Ireland must support the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice

Speaking at the press conference of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign today, Labour leader Ivana Bacik TD has called on Government to support the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice:

Deputy Bacik said

”The scale of destruction that the people of Gaza are suffering is horrific. The action being taken by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice is more than symbolic. Using the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention, South Africa has filed a very clear case, an over 80-page dossier, documenting the evidence that Israel is committing genocide.

“The definition of genocide is acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial, or religious grouping. Israel, in their brutal bombardment, are destroying the population of Gaza as part of the Palestinian population overall, who are a defined and identifiable national, ethnic, and racial group.

“This case is about more than the definition of genocide. In order to address the real suffering of the people of Gaza, South Africa have called for provisional measures to be ordered by the international court, which could be executed swiftly. We know that the substantive action could take many months. But a provisional ruling could be issued by the ICJ within a matter of weeks, seeking provisional measures to be ordered, in particular the cessation of the bombardment, effectively the ceasefire, or at least the reduction of the slaughter. The provisional measures are crucial, and the threshold is lower for making that order. The test is only whether the acts committed by Israel can fall within the scope of the genocide convention.

“Ireland should be supporting this action at the ICJ. The provisional measures could have a significant impact in terms of alleviating the suffering of people in Gaza. We in Labour are calling on the Irish government to put in a formal statement to the court, as we've done in other international actions, to support and endorse the South African case. It is our responsibility to ensure that there is a strong international support for the granting of those provisional measures by the International Court, which could do so much to alleviate the horrific suffering of the people in Gaza.”