Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government’s support for the International Court of Justice as the principal institution of international law does not mean it endorses the premise of the genocide claims brought by South Africa against Israel.
The Liberal government has been facing questions for several days about Canada’s position on the South African case before the United Nations Supreme Court.
“Canada will continue to build on the longstanding international rules-based orders, processes and structures that have been in place over the past several decades to ensure that international law is respected and enforced in practice,” Trudeau said at a press conference on Friday. “He has been a huge supporter over the years.” Located in Guelph, Ontario.
“And the International Court of Justice, the ICJ, is an important part of that. Our wholehearted support of the ICJ and its procedures does not mean that we support the premise of the case brought by South Africa.”
Prime Minister Trudeau said his government will issue a ministerial statement detailing Canada’s position within the next few hours.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada supports the International Court of Justice, but that does not necessarily mean it supports the premises of South Africa’s case against Israel.
In December, South Africa launched a lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ, accusing the Israeli government of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
South Africa has accused the Israeli government of committing “acts of genocide” against Gazans, including “killing Gazans, inflicting serious mental and physical harm on them, and committing acts of genocide against them as a group.” It also includes “deliberately imposing living conditions calculated to cause physical destruction.”
Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostages. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and began months of intense airstrikes and a full-scale invasion of Gaza. Hamas-run health authorities say more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
The United Nations Genocide Convention codified the crime of genocide in international law for the first time. This became the first human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. It was intended to demonstrate the international community’s determination to prevent a repeat of the atrocities of World War II, including the Holocaust.
Israel rejects South Africa’s claims as “grossly distorted” and has asked ICJ judges to reject South Africa’s request for Israel to halt military operations in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week denounced South Africa’s claims as “hypocrisy and lies.”
“Israel is being accused of genocide while fighting genocide,” Netanyahu said, citing Hamas’ stated intention to destroy Israel.
Hamas founding document, Code of Islamic Resistance Movement“Israel exists and will continue to exist until Islam annihilates it, just as it has annihilated other nations before it.”
The 1988 document also explicitly rejects peace negotiations and the process of resolving Jewish and Palestinian land ownership. “There is no solution to the Palestinian issue other than holy war,” the document states.
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas politburo official, reportedly said in an interview with a Lebanese television channel in November that Hamas aims to repeat the October 7 attack multiple times to annihilate Israel. He said he is doing so.
Hamas is registered as a terrorist organization in Canada.
Conservative leader Pierre Poièvre has dismissed South Africa’s genocide allegations against Israel as a shameless and disingenuous attack on Jews and the Jewish state.
“It is incredible that these countries do not condemn Hamas for genocide when their charter states that they commit genocide against Israel. There is no need to even condemn Hamas, because they commit genocide against Israel. Because they recognize it as a genocidal enterprise. They recognize Hamas in October. The seven attacks were genocidal,” Poilievre told reporters at a news conference in Winnipeg on Friday. told.
“If we want to pursue genocide against Muslims, why don’t they sue China for the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps? Why don’t they pursue it? [Syrian President] Who is Bashar al-Assad who is committing genocide against Sunni Muslims in that country? ”
It could take years for the ICJ to issue a final ruling on the genocide allegations.
