Israeli Supreme Court sets aside law to allow for prosecution of war
The Israeli Supreme Court pictured in September 2023
Nadav Rapaport reports in Middle East Eye on 8 April 2025:
At the end of March, the Israeli Supreme Court voted unanimously to dismiss a petition filed by several human rights organisations demanding the resumption of the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“I do not believe the petitioners have been able to show, even approximately, a violation of the prohibitions on starvation of the population as a method of warfare and as collective punishment,” the court’s president, Yitzhak Amit, who wrote the verdict, ruled.
This dismissal has ignited a debate about the role the Supreme Court and the wider pro-judiciary, anti-government movement in Israel is playing in the war on Gaza, with international law and the lives of Palestinians seemingly ignored in favour of the interests of the military and state.
Responding to Amit’s verdict, the petitioners issued a statement calling the ruling “a song of praise for the State of Israel and its army during the darkest period in their history. “The Supreme Court refrained from conducting judicial review and fully adopted the state’s position, while ignoring the situation and the consequences of the state’s actions in the Gaza Strip.”
The ruling came more than a year after the petition was filed. Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli human rights lawyer, told Middle East Eye that given the gravity of the allegations – starving the people of Gaza – the petition should have been decided much earlier. “The court was concerned about the accusations that would be levelled against it,” Sfard said, referring to instances in which the Israeli government has said the court is obstructing military actions.
Israel’s decision in early March to block completely the entry of humanitarian aid, to stop providing electricity to Gaza and to renew the war, was ignored by the court.
“The verdict is based on a reality that does not exist,” Sfard said. “The court rules that Israel must provide humanitarian aid but ignores the lively political discourse around the cessation of humanitarian aid and the reports provided by international organisations.”