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** The Hague vs Jerusalem
15 June 2023
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The Hague in the Netherlands is a beautiful city. It is known as the international legal capital of the world because many international tribunals are there. The most well-known icon in The Hague is the Peace Palace, which was built before WWI, in the belief that international law would save the world from war. It is often called “the temple of peace”. Since 1945, the Peace Palace has been home to the International Court of Justice - also known as "the world court", or just simply “the ICJ”.

This ICJ is part of the United Nations system and is considered the highest authority on matters of international law. What the court decides is usually considered by lawyers, politicians and others as being true and binding.

At the moment the ICJ is part of a "perfect legal storm" that threatens Israel and the Jewish people as a nation. And it is threatening to divide Jerusalem and prohibit Jews from living there.

Many important UN bodies are all being mobilized to condemn and delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel. In addition to the ICJ, there is the International Criminal Court (also located in The Hague) and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. All of them have been given the task of condemning Israel for claiming sovereignty over Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and for being an apartheid state based on discrimination against non-Jews.

The Criminal Court has been asked to prosecute Israeli leaders for war crimes.

The Human Rights Council had established a permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) with a massive budget of 28 million dollars and a one-sided mandate to build the case for condemning the Jewish state for every conceivable breach of international law. This Commission has just produced its third report, which is full of condemnations of Israel.

And then there is the European Union with its capital in Brussels, which has decided that Israel does not have the right to decide where its borders are, but that a Palestinian state must be established based on the “1967 lines” with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that Jews have no rights to live in the Old City of Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria.

This is not about borders, or about whether the Palestinians have a right to self determination. What is at stake is whether the Jewish people have a right at all to a safe haven after 2000 years of persecution. And whether it can truly become the place the Lord intends it to be: the place to which the Jewish people will be restored, from which the law (Torah) will go forth, and in which there will be a house of prayer for all nations.

And all of these institutions consider that the Temple Mount should not be under Israeli sovereignty, but should be part of an Islamic state of Palestine.

The UN consists of almost 200 states. Over half of them are deeply hostile to the existence of a Jewish state. The opposition is led by the 56 states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Many of them do not even acknowledge that Israel exists. By definition for them the existence of a Jewish state on Islamic territory is unacceptable.

They are supported by the non-aligned states in Africa and elsewhere, but also by the European states. Together, these states are able to push their anti-Israel agenda because of the one-state-one-vote system in the UN.

Over the last decades there has been a deliberate campaign to attack and undermine the existence of the Jewish state. This has intensified since the second intifada erupted in 2000. Since then the Palestinians have decided to avoid negotiations and pursue an international legal and diplomatic campaign to be given a state based in the so-called 1967 borders.

These are the lines that former Israeli diplomat Abba Eban described as the "Auschwitz lines". In other words, they are totally indefensible against hostile forces.

On 30th December 2022, 87 states adopted a resolution to ask the ICJ to issue a so-called advisory opinion condemning Israel's occupation and its discrimination against non-Jews in Israel. This request is incredibly biased and one-sided. It assumes that Israel alone is responsible for the conflict. It makes no mention of the facts for example that for decades Hamas and Hezbollah have been stockpiling rockets at Israel’s borders, that Iran is financing the Palestinian jihad, or that the Palestinian Liberation Organization continues to denies Israel’s right to exist.

The court has decided to accept that request and has invited states to make submissions by 25th July this year.

The court is made up of 15 judges, representing the main countries in the world. In all likelihood, the court will decide to render its opinion.

Because the questions put to the court are so wide, and so one-sided, and because the whole proceedings are so stacked against Israel, this opinion is likely to be much worse than the opinion given by the court in 2004 about the so-called "wall".

The ICJ should not render an opinion. A main reason the court should not intervene in this conflict is that it would undermine the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians (the Oslo Accords). Israel and the PLO have agreed that the only way for this conflict to be resolved is through negotiations, in which the Palestinians' valid claims for autonomy and self-determination can be balanced with Israel's equally valid needs for security.

A decision by the court based on one-sided arguments and biased evidence will undermine those negotiations.

Israel stands alone in The Hague. It is absolutely essential that other countries who support the existence of the Jewish state of Israel raise a voice of truth and justice into these international Institutions.

All of this shows that Jerusalem is a “cup of trembling” for the nations. The nations are coming up against Jerusalem, as foretold by the prophets (see eg. Zechariah 12 and 14).

The Lord will, of course, not allow the nations to attack and destroy Jerusalem, which is His holy city. He is bringing the Jewish people home, and will intervene to protect His people.

The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today

Don’t politicize the World Court just to trash Israel

Greg Rose, David Benger and Andrew Tucker write in The Hill: “Those countries that truly value the UN system will make submissions to the UN court, urging it not to give politicized sanctions advice. They have until July 25 to do so.”
Read more ([link removed])

How water is being used to further cooperation in our region

Robert Singer and H.E. Abderrahim Beyyoudh write at JNS: “Israel and Morocco needed to find ways to make the wilderness bloom.They have agreed to promote knowledge-sharing and best practices in water usage, desalination technologies and water for enhancing business ties and regional cooperation. The leaders of our region are making history and making the improbable possible. We are seeing a prophetic realization of fraternity in our time, and water is once again the source of life.”
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Saved from Eastern Ukraine just in time

Koen Carlier writes: “In recent weeks, Ukraine has again been very unsettled. Especially in big cities like Odessa, Nicolaev, Kherson, Zaporozhe, Nikopol, Kharkiv, Dnepr and, of course, the capital Kiev. One of our staff members who lives in Kiev told us that the last nights and days have been terrible. It felt like drones and missiles were exploding in their apartment complex. He and his family now spend the nights in the hall, which is the ‘safest’ place. If things get too bad, he and his family can go to one of our shelters.”
Read more ([link removed])


** SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
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** Jeremiah 30:1-11
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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ^2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. ^3 The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restorethem to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”

^4 These are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:^5 “This is what the Lord says:

“‘Cries of fear are heard—
terror, not peace.
^6 Ask and see:
Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,
every face turned deathly pale?
^7 How awful that day will be!
No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be saved out of it.

^8 “‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty,
‘I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;
no longer will foreigners enslave them.
^9 Instead, they will serve the Lord their God
and David their king,
whom I will raise up for them.

^10 “‘So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;
do not be dismayed, Israel,’
declares the Lord.
‘I will surely save you out of a distant place,
your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
and no one will make him afraid.
^11 I am with you and will save you,’
declares the Lord.
‘Though I completely destroy all the nations
among which I scatter you,
I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’

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The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.

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