On Friday, July 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion requested in 2022 by the UN General Assembly to address the legality of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories seized in 1967. 

Confirming everything that legal scholars, human rights activists, and people of conscience have been saying for decades, the court found that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal.  Israel is under obligation to end settlement expansion, evacuate all settlers, and remove parts of the apartheid wall that are situated on Palestinian territory.  Israel must provide full reparation for the damage caused by the wrongful acts, including the return of land and assets seized and must allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original location of residence. And important to U.S. policy, under the ruling, the international community and organizations have an obligation “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by” the occupation.”

The Court did not address the genocide and other human rights violations in Gaza since October 7 due to the specificity of the General Assembly’s request, but it did affirm that Israel’s policy in Gaza is an illegal occupation despite the withdrawal of settlements in 2005 due to its control of Gaza’s borders.     

The advisory is not binding but carries immense moral weight authority under international law. It will weaken support for Israel. It marks the first time that the world’s top court has expressed its view on the legality of Israel’s control over the occupied territories – both the West Bank and Gaza and refutes Israel’s long-held defense of the 57-year occupation is legal.   

John Quigley, Professor Emeritus of International Law, OSU Moritz College, stated, “The ICJ advisory opinion hammers a nail into the coffin of the US position that Israel is lawfully in control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River and that there is no legal obstacle to giving Israel the money and weapons it uses to maintain that control.”

Because ICJ has no enforcement mechanisms. It is up to the people of every country to demand that our political leaders respect international law and follow both the letter and spirit of this ruling.

Amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the rapidly accelerating violence and dispossession of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, it is urgent that the United States and the international community abide by this ruling and exert pressure on Israel to comply. 

We must continue to call on our elected representatives and the president to:

1. End all funding to Israel and enforce an arms embargo. 
2. Demand a complete and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed anywhere in the occupied Palestinian territory.
3. Demand an end to Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies.
4. Support the ICJ’s ruling that “the State of Israel has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

ICJ Advisory Opinion- LEGAL CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM THE POLICIES AND PRACTICES OF ISRAEL IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM.  Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 (icj-cij.org).