The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is hearing from about 50 countries throughout the week to present their arguments on the issue of a nonbinding opinion on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation.
Previous speakers including South Africa and Saudi Arabia have demanded that Israel end its occupation of the Palestinian territories, which came after its victory in the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967.
But on Wednesday, the acting legal adviser for the US State Department, Richard Visek, took a different approach.
“The court should not find that Israel is legally obligated to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from occupied territory,” Visek said.
“Any movement towards Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration of Israel’s very real security needs.
“We were all reminded of those security needs on October 7, and they persist. Regrettably, those needs have been ignored by many of the participants,” he added, referring to the Hamas attack on Israel that killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli figures. Around 250 others were seized as hostages.
Israel responded to the attack with a devastating assault on Gaza that has killed more than 29,000 people, according to Palestinian authorities. The assault has displaced more than 80 percent of the population and reduced large parts of the territory to rubble.
The ICJ’s 15-judge panel has been asked to review Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures”.
