​Read the full opinion at DAWN

The initial ruling on Friday by the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide against Israel made history, and that is not hyperbole. The United Nations top court in The Hague found it "plausible" that Israel has committed acts against Palestinians in Gaza that violate the Genocide Convention. Although its ruling is not a verdict yet on whether Israel has committed genocide, which could take years for the court to decide, the ICJ ruled that it has jurisdiction to move forward with the case that was brought by South Africa, dismissing Israel's main argument.

The court issued provisional measures to protect Gaza's devastated population from the risk of genocide—among them, that Israel must ensure "with immediate effect" that its military forces do not commit any of the acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention, and that Israel must "take all measures" to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Each of the six provisional measures passed with overwhelming support by the court's 17 judges, in votes of 16-1 and 15-2.

At this stage of the proceedings in The Hague, the case boiled down to a single issue: whether the ICJ determined that South Africa had presented a plausible accusation that Israel is committing genocide and, on this basis, allowed the case to move forward to a full hearing. Everything else is secondary. On this crucial point, the court's verdict was unambiguous: the arguments presented by South Africa before the ICJ earlier this month were sufficiently compelling, and Israel's rebuttal and denials unconvincing. The ICJ will now conduct a full and proper hearing to determine whether Israel is not only plausibly accused, but substantively responsible, for the crime of genocide in Gaza.

This is where history was made. As of Jan. 26, 2024, Israel and its Western sponsors can no longer use the Holocaust to shield themselves from accountability for their crimes against the Palestinian people. Raz Segal, a leading professor of Holocaust and genocide studies, recently made the point that the state of Israel was born in impunity. "The idea that the Jewish state could commit war crimes, let alone genocide, becomes from the beginning an unthinkable idea," he said. "Impunity for Israel is baked into the system."...


​Read the full opinion at DAWN