As fighting raged on Thursday, Israel prepared to defend itself at the top UN court against accusations of genocide in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rebuffed for the first time calls by some right-wing ministers to occupy the enclave permanently and said his government would fight to “defeat terrorism.”
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, also known as the World Court, was to hold hearings on Thursday and Friday in a case brought by South Africa in December, claiming Israel’s war against Hamas is a violation of a UN convention that prohibits genocide. The court’s judges have not considered the 84-page charge against Court’s and could take months, or even years, to reach a verdict. But it will put pressure on Israel to limit its military campaign in Gaza, which has already displaced most of the population of that Palestinian territory.
An Israeli official told reporters that the country will defend itself against the allegation of genocide, dismissing it as part of a “propaganda war” by opponents who want to weaken its position in its war against Hamas militants. He said the case, if decided against Israel, would damage international support for its operation in Gaza.
But critics in the Israeli parliament and elsewhere say it is a perverse situation to expect Israel to defend itself from genocidal attacks by Hamas while also defending its genocide charges. NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson called Joly to “refrain from intervening in opposition to this case and to support the court’s decision.”
The ICJ can order states to take specific measures to help protect people from atrocities and to prevent such crimes. Its rulings are final and cannot be appealed, but countries do not always follow the court’s decisions. Cecily Rose, assistant professor of public international law at Leiden University, says that while the ICJ ruling is unlikely to change the course of the conflict in Gaza, it could still have significant impacts. “It can have substantial impacts for accountability in a different form, whether that’s by documenting the experiences of victims or naming and shaming perpetrators,” she said.