Toothless ICJ opens Israel’s genocide trial

The United Nations International Court of Justice, or ICJ, yesterday started hearing a case brought by South Africa against Israel, accusing the latter of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The complaint called on the ICJ to order Israel to stop its military operations in the Gaza Strip, even if the court can only render an opinion on the non-criminal trial.

Israel will present its defense today against the accusation of genocide, which it flatly rejected as “baseless.”

Israel’s actions “are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group,” according to South Africa’s submission.

South Africa maintained that Israel’s acts include “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”

“We will be in the International Court of Justice and we will present proudly our case of using self-defense… under humanitarian law,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, calling the accusations “atrocious and preposterous.”

South Africa’s wish for Israel to halt its military campaign could be resolved swiftly by the ICJ which is based in The Hague, the Netherlands. However, it may take years to reach a definitive decision regarding the accusation of genocide.

The parties to the ICJ, which include South Africa and Israel, are theoretically bound by its rulings, but the court is not able to enforce them. Russia disregarded the court’s 2022 order to “immediately suspend military operations” in Ukraine.

A report by the BBC quoted William Schabas, a professor of international law who chaired a UN committee investigating Israel’s conflict with Hamas in 2014, as saying that there is a low bar for the ICJ to issue an injunction against Israel.

Over 23,350 people have died in Gaza since the war began as a result of Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry headed by Hamas.

Approximately 240 people were taken hostage and 1,300 people, mostly civilians, were killed in those Hamas attacks.