Julia Sebutinde: Only ICJ judge opposes all measures against Israel

Julia Sebutinde, Uganda’s representative to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has become a hero amongst Israel supporters, though her country distanced itself from her. She was among the 17 judges who deliberated on interim measures in the case concerning the Application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip. She uniquely voted against all proposed provisional measures, standing out as the sole permanent judge to do so, in contrast to Ad hoc Judge Aharon Barak, who opposed most but supported two.

In her dissenting view, she argued that the core of the dispute was fundamentally political, not legal, and asserted the absence of a credible indication of genocidal intent by Israel.

Adonia Ayebare, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, criticized Sebutinde on X.

“Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine. She has previously voted against Uganda’s case on Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Uganda’s support for the plight of the Palestinian people has been expressed through Uganda’s voting pattern at the United Nations,” the ambassador tweeted.

69-year-old Julia Sebutinde is a distinguished judge from Uganda, serving her second term on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since March 2012. She is the first African woman to hold this position. She has a rich background in law, having graduated from Makerere University, obtained a diploma from the Law Development Centre in Kampala, and a Master of Laws from the University of Edinburgh, after which she worked in various legal capacities in Uganda, Britain and Namibia. Sebutinde's notable career includes serving as a judge in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, presiding over high-profile corruption inquiries in Uganda, and her election to the ICJ, reflecting her significant contributions to international justice.

“In my respectful dissenting opinion, the dispute between the State of Israel and the people of Palestine is essentially and historically a political one,” she wrote in her dissenting opinion.

“Calling for a diplomatic or negotiated settlement, and for the implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions by all parties concerned, to find a permanent solution whereby the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can peacefully coexist,” she wrote.

 

 

 

 

 

United States adamant at stopping ships entering Red Sea

After the latest attacks at Yemen on Saturday, it has become evident that United States and its allies, particularly Britain, are adamant at stopping ships passing through Red Sea. The strikes at Yemen are aimed at opening a new front in the Middle East and take attention away from ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel.

It is necessary to understand why United States is targeting Yemen. For a long time US has fought a proxy war in Yemen. After the resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran and Saudi refusal to join the US-led naval force, United States wants to target Yemen.

It may be recalled that ships had resumed journey through Red Sea, which was not appreciated by United States. Therefore, it raised false flag of attacks on ships by Houthis to create a justification of attacks on Yemen.

Readers can recall the US hoax call of presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to pave way for attack on the country. Even at that time British Prime Minister, Toney Blair was the mouthpiece of US President George Bush.

 According to Associated Press (AP), the US military early Saturday struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen that it had determined was putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk.

The latest strike came after the US Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the initial airstrikes.

The warning came as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.

 “We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” Biden told reporters during a stop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

United States patronizing genocide by Israel

"Given the staggering death toll—with more than 20,000 killed in over two months—and the horrifying scale of destruction and devastation in Gaza, this is simply unacceptable," said the head of Amnesty International.

The United States on Friday abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution that it repeatedly stonewalled and lobbied to weaken in the face of intense international opposition as Israeli forces continue to kill hundreds of Palestinians daily.

The newly passed resolution—which was introduced by the United Arab Emirates—calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access.

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution. Russia joined the United States in abstaining.

 The resolution language is weaker than that of an earlier draft calling for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities. Also removed from the final version was language condemning Israel's indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian civilians, tens of thousands of whom have been killed, wounded, or left missing during 77 days of Israeli onslaught.

The vote came just after Russia proposed an amendment that would have restored language calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities to the resolution. The US vetoed the amendment.

"It is disgraceful that the US was able to stall and use the threat of its veto power to force the UN Security Council to weaken a much-needed call for an immediate end to attacks by all parties," Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard said in a statement.

"This is a much-needed resolution—all efforts to address the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza must be welcomed—but it remains woefully insufficient in the face of the ongoing carnage and extensive destruction wrought by the government of Israel's attacks in the occupied Gaza Strip," Callamard continued. "Nothing short of an immediate cease-fire is enough to alleviate the mass civilian suffering we are witnessing."

