By Kouthar Sambo

It has been two weeks and counting since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) mandated provisional measures against Israel.

However, Israel has not been complying with the ICJ Order, which declared Israel to execute measures that will avoid acts of genocide in Gaza.

This comes as media reports from Gaza indicated an increase in civilian casualties each day, particularly in Rafah, a Palestinian city in the Southern Gaza Strip.

Speaking on VOC’s DriveTime show on Tuesday, a Senior Researcher at Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and former Executive Director of Afro-Middle East Centre, Naeem Jeenah, said South Africa put forward an application for additional provisional measures against Israel to prevent it from going forward with its operation in Rafah.

“It has been days after the set of Orders the court gave to Israel on 26 January, and Israel ignored everything and went ahead to murder on average 130 Palestinians a day,” proclaimed Jeenah.

The ICJ could not and would not declare Israel’s aggression in Gaza a genocide within in first ruling, explained Jeenah, as to deem it a genocide the first time around would require a lot of investigation, which is time-consuming.

“The idea of the South African application to the ICJ was to state that we know it would take you a lot of time to declare it a genocide, but we believe it is a genocide,” explained Jeenah.

“So for now, at least, give provisional measures so it does not become a genocide. And so, the ICJ gave those provisional measures while it continues deliberating on the matter,” detailed Jeenah.

According to Jeenah, the problem is not with the ICJ itself, as the ICJ could deliver the most just, beautiful Order, but it has no mechanism to enforce it.

“The best the ICJ can do for now is to ask Israel every month to report on what it’s doing, and 19 days later, this is what we are seeing, an increase in aggression in Rafah. There is nothing the ICJ can do to enforce its rulings as that can only be done by the United Nations (UN) Security Council,” maintained Jeenah.

Jeenah added that the only thing that can stop Israel in its tracks is the United States (US), in terms of what it does at the UN Security Council, as the US can use the aid it gets to Israel as leverage.

“The US has enormous leverage against Israel but refuses to use it. And using this leverage is not only possible right now, but also necessary,” asserted Jeenah.

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