The Ugandan judge, Julia Sebutinde, fanatically adheres to the Israeli agenda as she leads the World Court during its adjudication of genocide charges against that country.
By Max Blumenthal
The Grayzone
With new countries joining South Africa’s case accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and a ceasefire potentially enabling war crimes investigators to gather fresh evidence of Israeli atrocities, a leadership shakeup at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) threatens to undermine the campaign for legal accountability.
The ICJ’s President Nawaf Salam resigned on Jan. 14, to become prime minister of Lebanon, and was succeeded by Justice Julia Sebutinde of Uganda.
Many observers were stunned when Sebutinde voted “no” on all resolutions introduced by South Africa in January 2024, placing herself in opposition to all ICJ judges, including her Israeli colleague, Aharon Barak.
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Sebutinde swearing in as an ICJ judge in March 2012. (UN Photo/ICJ/ANP-in-Opdracht/Gerald van Daalen)
The Ugandan judge rejected the court’s call for the Israeli military to halt deliberate assaults on civilians, end its policy of forced displacement, and cancel its planned invasion of Rafah.
In a previous advisory case on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, Sebutinde insisted that Palestinians had not been subjected to any military occupation whatsoever. In fact, she concluded that Israel may have the right to maintain a permanent presence in the West Bank and the whole of Jerusalem on the basis of purely biblical claims.
Sebutinde’s opinion opened with a lengthy history of the Israel-Palestine conflict that blended well-worn Zionist propaganda with the Old Testament. In rejecting her colleagues’ ruling declaring Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal, she resorted to accounts of the Jewish presence in the biblical land of Israel, omitting any mention of U.N. resolutions or international law.
“There is substantial evidence that Jewish people lived in the region of ancient Israel between 1000-586 BCE. This period corresponds to the era of the United Monarchy under Kings Saul, David, and Solomon, and the subsequent divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The evidence includes archaeological findings in the City of David…” Sebutinde insisted.
“The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) offers detailed accounts of the history, culture, and governance of the Israelites during this period. While these texts are religious in nature, many scholars consider them valuable historical documents.”
Her opinion was so extreme, and so shot through with theological commentary, it prompted Uganda’s ambassador to the United Nations, Adonia Ayebare, to declare her “ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine.”
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Ayebare on Jan. 13. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)
After probing deeper into Sebutinde’s bizarre dissent, a Princeton University graduate student named Zachary Foster discovered that large sections of it had been plagiarized from sources including neoconservative operative Douglas Feith and the Jewish Virtual Library.
NEW BOOK REVEALS
ICJ PRESIDENT JULIA SEBUTINDE GUILTY OF WHOLESALE PLAGIARISM
ONLY BRIBERY OR BLACKMAIL CAN EXPLAIN SEBUTINDE’S WHITEWASHING OF ISRAEL?
News broke yesterday of plagiarism by president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Julia Sebutinde.
In July…
— Norman Finkelstein (@normfinkelstein) January 28, 2025
So what accounted for Sebutinde’s defiance in the face of the entire ICJ panel and her own country’s diplomatic corps? Had she been handled by malign external forces? Or was she driven by deeply held personal passions?
Israel’s history of bribing, threatening and blackmailing officials around the world — and destroying those who forcefully oppose it — is well documented.
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, fell under heavy Mossad surveillance after he introduced warrants for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-defense minister, Yoav Gallant. In October, 2024 when an anonymous accuser brought forward allegations of sexual harassment against Khan, there could be little doubt an Israeli hand had finessed the scandal.
Sebutinde’s fanatical adherence to Israel’s agenda does not appear to be the product of manipulation or enticement, however. The views expressed in her dissent on the South African case were much more likely a reflection of the Christian Zionist belief system she developed as a member of Watoto, a Pentecostal megachurch in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. It was there that Sebutinde says she developed her worldview under the tutelage of a Canadian pastor and End Times aficionado named Gary Skinner.
