The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has heard claims that genocide is being practised against the people of Palestine by the Israel government and army – a claim that Israel denies and describes as baseless.
Today, Irish barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, speaking as part of South Africa’s legal team, told the court that UNICEF described the bombing of Gaza as a “war on children” which has claimed more than 23,000 lives.
Ms Ní Ghralaigh said the international community had continued to fail the Palestinian people, and that “towns, villages and refugee camps were being wiped from the map.”
“The first genocide in history where victims are broadcasting their destruction in real time in the hopes that the world might do something. The world should be absolutely ashamed,” she said.
"The first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something."
Blinne Ni Ghralaigh at the ICJ in the Hague pic.twitter.com/WGU1e8M23y
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) January 11, 2024
South Africa accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to genocidal acts and demanded an emergency suspension of Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh who is supporting South Africa's legal team at the ICJ, says the number of orphans caused by ‘Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian population in Gaza’ has led to the need for a new acronym: WCNSF – wounded child, no surviving family. pic.twitter.com/i63iXKMaIN
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 11, 2024
“South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed Article Two of the (Genocide) convention, committing acts that fall within the definition of genocide,” Adila Hassim, advocate of South Africa’s high court, told the ICJ.
However, Israel – which can respond to the claims at the ICJ tomorrow – has said South Africa’s case is baseless.
Its government spokesperson Eylon Levy compared the lawsuit to a centuries-old anti-semitic conspiracy theory falsely accusing Jews of killing babies for rituals.
“The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel, as Pretoria gives political and legal cover to the Hamas rapist regime” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week and rejected South Africa’s charge and said the “defensive war” would continue.
“We will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which is without peer,” he told a cabinet meeting, the Times of Israel reported.
“No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “It would murder all of us if it could. In contrast, the IDF is acting as morally as possible.”
The ICJ’s decisions cannot be appealed, but observers have pointed out that the court has no way to enforce them.
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Israel doesn’t target children. Hamas and PIJ, Fatah and Hezbollah have military training for children in summer camps. They gorge them with antisemitic verses, chants , and teach them how to stab, maim , kill Israelis.the latter BTW they call Yahud. A 15 year old armed with an AKK47 , or a knife as was the case in Beni Berak, is a terrorist. The ones responsible for his death are the ones who brainwashed him and trained him, which BTW is a war crime. The UN somehow disagree. They actually recently praised Hamas for their efforts in protecting children. There is only one conclusion here. Blame Israel for everything. Because Israelis, IE Jews don’t count
Absolutely. That mental b’stard Boyd-Barrett’s hystrionics outside Leinster House a few weeks back really shines a light on the hatred in Hamas supporters.
The US waited to start an attack on Yemen, as a direct distraction to this Haag trial! Note how these events always happen on the day or within one day of other ‘exposure-events’! We know also that Haag court is ‘owned’ by the US/EU. When NATO dropped 22000 tons of missiles, 14000 bombs, that included both banned cluster bombs and depleted Uranium bombs on the population of Serbia, The Court only prosecuted Milosevic! We all know what the US/NATO (a defence Org. haha!) has done in Libya and Iraq, But nothing came from the Haag! There is also a charge against Putin, although his army is not openly directly bombing civilians like Ukraine is and he is not using anti-missile batteries over civilian areas as is forbidden in war! So this court is being used also for western propaganda. Look how Varadkar was talked out of sending a genocide charge to the Haag, by the EU commission I presume and how Martin is now going soft on Israel! If this obvious case fails, this court should be dismantled as a joke!
How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
South Africa where there are 700 murders a day. Where corruption is rife at all government levels and lying is a past-time. The above from St Luke is most apt to this less than stellar member of the international community of Nations. I’d go so far as to say SA is a cesspool where democracy went to die.
SA – Where the president criticised Desmond Tutu for being “unforgiving” after the Archbishop’s disgust at the dubious acquital of Zuma for rape.
Not 700 murders but 70 to 80 a day but about this number of white farmers murdered annually out of some 30 000 to 40 000 farmers.
Why is Irish barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh so concerned about over 23000 killed in Gaza while well over this number have on average been murdered in South Africa each year since Mandela became president in 1994? Yes, according to official government statistics, some 600 000 have been murdered, mostly black people killing black people, and yet The International Court of Justice has been stunningly silent on these as well as the murder of a disproportionately high percentage of white farmers. And if I am not mistaken, they did not take up the case of the Gukurahundi genocide and atrocities in Zimbabwe during the early Mugabe years where it is believed some 20 000 or more were murdered – black people murdered by black North Korean trained Zimbabwean soldiers.
