UN court cases ‘will hang over the head of Israel’ in the future

The ICJ ruling is indeed non-binding and won’t help the people in Gaza immediately, but it is still seen as very important because this is the highest legal body in the United Nations – the World Court. Even if Israel ignores it, as it’s done time and time again, all the UN countries are obliged to follow up on this court’s advice. Last year, the same court ruled the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is illegal and that all illegal settlements had to be removed. We’ve seen countries now saying they are recognising Palestine as a sovereign state, so this is the outcome of these advisory opinions.