Next <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The United Nations defines genocide as an act \u201ccommitted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.\u201d <\/p>\n
The\u00a0UN says\u00a0that it\u00a0was developed \u201cpartly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust.\u201d <\/p>\n
In eight pages, the filing at the ICJ details what South Africa describes as \u201cexpressions of genocidal intent\u201d by Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet. <\/p>\n
South Africa has also\u00a0asked the court to issue \u201cprovisional measures\u201d ordering Israel to stop its war in Gaza, which it said was \u201cnecessary in this case to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people.\u201d A provisional measure is a temporary order to halt actions, or an injunction, pending a final ruling. <\/p>\n
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a grouping of 57 Muslim countries, as well as Jordan, Turkey and Malaysia have so far backed the case. <\/p>\n
The ICJ is based in The Hague in the Netherlands and was set up in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations. <\/p>\n
The court tries governments while the International Criminal Court, also in The Hague,\u00a0prosecutes individuals. Israel\u00a0doesn\u2019t recognize\u00a0the ICC so the court has no jurisdiction over it. Israel however is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, which gives the ICJ jurisdiction over it. <\/p>\n
Member states of the UN and those who have accepted the ICJ\u2019s jurisdiction can present cases. The court\u00a0accepts cases\u00a0in which the states involved have each accepted its jurisdiction.\u00a0The ICJ is composed of 15 judges who serve nine-year terms.\u00a0Current judges\u00a0are from the US, Russia, China, Slovakia, Morocco, Lebanon, India, France, Somalia, Jamaica, Japan, Germany, Australia, Uganda and Brazil. Five seats come up for election every three years, with no consecutive term limit. <\/p>\n
Four new judges\u00a0will take their seats in February, one of whom is South Africa\u2019s Dire Tladi. <\/p>\n
Ad-hoc judges can be appointed by parties in contentious cases (between two states) \u2013 in this instance Israel and South Africa \u2013 bringing the number of judges in the case to 17. South Africa\u00a0has appointed\u00a0Dikgang Moseneke, the country\u2019s former deputy chief justice, and Israel has named\u00a0Aharon Barak, ex-president of the country\u2019s Supreme Court. <\/p>\n
Experts say a final ruling could take years. <\/p>\n
Israel has called the case a \u201cblood libel\u201d\u00a0by South Africa, a thinly veiled accusation of antisemitism, and Netanyahu has in turn said that it is Hamas that has committed genocide, adding the\u00a0Israeli military is acting in \u201cthe most moral way\u201d and \u201cdoes everything to avoid harming civilians.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I ask: where were you, South Africa, and the rest of those who slander us, where were you when millions were murdered and displaced from their homes in Syria, Yemen and other arenas. You weren\u2019t there,\u201d the prime minister said. <\/p>\n
Israel will nonetheless appear before the court. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s because\u00a0it\u00a0is a signatory to the UN\u2019s 1948\u00a0Genocide Convention, which was drafted in the aftermath of the Holocaust.\u00a0The treaty gives the ICJ the authority to adjudicate in cases, which can be brought by parties not directly affected by the alleged genocide in question. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince the court clearly has jurisdiction, it would be strange if Israel would simply not appear,\u201d said\u00a0Lieblich. \u201cAlso, genocide is a grave allegation, and states usually want to make their case.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Israeli public\u2019s view of the case reflects the political disagreements in the country, Lieblich said. \u201cSome view the proceedings as just another case of international bias against Israel. Many others are angry because they think that the case was only made possible because of irresponsible statements by far-right politicians, that in their views don\u2019t represent actual policy.\u201d <\/p>\n
But he said that few in the Israeli mainstream are willing to accept the genocide allegations. \u201cThey mostly view the war as one of self-defense against Hamas, which due to the latter\u2019s tactics result in wide but unintended harm to civilians.\u201d <\/p>\n
Polls show that Israelis\u00a0overwhelmingly support\u00a0the war. <\/p>\n
Citing an Israeli diplomatic cable, Axios reported that Israel has mobilized its diplomats to lobby host nations to back its position and create international pressure against the case. Its \u201cstrategic goal,\u201d it said, is for the court to reject the request for an injunction, refrain from accusing Israel of committing genocide, and acknowledge that it is operating according to international law. <\/p>\n
\u201cA ruling by the court could have significant potential implications that are not only in the legal world but have practical bilateral, multilateral, economic, security ramifications,\u201d Axios cited the cable as saying. <\/p>\n
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy\u00a0said Pretoria\u00a0is \u201ccriminally complicit with Hamas\u2019 campaign of genocide against our people.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also accused it of double standards, and backing former\u00a0Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who faces a warrant issued by the ICC. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow tragic that the rainbow nation that prides itself on fighting racism will be fighting pro bono for anti-Jewish racists,\u201d he said in a January 2 speech posted on X.\u00a0\u201cWe assure South Africa\u2019s leaders: History will judge you. And it will judge you without mercy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lieblich said South Africa appears to be\u00a0positioning itself in opposition to the US\u2019 dominance in the\u00a0international order. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it pursues the case against Israel, South Africa has criticized the ICC\u2019s arrest warrant against\u00a0Vladimir Putin, and has also refrained in the past from arresting\u00a0Omar al-Bashir,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, there is a clear international statement here. South Africa has been very vocal about what it views (as) Western \u2018double standards\u2019 and this case is a part of that campaign.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the ICJ has ruled against Israel in the past, it did so through non-binding \u201cadvisory opinions\u201d that are requested by UN bodies such as the General Assembly. <\/p>\n