The ICJ’s next president, Julia Sebutinde – who was alone in opposing all resolutions against Israel – is a Christian Zionist End Timer
Here’s her pastor in Uganda, Gary Skinner, whom she says “immensely contributed to my incredible career as a judge”https://t.co/8689Ec1kbA pic.twitter.com/vSt3at67Vk
— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) January 24, 2025
“The godly values of integrity, honesty, justice, mercy, empathy, and hard work that the Skinners and Watoto Church instilled and nurtured in me, over the years, account for who I am today and have immensely contributed to my incredible career as a judge in Uganda and a judge at the International Court for Justice,” Sebutinde proclaimed during a June 2024 ceremony for the launch of a new branch of the church in downtown Kampala.
‘End Times Scenario’
Since he founded Watoto in 1984, Skinner has instilled a virulently anti-Arab strain of Christian Zionism in his congregation of 36,000 in Kampala. In a 2021 sermon entitled, “Israel: The Greatest Sign,” Skinner spun together an assortment of cherry-picked biblical verses with potted history to justify Israel’s military control over historic Palestine. He punctuated his jeremiad with an admonition to his parishioners and gentiles everywhere: “If you bless the Jews, you will be blessed. If you curse the Jews, you will be cursed.”
Like all Christian Zionists, Skinner saw Israel’s foundation as the fulfillment of prophecy: “May the 14th, 1948,” the tinny-voiced preacher proclaimed,
“and on that day, little four or five foot three David Ben Gurion, with his lion like hair, stood up and declared: ‘The Jewish nation reborn,’ to be called Israel. For 2400 years, no Jewish flag had flown over Israel until that day… but God fulfilled his prophecy by bringing them back the greatest sign of the any moment return of Jesus.”
Minutes later, Skinner emphasized that Israel’s existence as a self-proclaimed Jewish state
“is the most dramatic sign that Jesus is about to return. What’s going to happen ahead of us — Israel is that barometer,” the preacher continued. “What happens to Israel is a sign of the End Time scenario. The national rebirth of Israel is the greatest End Time sign we have.”
In his sermon, Skinner also boasted of Watoto’s donations to an array of evangelical charities inside Israel through the church’s FIRM Israel initiative, including some that promote religious conversion. “We, as a church, give a lot of money every year to support God’s work in Israel,” he stated, beaming with pride, “because we know that God has a plan for the nation, and it’s the greatest sign of His return.”
Skinner’s eschatological view of history clearly informed Sebutinde’s dissent against the ICJ ruling on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. Though Uganda’s Foreign Ministry condemned her radical opinion, powerful evangelical figures inside the country with close ties to the presidency hailed her as a heroine.
“Not all heroes wear capes,” declared Patience Rwabwogo, an influential Pentecostal preacher in Kampala. “Julia Sebutinde has made a historic stand at the ICJ. May God always remember her for mercy and may Uganda as a nation always be found on the Lord’s side.”
Rwabwogo happens to be the daughter of Yoweri Museveni, the flamboyantly evangelical president of Uganda, whose wife Janet – a close ally of Watoto Church – is known for her biblical interpretations of history.
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Museveni at an investment conference in London in January 2020. (Graham Carlow, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Frank Kisakye, a Ugandan constitutional scholar, argued that the endorsement of Sebutinde’s ICJ dissent by Museveni’s daughter demonstrates the judge’s opinion was “almost certainly informed by the terms of Genesis 12:1-3,” the verse interpreted by Christian Zionists to mean that anyone who blesses the Jews will be blessed, and was therefore “wholeheartedly sanctioned by the Ugandan Pentecostal movement.”
Now at the helm of the ICJ, Sebutinde gains the power to break a deadlocked vote, and may be able to undermine the South African case in a more substantive way than before. With Israel likely to shatter the Gaza ceasefire, time is running out for war crimes investigators. But the Ugandan judge appears to be operating on a schedule free from earthly concerns, dictated instead by the End Times.
The editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty One Day War and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America’s state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.
This article is from The Grayzone.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
This woman is clearly and obviously biased and should recuse herself. Can the court function, and judge justly, even if she does not? How much power does she actually have?
