result of Hamas’ actions, is not evidence of genocide. 

South Africa also alleges that Israel has waged an assault on Gaza’s health system. What South Africa has neglected to bring before the Court, however, is the overwhelming evidence of Hamas’ military use of such hospitals.

Hamas militants retreated to Rantissi Hospital in Gaza on 7 October with hostages from Israel, whom they then held in the basement. 21. In the slide before you, you will see a militant going into Quds Hospital with an RPG. Hamas fired at IDF forces from near, and from within, Quds Hospital. At Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, Hamas managed operations from a closed-off area. Here you can see an opening to the tunnel that ran for hundreds of metres directly under the hospital. Here, you can see the weapons found in different wings of the hospital. Here, CCTV footage showing armed militants bringing hostages into the hospital’s lobby.. More than 80 militants hiding inside another hospital, the Adwan Hospital, surrendered themselves to the IDF. Here you can see a weapon that IDF forces discovered hidden inside incubators at the hospital. The director of the hospital has admitted that numerous members of hospital staff belong to Hamas’ military wing. In the Indonesian hospital in the neighbourhood of Jabalya, Hamas forces managed their operations from that hospital until the IDF reached it. IDF forces recovered the bodies of five murdered hostages from a tunnel dug underneath the hospital. 

The list goes on. In every single hospital that the IDF has searched in Gaza, it has found evidence of Hamas military use. Israel is acutely aware that because of Hamas’ use of hospitals as shields for its military operations, in grave violations of international humanitarian law, patients and staff are at risk. This is why the IDF has reached out to every hospital and offered assistance in relocating patients and staff to safer areas. Hospitals have not been bombed; rather, the IDF sends soldiers to search and dismantle military infrastructure, reducing damage and disruption. Indeed, the tunnel that sat directly under the main building in Shifa Hospital was exploded without damaging the building above. The IDF then withdrew from the hospital. Yes  damage and harm have occurred, as a result of hostilities in hospitals’ vicinity; sometimes by IDF fire, sometimes by Hamas. But always as a direct result of Hamas’ abhorrent method of warfare.

Israel has published plenty of evidence of the extensive misuse by Hamas of medical facilities in direct violations of international humanitarian law. It has brought journalists to see first-hand. It has recorded calls with hospital staff to co-ordinate assistance. None of that is mentioned in the Application. In fact, the Applicant describes the result and asks the Court to attribute malicious intent to Israel. But that is only a possible conclusion if one obscures, as the Applicant has, Hamas’ strategy of turning hospitals into terrorist compounds. The Applicant also made much of the fact that force has been even used in humanitarian zones. What the Applicant neglected to inform the Court, however, was that Hamas has  in its contempt for Palestinian civil life  regularly and deliberately fired from such zones, turning areas of relief into zones of conflict.

Here, before you, you can see one example of a launch site adjacent to the humanitarian zone, both amplified in larger pictures. 36. And in the next slide you can see evidence of a rocket launched from next to Gaza’s water desalination facility. 

I now would like to address briefly the second issue: Israel’s efforts at mitigation of civilian harm. 

Here, too, the Applicant tells not just a partial story, but a false one. For example, the Application presents Israel’s call to civilians to evacuate areas of intensive hostilities “as an act calculated to bring about its physical destruction”. This is a particularly egregious allegation that is completely disconnected from the governing legal framework of international humanitarian law. Evacuation of civilians is recognized under international humanitarian law as one of the measures that may be implemented to protect civilians from the effects of ongoing hostilities. Indeed, such evacuation may even amount to a duty that the party to the conflict has toward civilians.While temporary evacuation undoubtedly involves hardship and suffering, it is preferable to remaining in areas of intensive hostilities, all the more so when one party makes a concerted effort to use those civilians as shields. 