This is the first time Israel is being sued in the ICJ in what is known as a \u201ccontentious case,\u201d where states directly\u00a0raise cases against\u00a0each other. <\/p>\n
In 2004, the ICJ issued an\u00a0advisory opinion\u00a0declaring Israel\u2019s separation barrier in the occupied West Bank to be in violation of international law, and called for it to be torn down. Israel ignored that decision. <\/p>\n
If the ICJ eventually rules that Israel is directly responsible for genocide, it will be the first time it has found a state has\u00a0commited\u00a0genocide, experts said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis would be a significant precedent first and foremost because the ICJ never ruled, so far, that a state actually committed genocide,\u201d\u00a0Lieblich\u00a0said. \u201cThe farthest it went was to rule that Serbia failed to prevent genocide by militias in Srebrenica. In this sense, such a ruling would be legally uncharted territory.\u201d <\/p>\n
While no state has been found to be directly responsible for genocide by the court, both Myanmar and Russia have faced provisional measures in genocide cases in recent years. <\/p>\n
All ICJ\u00a0judgements are final, without appeal and binding. <\/p>\n
But the ICJ can\u2019t guarantee compliance. In March 2022, for example,\u00a0the court ordered\u00a0Russia to immediately halt its military campaign in Ukraine. Kyiv, which brought the case, disputed the grounds for Russia\u2019s invasion, and asked for emergency measures against Russia to halt the violence before the case was heard in full. <\/p>\n
Israel is set to appear in public hearings before the court on\u00a0Friday to contest\u00a0South Africa\u2019s genocide\u00a0accusations. <\/p>\n
A ruling on genocide could take years to prove, but the injunction on the Gaza war that Pretoria has asked the ICJ for could come much sooner. <\/p>\n
South Africa, he said, only needs to demonstrate that it has standing to bring the case, has acted on its duty to prevent genocide, that there is a \u201cplausible legal argument\u201d that violations of the Genocide Convention are or may be taking place, and that there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to Gaza\u00a0residents\u00a0before the court gives its final decision, such that the court needs to order Israel to stop the war. <\/p>\n
Francis Boyle, an American human rights lawyer\u00a0who won two requests\u00a0at the\u00a0ICJ\u00a0under the Genocide Convention\u00a0against Yugoslavia\u00a0on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told Democracy Now that based on his review of the documents submitted by South Africa, he believes Pretoria will indeed win \u201can order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Palestinians.\u201d <\/p>\n
Boyle, based on his experience in the Bosnian case, said the order could come within a week of\u00a0this week\u2019s\u00a0hearings. <\/p>\n
Lieblich doubts that Israel would cease the fighting altogether should the court issue an injunction on the war. Instead, it could attack the legitimacy of the court and its judges, \u201cconsidering that some of them are from states that don\u2019t recognize Israel.\u201d\u00a0It would also matter whether the decision is unanimous, he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0consequences of non-compliance might range from reputational harm and political pressure to sanctions and other measures by third states or further resolutions in the UN,\u201d he said. \u201cThe key for Israel would probably be how its key allies would act in such a case.\u201d <\/p>\n
He\u00a0added\u00a0that while the threshold for an injunction is relatively low, in the main case, proving genocide requires two elements: proof that certain unlawful acts were committed, and that these acts were committed with specific intent to destroy a certain group. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn past ICJ cases the court required a high threshold to prove such allegations,\u201d he said. \u201cHere the challenge for South Africa would be to prove that statements by some Israeli officials actually reflect the state\u2019s \u2018intent\u2019 as a whole, and also that Israel\u2019s actions on the ground were both unlawful and actually tied to an intent to destroy the group as such.\u201d <\/p>\n
The fallout of an ICJ ruling could spread beyond Israel, according to experts. It would not only embarrass Israel\u2019s closest ally, the US, but could also deem\u00a0Washington\u00a0complicit in the alleged violation of the Genocide Convention. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven though the South African application focuses on Israel, it has huge implications for the United States, especially President Joe\u00a0Biden and his principal lieutenants,\u201d\u00a0wrote John Mearsheimer, an American political scientist. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy? Because there is little doubt that the Biden administration is complicitous\u201d in Israel\u2019s war, he said. <\/p>\n
Biden has acknowledged that Israel is carrying out\u00a0\u201cindiscriminate\u201d\u00a0bombing in Gaza, but he has also vowed to protect the country. The US has\u00a0bypassed Congress twice\u00a0to sell military equipment to Israel during the war. <\/p>\n
\u201cLeaving aside the legal implications of his behavior, Biden\u2019s name \u2013 and America\u2019s name \u2013 will be forever associated with what is likely to become one of the textbook cases of attempted genocide,\u201d Mearsheimer wrote. <\/p>\n
Even if Israel ignores an order by the ICJ, there will be a legal obligation among other signatories to comply, said Machover. \u201cSo, anyone assisting Israel at that point will be in breach of that order.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe could have worldwide litigation if states don\u2019t stop assisting Israel\u2026 there will be legal ripples across the world\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The case could also have an impact on the Israeli public, Machover said. He believes that a significant number of Israelis \u201chave not looked in the mirror\u201d and lack awareness of the real impact of the war on Palestinians in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The ICJ case, he hopes, would prompt the Israeli public to engage in \u201csome sort of self-reflection.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel is appearing before the International Court of Justice\u00a0in a high stakes case that could determine the course of the brutal war in Gaza. It is an unprecedented case. Experts say it is the first time that the Jewish state is being tried under the United Nations\u2019 Genocide Convention, which was drawn up after the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}