ICJ orders Israel to stop military operation in Rafah

Please find one quote on the matter from one Israeli politician currently in power that doesn't directly oppose this. I'll wait.

Also, stop insisting people are racist. Neither Syria nor Jordan have killed >35,000 Palestinians in the last 5 months, so we are not currently discussing them, we're discussing the country that is doing it, today.

Edit: let me start at the very top with Netanyahu's position [0]:

> The prime minister added that “everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.”

Also see this article [3] about how Netanyahu and the head of the Mossad, Barnea, have been encouraging the continued funding of Hamas specifically to achieve this goal.

And from the more moderate president [1]:

> What I want to urge is against just saying two-state solution. Why? Because there is an emotional chapter here that must be dealt with.

National security minister Ben Gvir [2]:

> The war presents an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza,” Ben Gvir told reporters and members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, calling such a policy “a correct, just, moral and humane solution.”

> “We cannot withdraw from any territory we are in in the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing,” he said.

Finance minister Smotrich [also 2]:

> The “correct solution” to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “to encourage the voluntary migration of Gaza’s residents to countries that will agree to take in the refugees,” Smotrich told members of his Religious Zionism party, predicting that “Israel will permanently control the territory of the Gaza Strip,” including through the establishment of settlements.

[0] https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-boasts-of-thwarting-...

[1] https://apnews.com/article/israel-war-hamas-herzog-president...

[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministers-call-for-resettling-...

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-q...

Israel treating their Palestinian-born subjects as stateless would be illegal, so a decision must be made by Israel between the two options I described, with the respective consequences I described. By effectively exerting rule over Palestinians (especially in the West Bank), they have chosen the route that doesn't recognize Palestine as a country, and thus are obliged to treat Palestinian-born subjects equally to any other subjects under their rule. The fact that Israel denies citizenship to the millions of Palestinian-born subjects under their rule, is particularly gross.

> You're ignoring the role of asymmetric warfare and human shield tactics. The IDF is struggling to make progress as is, despite obvious military superiority. If they caved to demands to e.g. stay out of Rafah, then Hamas terrorists would essentially be untouchable, an noone can fight an untouchable enemy.

That, in turn, ignores that Israel's actions are still illegal. Put simply, the defense you cite isn't good enough to justify Israel's actions. They tried that defense, it did not succeed, here we are. The reason is that the laws were made with the possibility of "human shields" in mind, and they still made the actions illegal. It's not some novel occurrence excepted from the rules.

It does sucks to be IDF right now, but their lives aren't worth more than civilian Palestinian lives, and thus it is immoral for them to take many civilian lives to reduce their own risk of loss, and illegal for them to do so to the extent they have, even if it means they get to kill a terrorist in the process.

Here's the most important metric (superceding any Israeli desire): Fewer civilians will die if Israel withdraws and simply secures the border than will die if Israel invades. You don't have to trust me: An independent court actually evaluated both sides here and came to the same judgement, as described in the article we're discussing. Israel will either accept that they can't do whatever they want, up to and including genocide, just because they want to, or continue to parallel Russia's and North Korea's international pariah journey while angrily feigning ignorance and righteously pointing fingers at everyone but themselves. Probably the latter.