Israel’s Foreign Ministry is in a full-court press to stop the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from ruling against them. They have instructed their embassies to press their host governments to go on record defending Israel’s actions as lawful, and the charges against them as “outragest [sic], absurd and baseless.” And apparently at least three Israeli officials have taken offense to the Foreign Ministry’s actions, making available to Axios a copy of the Ministry’s urgent cable, dated Jan. 4. Of some note, the Foreign Ministry’s invention of the word “outragest” may well indicate the presence of Israel’s panic.
Axios reports: “The Israeli Foreign Ministry is instructing its embassies to press diplomats and politicians in their host countries to issue statements against South Africa’s case.…” The cable states Israel’s three-part “strategic goal” is to get the ICJ to reject the injunction, reject the genocide ruling, and recognize that the IDF is acting according to international law.
The state cable states in part: “A ruling by the court could have significant potential implications that are not only in the legal world but have practical bilateral, multilateral, economic, security ramifications.… We ask for an immediate and unequivocal public statement along the following lines: To publicly and clearly state that YOUR COUNTRY rejects the outragest [sic], absurd and baseless allegations made against Israel.” The embassies are instructed to rush, as the statements are needed before the ICJ’s Jan. 11 hearing. It adds that Netanyahu will send letters to world leaders along the same lines.
Axios also reports the cable’s argumentation, as given to the embassies:
