18 Jan 2024 : The Hindu Editorial

Editorial 1 : Historic hearing: On the preliminary hearing at the Hague on Israel

Context: A provisional order by ICJ on Israel will cast shadow on legitimacy of its war

Introduction

• Whatever the outcome of the preliminary hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, South Africa’s case against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza has garnered global attention in a way no proceeding at this elite inter-state forum may have done before.

South Africa and Israel

• As the 15-member court assembled, along with two ad hoc judges representing South Africa and Israel, quite a bit of history must have weighed on the parties.
• Of the two countries on either side of this dispute over whether the Gaza war is aimed at wiping out the people, one has left behind its apartheid past, but believes that the other is practising 75 years of ‘apartheid’ against the Palestinian people since 1948; one firm in its belief that it is acting in the interest of justice and humanity, the other equally firm in its belief it can never be accused of genocide, a crime that was sought to be prevented by the Genocide Convention of 1948, a treaty to prevent the sort of Holocaust the Jewish people had suffered.
• Both countries spent many years in the last century in diplomatic isolation, as countries and sporting bodies boycotted them, but both had the support of their western allies.
• Today, save for those few allies, the entire world supports a ceasefire in Gaza to end the epic suffering of its people.

Genocide Convention and Current war

• At this preliminary stage, South Africa sought to demonstrate that some of Israel’s acts were capable of falling within the terms of the Genocide Convention and that there was ‘genocidal intent’ behind its acts.
• It relied on data on deaths and destruction and the collapse of civilian life and health infrastructure in Gaza.
• It drew upon statements attributed to key Israeli government figures to underscore what it called ‘genocidal intent’.

Provisional measures sought and Israel’s response.

• The provisional measures sought include a suspension of military operations and steps by the parties to prevent the occurrence of genocide.
• Israel described the South African case as ‘blood libel’ before the hearing, but sought to make a case that its Gaza operations were a legitimate response to the terrorist attack on October 7 last year.
• It played down the relevance of its leaders’ statements, calling them mere rhetoric. It attributed the civilian casualties to Hamas using civilians as shields and hospitals as storage for explosives and launching pads for attacks.

Conclusion

• The issue before the court is quite straightforward, but the larger concern is whether Israel will abide by any provisional measure.
• Russia ignored an ICJ order to suspend its operations in Ukraine in March 2022. However, there is little doubt that any provisional measure will cast a shadow on the legitimacy of Israel’s Gaza war.

Editorial 2 : India doesn’t need wolf warriors

Context: Domestic sentiments will exacerbate India’s foreign policy challenge.

Introduction

• Social media users launched a campaign to boycott the Maldives to promote tourism after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. This sparked distasteful reactions from Maldivian officials, including deputy ministers.
• The Maldives suspended the ministers for their comments on Modi and India, stating their views were not official or shared by the government.

Maldivian Officials' Pro-China Stand

• It is quite possible that the comments of the Maldivian officials were deliberate as they were made before the visit of the Maldivian president, Mohamed Muizzu, to China. Mr. Muizzu has taken a significant pro-China stand compared to his predecessor.
• Muizzu's 2023 election campaign contained anti-India rhetoric, promising to remove Indian troops and balance trade relations.
  • He emphasized China as Maldives' primary market before COVID-19 and called for China to intensify efforts to regain this position.
• China and Maldives have elevated bilateral ties to a 'comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership'.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping supports Maldives in exploring a development path suited to its national conditions.
• New agreements may increase China's presence in the Maldives and its waters, enhancing its digital and physical surveillance capabilities.

India’s desire

• India’s relationship with the Maldives, built over time, is a comprehensive one. While the Maldives needs India, it is true that India needs the Maldives equally.
• The Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region. It has also consistently taken pro-India positions in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
• India's desire to be a norm-builder in the new world order is hindered by a gap between rhetoric and reality. The country's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflict has not won it new friends.
• India must make hard choices to shape global norms and be popular, which is impossible. Populist rhetoric at home won't win India friends abroad, especially in smaller countries.
• The 'Neighbourhood First' policy, emphasized by Modi, has yielded mixed results. India's handling of small neighbours like the Maldives has been criticized as a wolf-warrior avatar rather than a globalist one.
• China used wolf-warrior diplomacy to address global criticism of its failure to prevent COVID-19 from becoming a pandemic. This strategy, which gained popularity in China, was seen as a reflection of China's perception that the world was denying it its rightful place in the international order.
• China's diplomats defended their interests against perceived hostility from abroad, resorting to the rhetoric of authoritarianism as more efficient and better at delivering public good. This approach was similar to the stand of social media warriors in India about the Maldives.

Conclusion

• Recent incidents show that domestic sentiments will exacerbate India’s foreign policy challenge. And while this may be beneficial in an election year, it compounds India’s problems in a neighbourhood already fraught with various problems. The diplomatic row with the Maldives shows that India cannot wish to defeat China while at the same time behaving exactly like China does.
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• This visit has already emboldened the Maldives as President Muizzu has “requested” India to remove its military personnel, stationed on the archipelago for training Maldivian troops and for maintaining equipment, from his country by March 15.
  • He also added that his country’s small size does not give anyone the licence to bully it.

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