ICJ ‘provisional measures’ to stop Israeli Genocide of Palestinians likely in February
The ICJ decision on provisional measures or its final order have no binding on Israel and the UN court has no direct means of enforcing them. Read More
The Hague: Though the International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict on the South African petition alleging Israel of committing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza could take time, but its decision on the ‘provisional measures’ is likely in February 2024, the lawyers associated with the case said.
The International Court of Justice (I.C.J.) concluded the hearing on the South Africa petition on January 12, 2024. While announcing the conclusion of the widely watched public hearing the International Court of Justice (ICJ) did not announce when it will pronounce its verdict.
“The ICJ Judges will now begin deliberations and their decision will be delivered at a public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course”, the I.C.J. said in a statement on January 12, 2024 without confirming the exact date.
Speaking to Turkish news agency, Anadolu, Tiersisto Mariniello, an Italian lawyer who was at The Hague for the hearing, said the decision on South Africa’s request for provisional measures “will come early because this is what the procedure requires.”
“We have had cases at the ICJ related to provisional measures in which the court has decided in eight days. So, I think that the decision could be expected in February, if not before”, Tiersisto Mariniello said.
“We are talking about an urgent procedure. Provisional measure means priority over all the other cases the ICJ is dealing with,” Mariniello, who is also part of the legal team representing Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court (ICC), said.
The International Court of Justice (I.C.J.) conducted two days of public hearing in response to the South African application on January 11 and 12, 2024.
On the first day of the hearing, a team of lawyers representing South Africa put in front of the ICJ comprising of 15 judges from different parts of the world evidence in support of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The South African lawyers said the “genocide of Palestinians Israel is committing is a part of the state policy nurtured at its highest levels”.
The South African lawyers deposing before the ICJ also alleged that the Israeli soldiers are celebrating and dancing on music after killing the Palestinians and destruction of Gaza.
The lawyers defending Israel at the I.C.J. rejected the allegations by South African lawyers, boasting the “Israel's is the most moral army in the world”.
This is only the 4th time that a country has brought a genocide case before the I.C.J. The first was in 1993, 44 years after the Genocide Convention was drafted in 1948. The other three besides the South Africa case against the far-right Zionist Regime in Israel, have been filed in the last four years - a 2019 case against Myanmar alleging genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, a 2022 case alleging Russia had abused the Genocide Convention as a pretext for an illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, The New York Times in a report said, the ICJ may take years to reach a final decision as proving genocidal intent is an essential element of the case. The court has only found such a violation once, in a case involving the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. And that only happened after the perpetrators had already been convicted of criminal offenses by a different court.
The ICJ decision on provisional measures or its final order have no binding on Israel and the UN court has no direct means of enforcing them. Despite this Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in total disregard to the United Nations challenged its top judicial body.
“Nobody will stop us — not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anybody else”, he said vowing to continue the war against the Palestinians.
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