LETTERS: IN light of the recent South African legal action against Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the South African government or any other government can consider bringing similar legal action against the United States
too.
The US has been supporting and assisting Israel with money and military equipment, which were used by Israel to commit crimes and atrocities against the Palestinians.
From a legal point of view, the US should be equally responsible for committing crimes and atrocities against the Palestinians. Thus, the US should be prosecuted at the ICJ along with Israel.
For supporting Israel, the US and other countries should be considered collaborators or accomplices, which is in violation of international laws, conventions and treaties.
In 1988, then US president Ronald Reagan signed and accepted the Genocide Convention. Israel has been a party to the convention since 1951.
The convention entered into force on Jan 12, 1951, and has 152 state parties up to 2022.
The convention defines genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
Malaysia signed the Genocide Convention in 1994. Therefore, we can follow South Africa's lead and initiate legal action against the US at the ICJ for their involvement in crimes against the Palestinians through continuous weapons support and assistance to Israel.
In fact, Indonesia, Slovenia, Mexico, and Chile have reportedly also acted for further proceedings against Israel at the ICJ for its occupation and war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Thus, more nations are taking the cue from South Africa to demand justice against the Israeli apartheid regime for their war crimes in Gaza.
So, the time has come to also charge the US and other Israeli allies for their complicity in the atrocities against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
DR MUZAFFAR SYAH MALLOW
Associate professor, Faculty of Syariah and Law, University Sains Islam Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
from
https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters/2024/01/1005451/more-nations-emulating-south-africa
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