An Open Letter to the International Court of Justice

On October 7, as Hamas terrorists rampaged through the cities and villages of Israel, murdering, mutilating, torturing, raping and beheading more than 1,200 people, the government of South Africa issues this statement...

South Africa expresses its grave concern over the recent devastating escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The new conflagration has arisen from the continued illegal occupation of Palestine land, continued settlement expansion, desecration of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Christian holy sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.Violence, killings, imprisonment, forced removals, illegal settlements, and the continued siege of Gaza are not conducive to resolving the conflict. Urgent attention must be given to resolving the final status issues such as borders, the status of Jerusalem, the release of political prisoners, and the right of return. No real and lasting peace in Israel, Palestine, and the region is possible in the absence of a just and comprehensive resolution of the conflict. Israelis, Palestinians, and the region do not stand to gain anything from escalated tensions, increased violence, growing instability, and a continued and protracted violent conflict. South Africa therefore calls on all sides to seize the opportunity for peace as opposed to violence, and for the international community to actively rise on the side of its own international resolutions and establish a credible peace process.  

https://dirco.gov.za/south-africa-calls-for-the-immediate-cessation-of-violence-restraint-and-peace-between-israel-and-palestine/

Yes, on October 7. Not a word did the South Africans say about what Hamas was doing at they same time they were releasing this incredibly insensitive and ignorant statement. But then again, why would someone expect a condemnation from a country where rape is widespread, murder rampant.

Today, in a few short hours, the International Court of Justice plans to issue its "Order". Their decision on the facts and information provided to them. Of course, they cannot include the horrific 47 minute video of what happened on October 7, scenes so horrible that few see it and leave unscathed. The cowardly members of the ICJ refused to allow Israel to show this video. That alone should tell you how they will rule in a few short hours.

The government of South Africa, a country plagued by crime, corruption, bribery and bigotry went before the ICJ to demand "justice" for the people of a land that does not exist, a land that has never existed and likely never will. The financial backing of Iran for South Africa tells its own story of corruption, bribery and immorality. 

To the world, I would like to say something. No, I will not tell you what exactly was done on October 7, before Israel launched a response. I will not tell you of the terror every Israeli felt, the agony, the tears.

Instead, I would like to tell you about my country today, what we are feeling and experiencing. Today, on the 112 day of October, 2023, we are still fixed in time, still reliving the horrors inflicted upon us by barbarians who came not to fight as an army but as savage marauders seeking to pillage, rape and murder. Nothing and no one came between them and their demand to destroy the light. Their darkness prevailed for hours until it was killed or driven back into Gaza. 

Today I sit here, knowing that the kangaroo court will soon rule. The soup of the coming Shabbat dinner is simmering on the stove, chicken bakes in the oven. The challah dough stares at me wondering why I am delayed. It is getting late while I sit here knowing what will happen soon at the Hague.

Does anyone really expect Somalia, Russia, Morrocco, China, Uganda, Lebanon and others to vote for Israel? The judgment was, most likely, fixed before the South African's draped themselves in the colors of Hamas and Gaza and dared to speak to the world of that which they know little about.

So on this cloudy day in Israel, where gentle rain falls and flowers bloom in my window and in my garden, I am preparing for the holy Sabbath to come, trying to focus not on the insanity here, but of the real sanity that seems to have escaped much of the world

And this week, as all weeks, we will read from our Torah, the first five books of the Bible given by God to the Jewish people and from the Jewish people to the world. 

In the Torah are the values and the justice lacking in the Hague. Thousands of years ago, our courts ruled according to the Bible in issues of damages caused and debts owed. There is is written when it is time to grow our crops, and when it is time we must leave the growing of those crops to defend our people. It tells us that the poor and the weak must be protected, the elderly respected. It demands decency from our men, and our women.

None of these are concepts that the ICJ cares about. For them it is who pays their salaries, who is bought and sold. How many hate versus how many love. And, as always, the Jewish nation stands before the world as they assume to judge us. In our place, they flattened cities (and 19 hospitals in just one of them), rivers of blood ran from their revenge because for them the blood lust of revenge blinded much of their actions.

Here in Israel, few will watch the proceedings. Why bother? Instead, we will focus on the peace that is promised to us, in a few hours. A respite from the world, one we have earned for surviving yet another week in this world.

We will pray together on this Sabbath, as we do each week. We will pray for those held captive, those abused and our tortured souls - both those who are in Gaza and those who were in Gaza. We will pray for our soldiers, the sons of our hearts as well as those we brought into this world.

As I look towards Jerusalem in the distance, I know we are where God promised us we would be. Here in our land. No matter what the ICJ says, our lives will not change tomorrow. An order for one party to stop a fight while the other vows to destroy it, is not a just ruling, nor one that any sane human can expect to be taken seriously.

We are the people of the Book, the people of this land. We have lived thousands of years, some here in this land, some yearning to return, and now returned to build and finally declare our re-establishment of our ancient home. 

We have defeated all our enemies to stand up in the world, proud of who we are and what we have contributed to this world. We are among the first to fly to help others. We have focused our technology on that which defends, that which feeds, that which educates.

And so, to the world, I tell you - today's Jews will not bow before you. We will fight when we must and we will always be, as we always have been, the first to come to the peace table. But never again, never again will you slaughter our people without repercussions, immediate, swift, and justified.

If they hide their weapons among their people, we will not allow our children to be murdered to save theirs. If they store and fire their weapons from homes, mosques and churches, these will not be safe havens and there is no sanctity or respect owed to a building which they have already defiled by bringing weapons and explosives in it.

To the world, I tell you - we will stop when our people are home and when the threat to our people has been eliminated. Until then, we, the people of Israel, will fight.

I will say as well, that we are an eternal people. We watched the dawn of civilization and monotheism blossom as we raised our children. We were literate when others had never even touched a book or the written page. We have seen our enemies come and go for thousands of years while we alone remain. Nothing said in some farce of a room in the Hague carries any weight when our children still cry in the night for want of their fathers, when wives beg for their husbands to come home, when young girls are still being held and when little Kfir hasn't been returned to our waiting arms.

To you, the world, I ask you to listen and understand - not to the warped words of South Africa, but the sound of the wind blowing outside my window where below stands an ambulance. My son and daughter-in-law are first responders who rush to help others and so the ambulance pulls out within seconds of a call, just as all our sons and daughters ran to help on October 7. 

To you, the world, I say that the people of Israel are not afraid. We are determined, we are proud and we are strong. And we are the ones protecting our own people and whatever innocent Palestinian civilians we can.

To the International Court of Justice and to the governments of Hamas and South Africa, I have nothing to say.