"Given the staggering death toll—with more than 20,000 killed in over two months—and the horrifying scale of destruction and devastation in Gaza, this is simply unacceptable," she added.

In a statement giving a qualified welcome to the resolution, Mary Robinson—a former UN high commissioner for human rights and Irish president who currently chairs The Elders—said, "Agreement on this weak and overdue UN Security Council resolution is better than another US veto. But the test of the resolution's success will be how many lives are saved."

"The people of Gaza are facing starvation, they need food, not words," she added. "Neither Hamas nor Israel have complied with the previous resolution agreed last month. If the Security Council is to be credible, its members must push harder for implementation of its decisions."

Lamenting that the resolution "became increasingly meaningless" as US President Joe Biden "managed to delete the call for suspension of hostilities," Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said on social media Friday, "Biden's changes will help ensure that Israel's slaughter in Gaza continues while minimizing the UN's insight into what increasingly appears to be a genocide."

 Courtesy: Common Dreams

Sunak follows Biden to Israel to show support

Israel pounded Gaza with more air strikes on Thursday and Egypt took steps to let in aid, as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak followed US President Joe Biden on visits to demonstrate Western support for the war against Hamas.

Sunak borrowed a phrase associated with British wartime leader Winston Churchill, pledging to stand by Israel "in its darkest hour" following the October 07 rampage by Hamas gunmen who killed 1,400 Israelis.

Israel has responded to the deadliest attack in its 75-year history by vowing to annihilate Hamas, putting the entire Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people under a total siege, and bombarding the enclave in strikes that have killed thousands and made more than a million homeless.

Western countries have tried to balance their support for Israel with calls to ease the plight of Gazans, but Sunak's emphasis was firmly on the former.

"Above all, I'm here to express my solidarity with the Israeli people. You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you," Sunak told reporters after landing in Tel Aviv hours after Biden left.

Later appearing beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said, "We will stand with you in solidarity. We will stand with your people. And we also want you to win."

President Biden are you a Netanyahu partner in genocide of Palestinians?

US President Joe Biden left Washington Tuesday evening on a whirlwind trip that was originally expected to touch down in Israel for an update on Israel's war aims in its battle with Hamas militants, and then Jordan, to stress the need to get humanitarian assistance to Gaza civilians.

A strike on a Gaza hospital late on Tuesday that killed hundreds of Palestinians saw Arab leaders call off their planned summit with Biden in Jordan.

Biden is spending part of Wednesday in Tel Aviv for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials as Israel prepares a ground offensive aimed at eliminating Hamas militants in Gaza who are accused for killing 1,300 people during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on October 07.

Biden will no longer fly to Amman for talks about humanitarian assistance after Jordan's King Abdullah cancelled a summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Abbas, who has long been opposed to Hamas and whose organization exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said after the Gaza hospital strike he would not meet the US President.

Palestinian authorities say Israel is responsible for the strike; Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame. Biden backed Israel's account.

His goal was originally to show American solidarity with Netanyahu while trying to avoid a broader regional war involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Syria.

The United States has stationed a carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean in a show of force for Israel and a second is on the way.

Biden also wants to avert a humanitarian calamity in Gaza where authorities say thousands have already been killed in Israeli bombardment over the last week.

Hundreds of tons of aid from several countries have been waiting in Egypt's Sinai peninsula for days pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing.

"He'll make it clear that we want to continue working with all our partners in the region, including Israel, to get humanitarian assistance in and provide some kind of safe passage for civilians to get out," said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.

Biden and Netanyahu, thrown into a wartime partnership despite deep political differences on the way forward in the Middle East, have joined forces.

Biden has given Israel full-throated support while stressing the need to head off a massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Biden will also get an update on the scores of hostages taken by Hamas. The State Department has said 29 citizens of the United States were killed in the Hamas attacks, with 15 citizens and one lawful permanent resident unaccounted for.

Biden will make clear that Israel has the right and indeed the duty to defend its people from Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv.

He said Israel would brief Biden on its war aims and strategy and how it will conduct operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.

The US and Israel agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza, Blinken said.