Major companies worldwide cut military ties with Israel after ICJ ruling on Gaza genocide
Major companies across the globe have cut ties with the Israeli regime after the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling last month that said Israel’s mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza amount to genocide.
Japan’s Itochu, which ranks 96th on Fortune’s Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies, announced its aviation arm is ending its memorandum of understanding (MOU), or a formal agreement for two parties to collaborate, with Elbit, the Israeli regime largest military contractor.
“Taking into consideration the International Court of Justice’s order on January 26, and that the Japanese government supports the role of the Court, we have already suspended new activities related to the MOU, and plan to end the MOU by the end of February,” Itochu’s Chief Financial Officer, Tsuyoshi Hachimura, announced at an earnings press conference, Reuters reported.
In a similar move, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares declared on Tuesday that Madrid had suspended all arms exports to Israel since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7.
The top Spanish diplomat has cited how the brutal Israeli regime forces had bombed United Nations facilities, schools, and hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip.
He called on the Israeli forces to comply with the orders of the ICJ, insisting on an immediate ceasefire, adding that his country wanted to prevent an escalation of violence in the region.
Albares has also pointed out that the brutal Zionist forces had already massacred more than 27,000 Palestinians in the ceaseless attacks, bombings, and shelling of Gaza in the past four months.
“The January 26 order of the International Court of Justice, the main judicial organ of the United Nations, as well as the unacceptable deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip led the Minister-President to temporarily suspend the valid licenses”, Minister of Housing, Christophe Collignon, said.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected to announce its interim ruling on Friday in the case filed by South Africa against the Israeli regime over ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The regional government of Wallonia in southern Belgium temporarily suspended two arms export licenses to Israel on Monday.
Wallonia officials said the decision was due to “the unacceptable deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip”.
The officials also cited the ICJ’s recent decision ordering Israel to avoid genocide in Gaza, according to local media reports.
The ICJ ordered the Israeli regime on January 26 to stop the genocide in its months-long war on Gaza.
The accusations brought by South Africa that said, “The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible.”
Also last week, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that cutting funds to the UN Palestinian refugee agency would entail “catastrophic consequences” for people in Gaza. “No other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need.”
The WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan said the risk of famine was already high and on the rise.
“We appeal for these announcements to be reconsidered,” Ghebreyesus insisted.
The WHO chief also said the World Health Organization was facing continued “extreme challenges” in propping up Gaza’s health system. “Over 100,000 Gazans are either dead, injured, or missing and presumed dead.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 27,585 Palestinians have been killed, and 66,978 wounded by the brutal Zionist forces in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
