Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 3.Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press
As Israel seeks to mobilize its allies to oppose a genocide charge at the International Court of Justice, the Canadian government is declining to say whether it will support or oppose the case.
South Africa filed an 84-page legal brief at the United Nations court last week, seeking an urgent order declaring that Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza and its siege of the Palestinian territory is “genocidal in character” and a violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The court has scheduled a hearing on Jan. 11 in The Hague to hear South Africa’s legal arguments for a provisional order to halt Israel’s military offensive and lift the siege. On the following day it will hear Israel’s arguments against the application.
Legal experts say there is a possibility the court could impose “provisional measures” as early as late January, ordering Israel to suspend its Gaza offensive. The court lacks any enforcement mechanism, and its orders have been ignored in the past, but the case is significant because of its potential impact on global opinion.
Israel has already begun seeking support from other countries. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who spoke with his British counterpart, David Cameron, on Wednesday, said he “raised the importance of opposing South Africa’s absurd appeal to the ICJ against Israel.”
People carrying some of their belongings arrive in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 4, after fleeing from Khan Yunis amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.MOHAMMED ABED/Getty Images
The court’s members, including Canada and Israel, have a right to intervene in cases to support one side or the other. Over the past two years, Canada has used this legal avenue to support cases at the ICJ against Russia, Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
So far, aside from Israel itself, only the United States has publicly opposed South Africa’s court application. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, said Wednesday that the case was “meritless, counterproductive and completely without basis in fact whatsoever.”
The Globe and Mail asked federal officials whether Canada plans to intervene in the case and whether it would support the court’s ruling, but they did not answer directly. “Canada is aware of the filing by South Africa,” said Geneviève Tremblay, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada.
“Canada strongly supports the role of the ICJ in the peaceful settlement of disputes,” she added.
“We recognize Israel’s right to exist and right to defend itself. In defending itself, Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”
Most other Western countries have not commented on the case. Nicolas de Rivière, the French ambassador to the UN, told journalists that France will not “encroach” on the court’s mandate, but added: “We’ll make sure that we’ll support the outcome of the decision.”
A growing number of Muslim countries are supporting South Africa’s application, with Turkey and Jordan becoming the latest. “We welcome the application,” Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said in a statement Wednesday. “We hope that the process will be completed as soon as possible.”
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said the government will appear before the International Court of Justice next week “to challenge South Africa’s absurd blood libel.” South Africa is “giving political and legal cover” to the Gaza-based Hamas militant group for its Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis, he said in a statement this week.
Israeli reserve combat soldiers of the Alexandroni brigade run during a training exercise simulating operational scenarios on the Lebanese front alongside tanks of the armored corps on Jan. 4, in Golan Heights.Amir Levy/Getty Images
Israel rejects the authority of the International Criminal Court, a separate court in The Hague that is investigating alleged war crimes by Israelis and Palestinians. But as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, which was drafted after the Holocaust, the Israeli government would find it difficult to reject the ICJ’s jurisdiction.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a senior Israeli legal expert who is dealing with the ICJ case has warned Israel’s military commanders that “there is real danger that the court will issue an injunction calling on Israel to halt its fire.”
To obtain a temporary order from the court, South Africa does not need to prove that Israel committed genocide but simply that Israel’s alleged actions are capable of falling within the provisions of the Genocide Convention.
South Africa is arguing that all the convention’s signatories, including Israel and South Africa, have an obligation to take reasonable measures to prevent genocide. This obligation, it says, would justify a court order against Israel to halt its Gaza offensive.
Another key issue in the application is whether Israel’s actions in Gaza were taken with the intent of destroying “a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
To support this claim, the application includes nine pages of statements by Israeli officials that, it says, are evidence of intent to commit genocidal acts in Gaza or an unwillingness to prevent them. It quotes Israeli politicians as saying, for example, that Israel should “flatten” or “erase” Gaza.
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