Also, as a Catholic Christian, I have very strong opinions on the loony end-times Christian Zionism. These people completely fail to understand the “second coming”. I’ve written a whole essay on my Substack, but briefly, if you’re a Christian, Jesus is alive and he is here with us. He is here because WE are here. He is not separate from us and he will not rapture us all to heaven. God help us! WE have to do the work. The second coming has already happened, and is happening every day, and every moment of the day. Eschatology is not literal!
And it’s just insane to do enormous evil so that good may come.
And yes, I know there’s a lot wrong with my Church, and with all organized religion. Too often it’s just a tool of power and control. That, too, is wickedness.
But the main thing is, this woman has a clear conflict of interest. She is biased. According to what I learned in law school, she should not even be a judge in this case.
How is this possible I really do not understand how anyone especially a judge can defend the Zionist state after the government sponsored genocide that we have witnessed for the last 15 months.Shame on her
….p.s., FEBRUARY 24, 2024, “[BUT] the correct question is whether any of this matters.” Craig Murray*
AND, w/o a doubt, “our” Gentlemen, in The Hague, London, Paris, Sydney, Boston, NYC, D.C., etc., Craig Murray & Joe Lauria, “GOT” this:
…… “The only thing that matters is the opinion of those living there now.” Craig Murray
…… “The people who count most, Gazans, were crushed by the ruling.” Joe Lauria @ hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/25/watch-world-court-ruling-on-israel-genocide-case/
* “British Rebellion Grows Against Arming Israel,” April 4, 2024 @ hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2024/04/04/british-rebellion-grows-against-arming-israel/
“powerful evangelical figures inside the country with close ties to the presidency ” could easily be the USA, esp. the Bush administration.
I’ve often wished US journalists would take Christian Zionism, Dispensationalism, etc., more seriously. I know that secularists find researching Dispensationalism and the varied interpretations of Ezekiel Ch. 38, distasteful. I feel that way about Marxism, nationalism, and other political religions. But I have to take them seriously, because they are influential, no matter how silly they seem to me.
By the way, most wars are about acquiring power, money, and sex. Genghis Khan said he fought to kill/subdue opponents, enjoy their property, have sex with their women. Hence his c. 32 million descendants.
The Protestant – majority of Zionism has allowed secular Zionist Jews to pick-up the definition of Zionism and carry it off.
Prot Dispensationalists also foresee all but 144, 000 Jews being killed in their Apocalyptic fantasy future history.
See what Norman Finkelstein has to say; further adding to the subject of hypocrisy, law (in general) religion and double standards, and especially morality or the lack thereof being discussed in the article.
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiWvgAwYvp0
Religion, the curse of mankind. Here in South Africa we also have some Afrikaners who still believe in the old testament and support Israel in their genocide.
Religion (rather the religious process of forming beliefs) is the making of humankind; the issue isn’t that religion is a curse, it is that we haven’t come to grips with the power (and necessity) of belief or discovered ways to broadly let belief be dominated by substantive Reality. As long as we reflexively reject what are called religious beliefs (upon which people base their lives) without understanding what we asking, and a better offering, there can be no resolution to conflicting hostilities….of what is believed
I’m mostly annoyed by political religions, like nationalism, Marxism, American Exceptionalism.
It is insufficiently understood that the processes of forming and maintaining beliefs are the same for what we call religions, political ideologies or social certainties. These processes are evolved and adapted in the human cognitive design and have little to direct or inhibit them…and so have little to attach their results to the biophysical reality upon which ecological order depends.
Mazu, goddess protector of ship-wrecked sailors, is massively popular all over the China seas and SE Asia. But there are none of the things ex-christians blame on “religion”.
As a judge she is to look at cases with the eyes of the law … not the Bible. The church has no place in legal proceedings. If that is what she wants to do, she should join ISIS or HTS, but not at the world court.
How was she even considered for the highest position on the court? Her shaky record? Was there a lottery or something? Perhaps she was considered under DEI criteria?
