The New Neo

Years ago – certainly by the time of Durban in 2001 – it became more clear that most third-world countries and NGOs had an enormous animus for Israel:

In 2001, an NGO Forum ran separately from the World Conference against Racism in the nearby Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, from 28 August to 1 September. It consisted of 3,000 NGOs and was attended by 8,000 representatives. The declaration the NGO Forum adopted was not an official document of the conference. The final NGO document called “for the reinstitution of the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism” and “the complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state”.

Note the venue: Durban is in South Africa, the country currently leading the “Israel is committing genocide” pack in the ICJ. Ex-president Jimmy Carter also made his contribution in 2006, with a book he wrote entitled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

It got steadily worse over the years. And then October 7 and its aftermath made the situation crystal clear to anyone paying attention. At this point, not only do the vast majority of third-world countries want Israel and Israelis (and perhaps non-Israeli Jews as well) destroyed, but the leaders of many Western countries are looking the other way or blaming Israel for attacking Gaza in response to 10/7. For the most part, with a few exceptions (Germany being a major one), many European countries are reluctant to take a stand on the ICJ case, wary of trouble from their own sizable Moslem populations.

Here’s an article from Brendan O’Neill in Spiked describing the situation; I’ve bolded a point he makes that I think is highly insightful:

… [T]he West’s woke left laps it up. They’re glued to the ICJ proceedings. They appear to derive a perverse relish from seeing the Jewish State in the dock. They ask not one critical question about the moral credentials of Israel’s accusers, for to do so would muddy the moralistic waters they swim in; it would add irritating complexity to the infantile narrative they have fashioned in which Israel is evil incarnate, and thus anyone who opposes Israel is good. …

These Western activists are as hypocritical as the nation states pointing a blood-stained finger at Israel. In Britain, radical members of Labour are giddily cheering the showtrial at The Hague. …

And I accuse the Western left of being the running dogs of all this global Israelophobia. Of forfeiting their right to be treated as serious moral actors by aligning with the demagogues, Islamists and outright racists who have dragged the world’s only Jewish nation to court on the most trumped-up charge imaginable. Of flagrantly abandoning their supposed commitment to anti-racism by whitewashing Hamas’s orgy of racist violence that gave rise to the current war. And of emboldening the fascists of Hamas by promoting the libel that says Israel is a genocidal state. After all, if Israel is guilty of the worst crime known to man, why should Hamas not attack it again, and again, and again, until the Nazi-like threat it poses to the Palestinian people has been eradicated? I accuse you of giving moral succour to fascists.

And it’s been going on for many many decades.

There’s also this, which lists the overt supporters of South Africa’s case. They’re the gang you’d expect:

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation was one of the first blocs to publicly back the case when South Africa filed it late last month. It said there was “mass genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli defense forces” and accused Israel of “indiscriminate targeting” of Gaza’s civilian population.

The OIC is a bloc of 57 countries that includes Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. Its headquarters are in Saudi Arabia. The Cairo-based Arab League, whose 22 member countries are almost all part of the OIC, also backed South Africa’s case.

South Africa drew some support from outside the Arab world. Namibia and Pakistan agreed with the case at a U.N. General Assembly session this week. Malaysia also expressed support.

A much smaller group overtly supports Israel: the US, UK, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Guatemala, and the Czech Republic. The NGOs and many other groups, however, are on Hamas’ side:

The [South African] lawsuit has also been supported by hundreds of activist groups, NGOs, political parties, unions, and other organizations, with (as of mid-January 2024) over 1400 showing support in the form of a letter organized by the newly-formed International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine. Some of that letter’s signatories, and other supportive organizations, include [I’ve highlighted a few organizations of particular familiarity or interest]:

Al-Haq
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights
Amnesty International
Boycott from Within
CodePink [otherwise known as Women for the Violent Rape of Israelis]
De-Colonizer
Democratic Socialists of America
Human Rights Watch
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
International People’s Assembly
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Israelis Against Apartheid
Jewish Voice for Peace [one of the most rabidly Israel-hating groups of all; membership is far-far-leftist Jews but also non-Jews]
La Via Campesina
National Lawyers Guild
Nelson Mandela Foundation [Mandela was actually a big supporter of Palestine and Arafat: see this]
New Zealand Labour Party
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions
Palestinian NGO Network
Progressive International
RootsAction
People’s Forum
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom [women again]
World Beyond War
World March of Women [more women]

Of course, nothing the ICJ does has any teeth, and Israel will do what it feels it must do despite the verdict, which is virtually guaranteed to go against it. But the relative isolation of Israel among the nations of the world, and the NGO non-virtue signalers, is an indication of how morally bankrupt most of the world has become.