Interim Law Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam has told the World Court that Israel has “disowned its duties” as an occupying power by denying the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people.

He added that “systematic racial discrimination was a serious violation of international humanitarian law”. Aslam said that such acts could not be purely be in the interest of Israel’s security, but rather for its “interest of acquiring more territory”.

He further said, “It cannot be right that some states have suggested that the court should refrain from finding the occupation itself unlawful and that there’s no obligation to withdraw.

“This would be to allow Israel to profit from its own continued grave wrongs,” he said, adding that the court would fail in the discharging its judicial functions.

Aslam said that the court would be sending out a “clear signal” to other states that they too might be allowed to benefit a prolonged and unlawful occupation of the territory of another state.