This is what happens when religious belief trumps the law .Heaven help us all out of this morass as now it is acceptable to kill and murder innocents and get away with it because God wills it .
Nice to see Uganda has its share of Cottons, Hegseths and Huckabees.
I am sick of so-called Christians who do not heed any words that Jesus spoke. Most Christians seem to be in love with the horrors of the Old Testament, they like nothing better than quoting Leviticus or Deuteronomy. (And I haven’t even read Shahak’s book Jewish Religion, Jewish History yet!) Jesus’ words are quite clear, quite easy to understand, but these people wallow in violence, rape, genocide, and somehow think they’ll get to heaven doing so. This obscene woman thinks it’s fine to treat Palestinian children as expendable and has no knowledge of Jesus’ words that “what you do to these little children you do to me.” I hope at some point in her life she suffers horribly as it seems to be the only thing that wakes people up … sometimes. (And was I shocked when a liberal I knew agreed with me!)
i call them “pseudo” christians Susan.
This is positively mind numbing. It seems the more detached from reality you are, the more likely you are to be granted a fast track to a position of power over humanity. We are surely overdue for a major course correction. This insanity cannot continue if we are to survive as a species.
Agreed! she should be recused of her position as ICJ Judge as she has committed crimes against humanity. Amazing, once segregated to the back of the bus she is now confirming genocide of GAZANS
No doubt, from the USG to the UNSC, onward, to the ICJ, upwards to the ICC, * “Joe Biden owns this. Every despicable aspect of the calamity unfolding in Gaza, perpetrated by America’s ever reliable and obedient proxy, Israel.” Raouf Halaby, 10.19.23.
October 13, 2024, “This Is Not a Humanitarian Crisis… This Is Genocide.” Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan 10.13.24.
January 30, 2025, “Now at the helm of the ICJ, Sebutinde gains the power to break a deadlocked vote, and may be able to undermine the South African case in a more substantive way than before.” Max Blumenthal
….. No doubt, IMO, Sebutinde’s “everything” feels like Sebutinde’s in cahoots w/US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield & US Envoy, Robert A. Wood, executed, “in “our” name,” undermining a ceasefire, driving the dagger, deeper, into the Palestinians’ heart, Exhibit A-Z: 11.20.24: Robert A. Wood, US Envoy @ the UNSC, Vetoed/Voted against “GAZA Cease-Fire Resolution.” This is the Fourth (4th) Veto cast by the US @ the UNSC.
January 30, 2025, * “Joe Biden owns this.” Months ago, 2.9.24, Hur’d around the world, POTUS, #46, Joesph Robinette Biden, is NOT “functioning or operating at the most desirable or greatest possible level of efficiency, speed, or productivity.” In sum, Joey Robinette Biden can pose as POTUS, masquerade as human; BUT, CANNOT, willfully, literally &/or figuratively, Stand For Trial for Complicity, Coordination, Collusion, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes, White-Collar Crimes, JRBiden’s record has been erased! Fuhgeddabout holding #46 to acccount. On January 20, 2025, #46, JRBiden was relegated to REHABoth, by the beach, for f/ever!!! Done & Dusted.
Never Say Die, “Power never takes a back step—only in the face of more power.” Malcolm X
….. Hear! Hear!! All hail, “Uganda’s ambassador to the United Nations, Adonia Ayebare,” for raising his voice, declaring Julia Sebutinde’s “ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine.” Hear! Hear!!
January 16, 2025, The “RED” Flag warning FLYS, “This horrific saga is not over. Israel’s goals remain unchanged – the erasure of Palestinians from their land. This proposed ceasefire is one more cynical chapter. There are many ways it can and, I suspect, will fall apart. But let us pray, at least for the moment, that the mass slaughter will stop.” Chris Hedges @ “The Ceasefire Charade,” January 16, 2025, “Piece Plan” – by Mr. Fish @ hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2025/01/16/chris-hedges-the-ceasefire-charade/
Fingers crossed, “TIME is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. TRUTH is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. You don’t need anything else.” Malcolm X
…. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be Free. It will. Keep your eye on your calendar. Not on your clock. That’s how the people – not the generals – the people fighting for their liberation measure time.” Arundhati Roy, 10.15.24
TY, Max Blumenthal, CN, “Keep It Lit!”
