The second day of the hearing at the International Court of Justice against Israel's counter-terrorism partition got underway this morning in The Hague, Holland. Yesterday, representatives from South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh spoke out against the partition, while a British professor belied against Israel's claims that the Court has no jurisdiction in the matter. Today, it was the turn of such "friends of Israel" as Cuba, Jordan, Indonesia, Belize, Madagascar, Malaysia and Senegal.
Although Israel has not sent an official representation to The Hague hearings, it was announced last night that the Court would grant a hearing this afternoon to Israeli terror victims. The hearing will take place between the morning and afternoon sessions.
Some 2,000 supporters of Israel demonstrated outside the Court yesterday morning, and were replaced in the afternoon by about 1,000 people expressing the opposite stand. Marching hand in hand with leaders of the Palestinian Authority against Israel's self-defense measure were none other than Arab Knesset Members Ahmed Tibi, Muhammed Barakeh, and Azmi Bishara.
Yesterday's Israeli demonstrations included several imaginative features. ZAKA burial and rescue officials distributed "bus tickets" for entry to the charred skeletal remains of a bombed-out bus they stationed outside the Court. Eleven Israelis were murdered on that very bus by a Palestinian terrorist bomber less than a month ago. Other demonstrators built a small wall, writing on it the word "Defense" in flowers. The "Christians for Israel" organizations held a quiet march in the city, and Israeli and Jewish students held aloft pictures of the 927 victims of Palestinian terrorism - plus black posters for the additional eight who were murdered on Sunday - and read their names aloud.
Israeli supporters will be allowed to protest all day today, while Arabs will take the stage tomorrow. They will put into practice what many Israelis have said over the past weeks, and will hold a mock trial of the Palestinian terrorists, with terror victims and their relatives coming to "testify" about the crimes perpetrated against them. Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said it best last night: "They [the International Court of Justice] have it wrong," he told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations last night. "They're putting the victims on trial, instead of the terrorists themselves."
Although Israel has not sent an official representation to The Hague hearings, it was announced last night that the Court would grant a hearing this afternoon to Israeli terror victims. The hearing will take place between the morning and afternoon sessions.
Some 2,000 supporters of Israel demonstrated outside the Court yesterday morning, and were replaced in the afternoon by about 1,000 people expressing the opposite stand. Marching hand in hand with leaders of the Palestinian Authority against Israel's self-defense measure were none other than Arab Knesset Members Ahmed Tibi, Muhammed Barakeh, and Azmi Bishara.
Yesterday's Israeli demonstrations included several imaginative features. ZAKA burial and rescue officials distributed "bus tickets" for entry to the charred skeletal remains of a bombed-out bus they stationed outside the Court. Eleven Israelis were murdered on that very bus by a Palestinian terrorist bomber less than a month ago. Other demonstrators built a small wall, writing on it the word "Defense" in flowers. The "Christians for Israel" organizations held a quiet march in the city, and Israeli and Jewish students held aloft pictures of the 927 victims of Palestinian terrorism - plus black posters for the additional eight who were murdered on Sunday - and read their names aloud.
Israeli supporters will be allowed to protest all day today, while Arabs will take the stage tomorrow. They will put into practice what many Israelis have said over the past weeks, and will hold a mock trial of the Palestinian terrorists, with terror victims and their relatives coming to "testify" about the crimes perpetrated against them. Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said it best last night: "They [the International Court of Justice] have it wrong," he told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations last night. "They're putting the victims on trial, instead of the terrorists themselves."