Ireland officially joined South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel. According to the statement from the International Court of Justice on Tuesday.
The submission, made on Monday, comes months after Ireland announced plans to intervene in the case to the United Nations’ highest judicial body.
“Ireland has filed a declaration of intervention in the case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide in the Gaza Strip, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, in the Court’s Register,” the court said. said in a statement Tuesday.
In December 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit with the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel strongly rejected the claims, saying South Africa’s allegations were a “despicable and contemptible use of the courts.”
In its first ruling in January 2024, the court ordered Israel to curb its attacks on Gaza, and in May ordered the country to immediately halt military attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The United Nations allows countries to “intervene” in legal proceedings if they are parties to the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention.
A spokesperson for the Irish Foreign Office confirmed the application on Tuesday. “When a court considers a multilateral treaty, it is important to understand how the other parties to that treaty have interpreted and applied it,” the court said in a statement. .
The application has been long awaited. The government last month approved plans to submit arguments in the case, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Michael Martin said he would submit arguments in The Hague, where the court is located, in the coming weeks.
“The intent and impact of Israel’s military action in Gaza has been collective punishment of the Palestinian people, resulting in the deaths of 44,000 people and the displacement of millions of civilians,” Martin said in December. He added that Ireland would ask the court to expand its scope. Its interpretation of what constitutes state commission of genocide.
“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what genocide is leads to a culture of impunity that minimizes the protection of civilians,” it added.
Experts say it is not expected to take years for courts to rule on genocide charges.
The decision to intervene in this case was partly rooted in a shared history of British colonialism and Ireland’s own experience of the Troubles, a seemingly intractable sectarian conflict that ended on Good Friday in 1998. , reflecting Ireland’s longstanding support for Palestinian civilians. agreement.
Israel announced last month that it would close its embassy in Dublin, citing “the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government.” Israeli officials said the action did not mean Israel would sever diplomatic relations with Ireland.
