The law of the settler: Brenna Bhandar, ‘The Antinomies of Settler Colonialism and International Law: Between Juridifiction and Juridicide’, The Palestine Yearbook of International Law Online, 2026
Excerpt: The momentous legal case brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by South Africa at the end of December 2023, and first heard by the Court in January 2024, has renewed long-held debates over the political importance, efficacy, limits, and potential of international law to meaningfully address the most egregious forms of human rights violations, in this instance, genocide. South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel “concerning [Israel’s] violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” and alleged that “Israel’s acts and omissions in relation to Palestinians violate the Genocide Convention.”1 The hearings, broadcast live, garnered the attention of tens of thousands of people globally. They were covered widely in the media and, even if only momentarily, held out the hope that an ICJ order that indicates provisional measures could persuade, if not compel, at least some nation states to halt their direct material and indirect political support for the genocide of Palestinians. International law (IL) was front and center in the global public discourse on Israel and Palestine and, to a great extent, has remained there. It has become a sort of fixture, a companion to the vociferous, creative, and militant forms of protest that have engulfed university campuses, city streets, union meetings, and community halls the world over.
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