The IDF maintains a Civilian Harm Mitigation Unit to undertake this task. It works full-time to provide advance notice of areas in which the IDF intends to intensify its activities, co-ordinate travel routes for civilians and secure these routes. This unit has developed a detailed map so that specific areas can be temporarily evacuated, instead of evacuating entire areas. On the slide before you, you can see that map, divided into areas, as well as a screenshot of a video explaining the system in Arabic so civilians may understand it. The IDF also enacts localized pauses in its operations to allow civilians to move. It does this even though Hamas does not agree to do the same and has even attacked IDF forces securing humanitarian corridors. 

The PRESIDENT: Excuse me. I have a request from the interpreters that you slow down the pace of your speaking. Could you please do that? Thank you.

Ms RAGUAN: Of course. Yesterday, South Africa stated that the IDF gave 24 hours’ notice to civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate. In fact, the IDF urged civilians to evacuate to southern Gaza for over three weeks before it started its ground operation. Three weeks that provided Hamas with advance knowledge of where and when the IDF would be operating. This three-week period for temporary evacuation is a matter of common knowledge. And the Applicant’s misrepresentation of this fact is, at best, an unfamiliarity with the events and, at worst, a desire to tailor its story to a pre-existing narrative. 

The IDF employs a range of additional measures in accordance with the obligation to take precautionary measures under international humanitarian law. For example, it provides effective advance warnings of attacks where circumstances permit. To date, the IDF has dropped millions of leaflets over areas of expected attacks with instructions to evacuate and how to do so, broadcast countless messages over radio and through social media warning civilians to distance themselves from Hamas operations, and made over 70,000 individual phone calls, including to occupants of the targets, warning them of impending attacks. This requires time. It requires resources and intelligence — and the IDF invests all of these to save civilian lives. 

Here you can see the IDF’s Arabic Twitter account, providing information for civilians to evacuate specific areas, including the location of shelters nearby. Yet the Applicant astonishingly claims that these efforts are in themselves genocidal. In other words, a measure intended to mitigate harm to the civilian population, sometimes exceeding the requirements of international humanitarian law, is proof — according to the Applicant —of Israel’s intent to commit genocide, when in fact, it proves the exact opposite. 

My third topic, with respect to the humanitarian situation. Much attention was given by South Africa to this situation. Despite Israel’s efforts to mitigate harm, there is no question that many civilians in Gaza are suffering as a result of the war that Hamas began.While Israel is seeking to minimize civilian harm, Hamas is doing everything in its power to use the civilian population and civilian infrastructure for its own protection, thwarting humanitarian efforts aimed at alleviating the distress of the civilian population. Further illustration on Hamas’ tactics and Israel’s efforts can be found in tabs 4 and 9 of the volume provided to the Court.

I now turn to describe just some of the humanitarian co-ordination efforts that Israel has been engaged in and Mr Sender will further expand on this. Israel maintains a dedicated military unit, called COGAT, responsible for routine co-ordination with international organizations in Gaza with respect to various humanitarian aspects. It is COGAT that mans and operates the crossings between Israel and Gaza. This includes the Erez Crossing, through which prior to 7 October, almost 20,000 Gazans passed through into Israel daily for work. 

South Africa showed a map yesterday, with the Erez Crossing marked “closed”. What it failed to note is that the crossing was attacked on 7 October by Hamas, which murdered and kidnapped COGAT staff and caused significant damage. Here you can see some of that damage. Nevertheless, COGAT works around the clock to fulfil its role. Its large professional staff run numerous initiatives, of which I will only mention a few.

 First, COGAT manages a mechanism by which it maintains an up-to-date picture of the needs in Gaza. It does this with the United Nations, other international organizations and States, whose representatives sit in COGAT’s offices. COGAT uses this monitoring to help donor States and organizations prioritize their aid efforts to fit the evolving situation on the ground. 56. 

