Israel legal team’s evidence at ICJ misleading

THE HAGUE - A research group said it has found eight instances where the Israeli legal team at the International Court of Justice in the Gaza Strip case misrepresented the visual evidence it cited.

Forensic Architecture, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, said the Israeli legal team did this through a combination of incorrect annotations and labelling, and misleading verbal descriptions.

Violations

The ICJ held public hearings in January after an application by South Africa concerning alleged violation by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

South Africa presented its case on January 11 and the next day, Israel staged its defence.

Presented

As part of its defence, the Israeli team presented visual material, including maps, videos, images and annotated diagrams.

Forensic Architecture reviewed the visual evidence presented by the Israeli legal team according to three categories.

It looked at whether the evidence presented had been tampered with, whether elements in the evidence had been correctly labelled and whether the claims made by the Israeli legal team were consistent with the visual evidence presented.

Misrepresented

“We found eight instances where the Israeli legal team misrepresented the visual evidence they cited, through a combination of incorrect annotations and labelling and misleading verbal descriptions.

“Our study also reveals that the Israeli legal team presented single instances of alleged Palestinian military use of civilian infrastructure as blanket justifications for the systematic and widespread attacks on civilians, shelters, schools and hospitals,” Forensic Architecture said in the report released on Monday.

In one instance, the Israeli team presented evidence claiming it as proof of a rocket launch site close to a water desalination facility.

Forensic Architecture said the highlighted feature was more likely a crater caused by an air drop munition from an Israel air strike.

When presenting this evidence, the Israeli legal team claimed: “And in the next slide you can see evidence of a rocket launched from next to Gaza’s water desalination facility.”

The research group said it used satellite images and 3D modelling to calculate the size and depth of the highlighted feature.