Ireland joins South Africa's ICJ genocide case against Israel

Ireland filed a declaration of intervention Monday in support of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The decision comes after Ireland’s November Parliament motion and December Cabinet vote affirmed its stance that “genocide is being perpetrated before our eyes by Israel in Gaza.”

Ireland’s intervention is based on the 77-year-old Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations in 1948. 

South Africa accused Israel of “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” 

Ireland echoed those concerns, alleging that Israel is in violation of Articles I, II, III, IV, V and VI of the Convention and arguing that the war on Hamas has spawned a deadly impact on the Palestinian ethnic group.

“It is evident from the drafting history of the Convention that the term intent is not limited to the purpose of the perpetrator, but can also comprehend knowledge of the foreseeable consequence of the act committed,” the government of Ireland asserted in the legal filing. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the case “meritless” following South Africa’s original genocide claims that were first filed in December 2023. The United States has continued to support Israel’s efforts to recover hostages in the fight against Hamas. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long denied claims of genocide and signaled an effort to cut ties with Ireland last month by closing its embassy in the European nation after it recognized Palestine as a state, which it declared antisemitic.

“The actions and antisemitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel are rooted in the delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state, along with double standards. Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a statement.