The United Nation’s top court filed a ruling Friday that echoed what Palestinian advocates have been saying for decades: Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, including its settlements in the West Bank, is illegal and must end.
The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion also called for reparations for Palestinians who have lived under Israel’s occupation since it began in 1967, an unprecedented step for the court.
The court also notably declared Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians to be a form of segregation and apartheid. It further ruled that nations cannot offer aid in support of the illegal occupation without violating international law, and upheld the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
It still finally starts to break the narrative that Israel and right-wingers in the US have been spinning for the past 70 years, which has value.
Once that spell is broken there’s no putting it back in place, and as Israel starts being seen by people as just another country it becomes easier and easier for the discussion to be about why the world is supporting them in behaving this way.
We will see it discussed more openly and frankly by our political candidates, it opens the real possibility of getting zionism out of our politics in the US eventually. Sadly it does not help people who are suffering right now, but it’s a pretty huge shift in the perception of Israel and that’s important.