Labeling allegations of genocide against Israel as “bizarre and without foundation in fact or law”, South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein slammed the International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings as a “dangerous farce”, pointing to the illegitimacy of its parent body, the UN, whose General Assembly selects the judges.
“The UN, dominated by dictatorships, riddled with antisemitism, appoints ICJ judges, who therefore, by definition, lack the moral authority to stand in judgment over any democracy, especially Israel.”
He says the UN and its institutions “have increasingly been hijacked by undemocratic societies to advance objectives that threaten freedom, peace, and prosperity in the world”, citing damning data showing how the majority of countries making up the General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council (HRC) are repressive, authoritarian regimes.
“Consider that of the 193 members of the UN General Assembly only 84 are free societies,” said Rabbi Goldstein. “That makes the ICJ case against Israel a theater of the absurd.
“What we see in Israel’s case before the ICJ is a majority of non-free societies weaponsing a UN platform to undermine the self-defense rights of a liberal democracy,” he continued. “Allow that precedent to continue and the outlook for freedom in the world is dire.”
He pointed to the make-up of the court as an indication of its illegitimacy. “Among the ICJ judges hearing this case, one is from serial human rights abuser, China, and another is from Lebanon, where Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy and combatant in the current war on Israel, is a key member of the government.”
Rabbi Goldstein drew particular attention to the UN’s “anti-Israel bias and obsession with the world’s only Jewish state and the only free democracy in the Middle East.”
“At the General Assembly, each year there are more condemnations of Israel than the rest of the world combined. The HRC has adopted 103 resolutions condemning Israel, and zero for countries guilty of real human rights violations such as China, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.”
Rabbi Goldstein believes the case is nevertheless an opportunity for free countries to reassess their relationship with the UN.
“For constitutional democracies to submit themselves to the judgment of UN institutions is ludicrous. No UN body should exercise authority over Israel or any free society’s sovereignty, and certainly not over national security decisions such as how to conduct an existential war of self-defense.
“The time has come to build a new global alliance comprising free societies with shared values and a sincere commitment to human rights.”
