SAEDNEWS: Legal and human rights experts warn that the international community should not use the U.N. court’s slow and lengthy process as an excuse to delay action against Israeli killing of Palestinians.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) postpones its judgment on a case filed by South Africa regarding the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, a move that has been criticized by legal experts and rights activists amid the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory.
According to media reports on Sunday, Israel was due to present its rebuttal to the genocide charge tomorrow, but the top U.N. court granted the regime’s lawyers a six-month extension, meaning that the ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is unlikely before the end of 2027 at the earliest.
The panel of 17 judges accepted Israel’s argument that it needed more than the nine months allotted to prepare its case, without considering the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The court sided with Israel despite a challenge put forth by the South African legal team that the arguments given by Israeli lawyers were not “a legitimate reason for delay” in the verdict.
The Guardian newspaper wrote an analytical column, saying “While Palestinians in Gaza die in ever-increasing numbers from starvation each day and a growing number of legal scholars, aid officials and politicians have begun describing Israel’s actions as genocide, a definitive ruling on the question by the world’s top court will be a long time coming.”
That’s amid warnings that the international community should not use the court’s slow and lengthy process as an excuse to delay action against Israeli killings of Palestinians.
“I think [the ICJ is] being really cautious here because of the political climate,” said Juliette McIntyre, a senior lecturer in law at the University of South Australia, adding that the court does not want to be accused of having ruled that [the regime] committed genocide without giving it a fair chance to respond.
Since its establishment in 1945, the ICJ in The Hague has always favored caution over haste in delivering its judgements. “The ICJ is known for its slow deliberation. It is 80 years old and it wants to work in a certain way,” said Iva Vukušić, assistant professor in international history at Utrecht University.
South Africa filed its complaint against Israel on charges of genocide that triggered a wave of legal and actions against the regime worldwide.
In January last year, the ICJ, while reviewing the complaint, ruled that the genocide was “plausible” and acknowledged “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its final judgment”.
The court also ordered the Israeli regime to “take all measures” to stop acts of genocide, and incitement to genocide from being committed and take “immediate and effective measures” to allow aid into Gaza. But, Israel continued its deadly attacks and aid blockade, in defiance of the ICJ ruling.