* hxxps://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/19/joe-biden-owns-this
Do the judges on the ICJ not have to swear an oath to fulfil their legal obligations to rule under the law as set forth in UN resolutions, and established international law? Is the good justice not failing to do so by substituting a different law to the one she is supposed to be upholding? Are there impeachment methods? Do they require Security Council approval?
You are correct of course but a motion by the security council also can be ruled against ,as it would be , because the US as a Security Council member would surely rule against the impeachment as the staunch zionist supporter that it is .
The rule of law does not always apply as it should.-Regards
Can we create a Mormon nation in Utah? That would have as much validity as creating Israel. Look at the similarities.
There was a “Mormon nation” in Utah. The US actually sent troops to put it down. Family history tells how young men were recruited to fight for the Mormon state, but then the Prophet capitulated. BTW, my ancestors refused to go fight! Must be a family tradition.
It is in the human design to adhere to a belief system, whether what is believed comports with some elements of biophysical Reality or only instrumental reality; it has always been a ‘dance with madness’ from the divine right of Pharaohs and kings to Christian Zionism…to whatever! The only shocking thing about the insane beliefs among us is that we are shocked.
The shocking thing about them is that they continue to exist. Religion has always been a brain-destroying institution. That is why I am an atheist. These ignorant beliefs are holding humanity back.
Everything and anything can be abused. Gambling for beads evolves into giant casinos, money transactions turn into hedge funds, ritual warfare becomes nuclear holocaust. Religion is no different. True religion is as much a science as what we call science and produces manifestable results; however, it requires discipline and training. As such, it is nothing like the pop festivals and fascist teachings that abound today.
“True religion is as much a science as what we call science and produces manifestable results”, like Joshua slaughtering and conquering Cana’an, as commanded by Flaming Bush, and contrary to archaeological evidence? I need an example to figure out what you means (“true”, “manifestable” etc)
and the source of many wars.
what happened to Trias Politica and the separation of powers? since the Renaissance we’ve fought to ensure one’s religious viewpoints are private and should not be mixed with one’s public role.
EXACTLY!
[good GRIEF!]
In my opinion what has happened here in the U.S. is the power of the Israeli lobby influencing the US Congress. Many Americans currently believe a foreign country exercising undo influence because of what is widely viewed as an illegitimate lobby group acing as a foreign agent for Israel. AIPAC. The result has been muddying of the waters of clear communication between congress members by the threat of Israeli supporters smearing those who dare exhibit any criticism of Israel or Israelis as anti-Semetics.
The genocide being prosecuted by the IDF will not buy Israel anything but grief. Many Israels identify as Zionist, extremely right wing, the Zionists in Israel return to power in the Israeli government and hijack the country’s military to pursue horrendous agendas.
look I don’t expect this to make the cut however you should know damned well my opinion and basic value system by now.
The genocide hopefully will be the determining factor in Israels future.
I’m pretty pissed about what currently is passing for a government here in ‘The Good Ole US of A”. I see far too much hate and way too much apathy to be comfortable with life in this country currently.
A word to the wise, the young people in this country will only put up this this BS for so long. They are intelligent enough to know or foreign policy is. horrid and the government is manned by imposters posing as those who govern. Individuals of great wealth who are working to be our rulers.
The distinction between currently made between Zionists and non-Zionist Jews becomes little more than an oxymoron when “peace loving Jews” are ruled by crazed Zionist haters engaged in prosecuting a genocide.
res ipsa loquitur
Goodness gracious, there are more crackpots in positions of power than you can shake a stick at!
Agreed!
So are Jews a religious group, a racial group , an ethnic group, or what? When Mr Heston lead them into the land flowing with milk and honey (Palestine) what were they and where did they originally come from, and how did they get to Egypt?
Human beings have been migrating all over the world since they evolved. Nothing surprising in that. Even the continents move.