The court’s interim order finds a risk of genocide in Gaza and orders Israel to stop its attacks and incitement
The World Court’s justices decided, by an overwhelming majority, that South Africa had made a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza, in a landmark ruling that could pave the way for a full-fledged trial and a legal determination of state responsibility for genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest judicial body, issued a provisional order on Friday, in which it agreed with most of South Africa’s requests for urgent measures to protect the rights of Palestinians in Gaza under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The court ordered Israel to immediately cease its military operations in Gaza, which have killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and displaced nearly 90 percent of its population, since Oct. 7, when Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, launched a rocket attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israelis, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
The court also ordered Israel to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide by its officials and others, and to allow humanitarian access and aid to Gaza.
The court also ordered both parties to refrain from any action that could aggravate or extend the dispute, or make it more difficult to resolve.
Binding and Final
The court’s order is binding and final, and cannot be appealed or challenged, but it is not enforceable, and depends on the goodwill and the compliance of the parties.
The court’s order is also not a final judgment on the merits of the case, but a preliminary ruling on the plausibility of South Africa’s claims and the necessity of provisional measures, pending a full examination and a final decision by the court, which could take several years.
The court’s order was adopted by 15 votes to two, with only the judges from the US and Israel dissenting.
The court’s order was hailed by South Africa as a historic and a moral victory, and by the Palestinians as a ray of hope and a step towards justice.
The court’s order was denounced by Israel as a biased and a political move, and by the US and its allies as a dangerous and a counterproductive intervention.
The court’s order was also a rare and a bold act of defiance and embarrassment by the court’s justices, many of whom openly challenged and contradicted the positions and the policies of their own governments, not least the court’s president, Joan Donoghue of the US, who voted in favor of South Africa’s case, despite the US’s staunch support and protection of Israel.
The court’s order was also a sign and a symbol of the growing isolation and condemnation of Israel in the international community and the public opinion, as well as of the increasing recognition and support of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people, who have been suffering under the Israeli occupation and oppression for decades.
The court’s order was also a reminder and a reinforcement of the importance and the relevance of the Genocide Convention, which was adopted in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and which aims to prevent and punish the crime of genocide, defined as the intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
The court’s order was also a challenge and a message to the parties and the stakeholders in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been one of the longest and the most intractable conflicts in the world, and which has been overshadowed and complicated by the regional and the global developments and dynamics.
The court’s order was also a call and an invitation to the parties and the stakeholders to resume the peace talks and to work towards a peaceful and a lasting solution to the conflict, based on the mutual recognition and the respect of the rights and the aspirations of both peoples, and on the principles and the resolutions of the international law and the UN.