Second, COGAT facilitates the entry of aid into Gaza. Israel has publicly stated repeatedly that there is no limit on the amount of food, water, shelter or medical supplies that can be brought into Gaza. To increase capacity, COGAT has re-opened the Kerem Shalom crossing, as acknowledged by the Security Council in resolution 2720, despite Hamas putting it under fire. Israel has offered to extend operating hours at the crossing if there is a capacity to receive the goods by international organizations on the Gazan side. 

Third, COGAT works to reinforce and strengthen medical services. COGAT has facilitated the huge logistical challenge of establishing four field hospitals in Gaza, and more are being set up, and two floating hospitals. It has facilitated the entry of new ambulances into Gaza. And Israel has even co-ordinated airdrops of aid over Gaza by Jordan, co-ordinating these flights with the Israel Air Force operating in Gaza. 

This, of course, is not to say that nothing more can be done, or that there are no challenges to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Such challenges exist and change according to the evolving circumstances of the conflict. But it is to say that the charge of genocide, in the face of these extensive efforts, is frankly untenable.

It is an inconvenient truth for the Applicant’s case, but one of the most significant challenges is the fact that Hamas commandeers consignments into Gaza and controls their distribution. Gazan residents have reported that Hamas is regularly stealing aid, at the expense of its own population, for the benefit of its fighters. This is a tweet stating that fuel and medical equipment was stolen by purported Hamas members from an UNRWA warehouse. UNRWA later deleted the tweet, perhaps under pressure from the authorities.Here you can see Hamas commandeering an aid truck. And here is another example. Because Hamas for years has used aid consignments to smuggle weapons, security checks of all goods going into Gaza are required, as acknowledged by international humanitarian law. Hamas has time and again hoarded fuel, including during the current conflict, which it uses for military purposes, to sustain ventilation in its expansive underground tunnel network, and for its continued attacks against Israel. 

Nevertheless, in co-ordination with the United Nations, Israel enables fuel to enter Gaza to service essential infrastructure, such as sewage treatment, desalination plants, water pumps and hospitals, and cellular infrastructure for maintaining communication. Israel remains committed to helping international organizations and States involved in the aid effort to overcome these hurdles, and consistently increase the amount of aid and services available to the population in Gaza, as will be further described by Mr Sender.

Here, a picture of incubators the IDF provided to Shifa hospital. Here, a picture of an ambulance convoy co-ordinated by COGAT. A picture of consignments.  A picture of ambulances, the entry of which was co-ordinated by COGAT. And finally, more consignments waiting to enter Gaza. 

 Madam President, Members of the Court, in the time allotted I have been able to describe only some of Israel’s efforts to mitigate civilian harm and to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. But even this mere fraction is enough to demonstrate how tendentious and partial the Applicant’s presentations of these facts are, and certainly enough to conclude that the allegation of intent to commit genocide is baseless. 

If Israel had such intent, would it delay a ground manoeuvre for weeks, urging civilians to seek safer space and, in doing so, sacrificing operational advantage? Would it invest massive resources to provide civilians with details about where to go, when to go, how to go, to leave areas of fighting? Would it maintain a dedicated unit, staffed with experts, whose sole role is to facilitate aid? And who continued to do so, despite having their staff killed and kidnapped? 

When a population is ruled by a terrorist organization that cares more about wiping out its neighbour than about protecting its own civilians, there are acute challenges in protecting the civilian population. Those challenges are exacerbated by the dynamic and evolving nature of intense  hostilities in an urban area, where the enemy exploits hospitals, shelters and critical infrastructure. Would Israel work continuously with international organizations and States, even reaching out to them on its own initiative, to find solutions to these challenges if it were seeking to destroy the population? Israel’s efforts to mitigate the ravages of this war on civilians are the very opposite of intent to destroy them. Under these circumstances, far from being the only inference that could reasonably be drawn from Israel’s pattern of conduct, intent to commit genocide is not even a plausible inference. 

Madam President, Members of the Court, that concludes my statement. I thank you for your kind attention and I ask that you now invite Mr Sender to the podium.