On Wednesday, Ireland declared it would intervene in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.
Foreign Minister Micheal Martin announced Ireland’s intentions, making it the strongest declaration of Dublin’s concern regarding Israeli operations in Gaza dating back to Oct. 7. Martin stated that the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and the current situation in Gaza “represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale”. This past January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to abstain from performing any act that could potentially fall under the Genocide Convention. The World Court also asked Israel to ensure no Israeli troops commit any genocidal acts against Palestinians. This comes after South Africa accused Israel of a state-led genocide in Gaza. In response to these allegations, Israel and its Western allies have described them as “baseless”. So far, Martin has not stated how Ireland plans to proceed with the intervention. He did note that the decision to intervene was preceded by legal analysis. This legal and policy analysis was conducted in consultation with South Africa and several other partners. According to Martin’s department, third-party interventions such as these do not pick specific sides in the dispute. However, this intervention would enable Ireland to submit its interpretation of one or several Genocide Convention provisions. Last week, Ireland joined Slovenia, Spain, and Malta in taking steps towards recognizing statehood declared by Palestinians located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip. A final ruling on the genocide case decided by the International Court of Justice could take years.
Read more:
reuters.com/world/ireland-intervene-south-africa-genocide-case-against-israel-2024-03-27/