Clealy not all black lives matter to activists, activist lawyers and the ICJ, and neither do the huge number of Muslims killed by fellow religionists since the end of WW2.
23000 are direct provable deaths. This doesn’t include people who die of sickness and whom are buried under buildings. 3 times that have been injured and/or have lost limbs. All the killed men are being counted as Hamas. Although Israel created Hamas to divide the Gaza and West Bank settlements. The Gazans were not not allowed to vote since 2006, which is presumed to be the fault of both Israel and Hamas. The Nakba saw 700,000 Palestinians slaughtered by Israel with US, UK and Israel support. The Israelis themselves are calling this Nakba-2! The World didn’t notice because the media was controlled. Now we have social media. A reason why the Globalists want to return us back to the previous levels of disinformation.
The only people with a genocidal agenda here are Hamas. They have even stated this publicly.
Another side show for the masses, the world is a stage and they are the paid actors. It is interesting that leo came out with the soundbite on the genocide on gaza but refused to call it genocide or kick out the israeli ambassador in case he upset his bosses who line his pockets.
I see no trucks rattling agains the gates of the Israeli Embassy in Dublin.
I see no hysterical delusional priest throwing a bucket of paint against the doors of a Synagogue.
Would appear the Irish Media is standing down on this one and the braindead muppets have not been triggered and risen to the bait.
To know who are your Masters only know who you may not criiticise on pain of retaliation in its many forms.
Very true indeed and only confirms the world is a stage. I dont have masters myself, I critisise all of the enemy because I can and will. Its interesting because they are legitimately hoping the irish rise up and rip the place apart and we wont so its slowing them down. People always ask why are the men being imported and the answers are so apparent and its related to what you said above. They want them to rip the place apart to drive businesses out through the raids like in the democrat cities, they want all business gone from urban centers like san fran. Then they will use it as an excuse to enforce lock downs and legislation to take our freedoms. They are the useful idiots here to cause carnage to put in their policies. They prepped by putting up the ai cameras and used the riots to introduce the face recognition. It was all planned. Hegelian dialect and its so obvious. The second reason is to replace us obviously. They need low iqs to control.
As imperfect a world as we live in (and I note others’ commenting on South Africa’s own failings), it was a “grounding” experience for me to watch, this morning, the S.A. legal team set out its case for provisional measures against Israel. I’ll give time over tomorrow to watching Israel’s legal team set out its case in reply. I use the expression “grounding” experience since – as a lawyer – I’ve witnessed, over the years, “human rights law” develop and “mushroom” – and quite an amount of it seems to me to be “junk jurisprudence”, dealing with all sorts of peripheral nonsense such as the supposed rights of transexuals. Here, though – we’re dealing with the core of “human rights” and when one can watch live on tv a case being asserted that genocide is occurring and must be stopped – it really does “halt one in one’s tracks”. Again, I acknowledge South Africa’s failings. Also, I repeat – I’ll watch what the Israeli legal team has to say tomorrow. Some of us with long memories recall Ireland’s success in Strasbourg over the “hooding” of suspects in Northern Ireland back in the 1970s. I suspect some Unionists – back then – dismissed the Strasbourg ruling as politically motivated and detached from the realities “on the ground” in N.I. Unless one completely jettisons the idea of international tribunals adjudicating on this sort of matter, then the accusation of the process being “politically charged” is one that practically anyone can make in the particular case.
Thanks Boris for your insightful comment. It gives me hope that not very one on the right simply toes the neo con line. I await with interest the Israeli response.
Interesting the Israel apologists below in the comments. Surely any decent person would want this carnage to stop, however it’s done? Israel is a very well funded country backed by the might of the US that is cold-bloodedly killing tens of thousands of people. Surely anyone in their right mind would want that stopped.
Yes, but it’s not genocide; unless the actions in the ME by the ‘west’ this century were too.
I suspect a majority of countries would react in the same way with Hamas on their doorstep promising more of the same, and the majority of Gazans confirmed in their support for the terrorists, notwithstanding the horror of the situations for Palestinians and whatever emphasis any of us may give to whatever history of the region most accords with our sympathies.
Scott Ritter seems to have intersting views…
Judging by the comments, the Israeli lobby has joined gript ,????