Searching for information on the International Court of Justice hearings yielded an Israel-sponsored ad calling the ongoing genocide hearing against it “meaningless.”
Israel is defending itself against allegations that its siege of Gaza is a genocide with Google search ads, in what appears to be a world first.
A Google search for the ongoing hearing against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) yielded an ad calling South Africa’s genocide case against it “meaningless” and linking to an Israeli government website for some users on Thursday. Motherboard viewed the ad, which appears above news coverage of the hearing being held in the Hague in the Netherlands. Google told Motherboard it reviewed the ad against its policies and did not take any action.
The ad was first noted on X when a user posted a screenshot of their Google search for “icj” which yielded a sponsored ad titled “Israel response to Hague ICJ” above the Google information panel for the ICJ. The ad includes subheadings of “October 7th: The Invasion” and “The North Border,” as well as survivor testimonies and resources.
Motherboard was not able to replicate the search using only the term “ICJ,” but was able to find the ad when searching “ICJ Israel.” The ad’s descriptive text reads in full, “SA’s claim is meaningless—the malicious blood libel advanced by South Africa seeks to slander the State of israel. South Africa’s claim lacks any factual or legal basis and renders meaningless.”
The ad links to the Israeli government website govextra.gov.il. The page lists information about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack which killed 1,200 Israelis, and a video claims that “Israel is doing everything in its power to prevent harm to innocent civilians in Gaza and is acting according to international humanitarian law.”
Israel understands the first rule of international politics: you can do whatever you want so long as a global superpower has your back.
If the ICJ judges determine that Palestine is a victim of genocide (indeed), the same so-called global superpower, as one of the ratified members, is bound to stop Israel from committing further genocide on Palestinian people.
That so called global superpower would rather invade the ICJ than recognise such a ruling. Let’s be real here.
All the 153 nations, including the US, that have signed the convention on genocide.
You should probably stop and think if South Africa is telling you that you are doing something fucked up.
“Israel is doing everything in its power to prevent harm to innocent civilians in Gaza and is acting according to international humanitarian law.”
:ScepticalThor: Really? Because that’s really not how that’s coming across here.
“Everything in its power” would literally mean not bombing or shooting anyone and supplying each of them with anything they might need that could prevent harm (food, water, shelter, medical services,…), regardless of consequences.
“Don’t investigate because there is nothing wrong being done there, I swear” - Israel probably
If you have to advertise on Google and use SEO to convince or trick people that you’re not doing a genocide, you not only likely are doing a genocide, but you likely also know you are doing a genocide.
