While Israel is warring against Hamas in Gaza, it is fighting another war with the international community, which is pressuring Israel to stand down and let Hamas live. One of the most important battles in this war just happened in the Hague in the Netherlands.

On December 29, South Africa filed an application against Israel with the Hague’s International Court of Justice (icj), an organ of the United Nations that adjudicates alleged violations of international law. South Africa claimed Israel’s actions and rhetoric from certain politicians show Israel has the intent of genocide against the Palestinian people. South Africa specifically claimed Israel violated the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Israel has done an impeccable job of making its war effort accessible for journalists’ oversight and keeping civilians out of harm’s way as much as possible. The UN adopted the Genocide Convention to prevent a repeat of atrocities like the Holocaust. That the icj would examine such a demonstrably false claim and use Holocaust-inspired legislation to do so is an egregious insult. The court gave Israel one day to present its case on why it’s not a Nazi regime.

The court likely won’t give its final verdict for a couple of years. But South Africa also asked it to impose “provisional measures” on Israel. The biggest of these was a ceasefire that would force Israel to stand down and let Hamas stay in Gaza.

icj President Joan Donoghue read out the court’s verdict on this measure on January 26:

The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article ii of this convention, in particular: a) killing members of the group; b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

This means Israel has to continue in its obligations of the Genocide Convention.

The rest of the provisional measures refer back to this main point. The court asked Israel to oversee its military and punish any “incitement to genocide.” It asked Israel “to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” something Israel is already doing. And it asked Israel to provide the court with a report in a month’s time on the fulfillment of these measures.

In other words, Israel can keep doing what it’s doing. And there was no injunction for a ceasefire.

This isn’t all good news. This issue will resurface again in about a month. Considering the transparency of the Israel Defense Forces, the International Court of Justice’s plan to keep an eye on Israel shows its underlying hostility.

But the icj is not the only international enemy pressuring Israel to stand down in Gaza. Almost the entire world—including the United States—is bullying Israel to stand down. They hope the next ceasefire will morph into a permanent “peace.” A peace where Hamas stays in Gaza. A peace where radical Islamists can stick around to plan another October 7.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, suggested on January 3 that the international community should “impose a solution” on Israel to end the political crisis. On January 29, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated Britain may recognize a Palestinian state to make the pressure on Israel “irreversible.”

A ceasefire mandated by the icj may have been the world’s best chance at forcing Israel to let Hamas live; its judgments are supposed to be binding. The U.S. pressured Israel to start a long-term ceasefire. It also protected Israel in the UN Security Council, which is supposed to enforce the icj’s judgements. An icj ruling on a ceasefire could give the U.S. a convenient excuse to let the Security Council force Israel’s hand. And powerful lobbyists were most likely encouraging the icj to injunct a ceasefire.

The January 26 ruling shows that the international community backed down. Why? Maybe the justices feared a public backlash. Maybe they thought Israel had enough power to flout the judgment, shredding the court’s legitimacy as an international forum. Maybe the justices realized leaving Gaza to Hamas was the wrong thing to do.

Everybody told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the invasion. He didn’t. The world threatened him with big guns. He still moved forward. And the world blinked first.

This likely won’t be the last attempt to force his hand. But so far, Israel’s war effort against radical Islam continue.

This international ganging up on Israel is nothing new. As bad as the October 7 massacre was, Israel is no stranger to Arab neighbors wanting to wipe it off the map. But Netanyahu has shown himself committed to dealing with threats like these regardless of the odds.

A prophecy in 2 Kings 14:26-28 illuminates Israel’s current quagmires. It speaks of “bitter affliction” on Israel, leaving the nation without a helper. Circumstances get so bad that the enemy almost succeeds in “blot[ting] out the name of Israel from under heaven.”

This prophecy refers to more than just the State of Israel today, it also refers the U.S. and the British Commonwealth. (Request a free copy of The United States and Britain in Prophecy by Herbert W. Armstrong.) The Jewish state is included under the name “Judah” in verse 28.

Notice verse 27: “And the Lord … saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.” Even as the Israelitish countries face “bitter affliction,” God promises to send a man to relieve them of this affliction. This man won’t necessarily be righteous. Verses 23-24 show him, typified by the ancient King Jeroboam ii, to be wicked. But God uses him to save the end time nations of Israel.

The State of Israel is in a volatile situation. But the Trumpet expects it to experience a political resurgence led by Netanyahu. To learn why, read “Bibi Is Back.”