{"id":287187,"date":"2025-02-03T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=287187"},"modified":"2025-02-01T10:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T10:38:30","slug":"the-christian-zionist-leading-the-international-court-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/02\/the-christian-zionist-leading-the-international-court-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christian Zionist Leading the International Court of Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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24 Jan 2025 – Julia Sebutinde is a dedicated Christian Zionist who stood alone in rejecting South Africa\u2019s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Now the court\u2019s president, the Ugandan judge appears to have plagiarized sections of her dissenting opinion justifying Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian Territories.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With new countries joining<\/a> South Africa\u2019s case accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and a ceasefire potentially enabling war crimes investigators to gather fresh evidence of Israeli atrocities, a leadership shakeup at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) threatens to undermine the campaign for legal accountability.<\/p>\n

The ICJ\u2019s President Nawaf Salam resigned<\/a> on January 14, 2025 to become Prime Minister of Lebanon, and was succeeded by Justice Julia Sebutinde of Uganda. Many observers were stunned when Sebutinde voted \u201cno\u201d on all resolutions introduced by South Africa in January 2024, placing herself in opposition to all ICJ judges, including her Israeli colleague, Aharon Barak.<\/p>\n

The Ugandan judge rejected the court\u2019s call for the Israeli military to halt deliberate assaults on civilians, end its policy of forced displacement, and cancel its planned invasion of Rafah. In a previous advisory case on the legal consequences of Israel\u2019s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, Sebutinde insisted that Palestinians had not been subjected to any military occupation whatsoever. In fact, she concluded that Israel may have the right to maintain a permanent presence in the West Bank and the whole of Jerusalem on the basis of purely biblical claims.<\/p>\n

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Newly-appointed Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), is sworn into the Court, inside the Peace Palace\u2019s Great Hall of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sebutinde\u2019s opinion<\/a> opened with a lengthy history of the Israel-Palestine conflict that blended well-worn Zionist propaganda with the Old Testament. In rejecting her colleagues\u2019 ruling declaring Israel\u2019s military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal, she resorted to accounts of the Jewish presence in the biblical land of Israel, omitting any mention of UN resolutions or international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is substantial evidence that Jewish people lived in the region of ancient Israel between 1000-586 BCE. This period corresponds to the era of the United Monarchy under Kings Saul, David, and Solomon, and the subsequent divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The evidence includes archaeological findings in the City of David\u2026\u201d Sebutinde insisted. \u201cThe Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) offers detailed accounts of the history, culture, and governance of the Israelites during this period. While these texts are religious in nature, many scholars consider them valuable historical documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her opinion was so extreme, and so shot through with theological commentary, it prompted Uganda\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Adonia Ayebare, to declare her \u201cruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda\u2019s position on the situation in Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n