Ireland to support South Africa's genocide case against Israel

Ireland is set to join South Africa's landmark genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world court said on Tuesday, News.az reports citing foreign media.

In an official statement, the ICJ said: "On Monday 6 January 2025, Ireland, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)."

The UN allows for countries who are parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention to intervene and stated that Ireland would offer its interpretation of Articles I, II and III of the Convention during its intervention.

In December 2023, three months after the start of the war in Gaza, South Africa filed a case against Israel, accusing it of carrying out genocide against the enclave's Palestinian population.

Israel’s military onslaught has killed at least 45,936 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, with scores more feared buried under rubble. Israel's war has also triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where residents are in desperate need of humanitarian aid to survive.

In January 2024, the court concluded that it is plausible that Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip could amount to genocide, and ordered Israel to refrain from carrying out actions that could lead to such an outcome.

Israel, however, continued its brutality in Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians every day since, obstructing the entry of humanitarian relief and destroying infrastructure.

Several world leaders, NGOs, and UN agencies have also gone on to accuse the Netanyahu government of carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

Ireland, over the years, has been a strong proponent of the Palestinian cause, often advocating for an end to Israeli occupation and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Since the state of the war in Gaza, Dublin emerged as one of Europe’s leading critics of Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian enclave, where war has raged for over 15 months killing around 46,000 Palestinians.

Ireland, alongside Spain, Malta, Norway, and Slovenia, went on to officially recognise Palestine as a state, much to the ire of the Israeli government in May last year.

Plans for Ireland to join South Africa in its case against Israel have been in the works for almost a year. In March 2024, Dublin said it would intervene in the case.

Last month, Dublin approved a plan to file its intervention in the case with Deputy PM Micheal Martin, saying it would be filed in The Hague sometime in December.

Martin said at the time: "By legally intervening in South Africa’s case, Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State."

"We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimised."

News.Az