September 3, 2009 | Eli E. Hertz
Norway has declared a boycott of the Israeli company Elbit. This company manufactures monitoring devices installed on the separation fence Israel built in order to impede the movements of suicide bombers into Israel.
Norwegian authorities claim that they have acted in accordance with the 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion, stating that the separation fence represents a breach of international law.In contradiction to international law, scholarly judgment, and common sense, the International Court of Justice handed down an 'Advisory Opinion' that is:
So sloppy that it wants the reader to believe that the League of Nations document - the 1922 "Mandate for Palestine" that laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law and valid to this day - was the founding document for Palestinian self-determination. It seems that the members of the Court didn't even bother to read the six-page legally-binding Mandate for Palestine document - A document which the Court considers as one of the justifications to take the case.
So biased that it found terrorist activities to be irrelevant to its judicial investigation. The ICJ that cites the Secretary-General's Report as a key document and a major source of information for its opinion, skips the part of the same UN Report that labeled the Palestinian actions "terror," clearly stating the cause for building a security barrier.
So incompetent that it demonstrates a total disregard of the UN's own legal machinery by arbitrarily treating numerous General Assembly Resolutions and Declarations as a source of law, contradicting the UN Charter and the Court's Statute.
So devious that it erases all history of Arab aggression during the British Mandate period (1922-1948), the 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars, as well as Israel's continuing fight of self-defence against Arab Palestinian terrorism.
So manipulative that it denied Israel's rights to battle terrorism as directed by Security Council Resolution 1373 that was adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter and required all nations to comply with the terms set forth in Resolutions 1373, 1368, and 1269. The ICJ does not have the authority or the power over the Security Council to alter the resolution or wrongly and illegally exclude Israel, a Member State of the UN, from its rights and obligations under such Security Council Resolutions.
The 'Advisory Opinion' constitutes a profound corruption of its mission and one with seismic implications for the future of international law. It threatens the security of America and its allies on three levels: first, in its groundbreaking attack on the 'right to self-defence,' proscribing an almost blanket prohibition of use of lawful force. Second, it erroneously adopts the exclusive powers granted to the Security Council by the United Nations Charter, a move that will render the Security Council ineffective, and third, in the willingness of the Bench to allow its chambers to become a political instrument and to abandon all semblance of fairness or professionalism, all for political gain.
The threats to the free and democratic states, consequently demand a far more serious, systematic and frank response, including a willingness to challenge the competence of this Court. Attempts to shield the International Court of Justice from this disgrace out of concern for its perceived reputation and effectiveness are short-sighted. At all too many junctures it appears that the ICJ's conclusions are based solely on 'gut feelings' and unsubstantiated assumptions - almost taking a leap of faith based on a mixture of personal and collective prejudice and popular opinion.
The free and democratic world needs to 'rein in' the appetite of the General Assembly and to demand of the International Court of Justice to step beyond its mandate, and respect and obey international laws as set forth in the United Nations Charter.
The International Court of Justice ignored not only its own Statute but also the writings of eminent jurists and academic scholars of international law, members of its own Bench, including a past president of the ICJ, all of whom are uniquely qualified and experienced on the subject at hand. Among them: Professor and Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, past president of the ICJ; Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice, former ICJ judge; Judge Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, a former member judge of the International Court; Judge Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice; former British Ambassador to the UN, Lord Caradon, principal author of draft Resolution 242; Professor Julius Stone, one of the twentieth century's leading authorities on the Law of Nations; Professor Eugene V. Rostow, dean of the Yale Law School, U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and a key draftee of UN Resolution 242; Professor and Jurist Arthur J. Goldberg, member of the U.S. Supreme Court, and U.S. Ambassador to the UN in 1967 and a key draftee of Resolution 242; and Professor George P. Fletcher, faculty member of th e Columbia University School of Law, who wrote recently that the use of the phrase "'illegal occupation' is a perilous threat to the diplomatic search for peace."
To view the entire critique on line, please go to:
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/ReplyOnlineEdition/index.html
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