Iton Gadol covered our important webinar on the U.N. General Assembly’s completely unjustified request that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issue an advisory opinion on the legality of Israeli policies.

Read in Iton Gadol (in Spanish) here.

A B’nai B’rith International webinar on Thursday discussed the United Nations General Assembly’s request that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issue an advisory opinion on the legality of Israeli policies. The webinar explored why the move by the U.N. was unjustified and deeply unhelpful to peacemaking.

“If the forces demonizing, delegitimizing and assaulting Jews—including Israeli Jews—are to be stopped, the ICJ must draw a line in the sand and not abet political prosecution of Israel,” chair of the B’nai B’rith Office of U.N. Affairs Millie Magid said in remarks introducing the webinar.

In July, B’nai B’rith International, B’nai Brith Canada and the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem jointly submitted a brief to the ICJ that argued why the court should reject the U.N.’s request, in December 2022, for an advisory opinion.

“This referral to the ICJ represented the latest escalation of international actions singling out Israel for relentless scrutiny and, invariably, condemnation,” B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin said.

Mariaschin moderated the panel and was joined by authors of the submission to the ICJ, including Richard D. Heideman, senior counsel of Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, PC and B’nai B’rith honorary president; David Matas, senior legal counsel of B’nai Brith Canada; and Joseph H. Tipograph, attorney at Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, PC. The panel also included Avigail Frisch Ben-Avraham, legal advisor at the Embassy of Israel in the Netherlands; David Michaels, B’nai B’rith director of U.N. and intercommunal affairs; Alan Schneider, director of the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem; and Yifa Segal, founder of the International Legal Forum.

Panelists highlighted that although the ICJ advisory opinion would not be legally binding, it could still have serious consequences for the Jewish state.