January 26, 2024, 10:56 a.m. ET
January 26, 2024, 10:56 a.m. ETIsrael supporters gather near a screen near the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Friday.Credit: Patrick Post/Associated Press
Officials in Israel on Friday condemned the International Court of Justice's order to prevent genocidal acts in the offensive against Hamas in Gaza. But they also expressed relief that the court had not ordered the military campaign to be stopped.
Israeli officials had feared that the judges would order an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as South Africa had called for in its original petition. The U.N. court ultimately ordered Israel to act to ensure its soldiers and leaders complied with the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention, but did not call for an end to the war.
Israel has firmly rejected allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. After Friday's preliminary ruling, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the court.
“The very idea that Israel is committing genocide is not only wrong, it is outrageous, and the court’s willingness to discuss it is a mark of shame that will last for generations,” Netanyahu said.
But he said the court order preserved Israel's right to self-protection after Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 prompted the country to go to war in Gaza.
“Like every state, Israel has the fundamental right to self-defense. “The court rightly rejected the shameful demand to revoke this right,” Netanyahu said.
Raz Nizri, a former Israeli deputy attorney general, said Israel was already taking most of the measures ordered by the court, such as ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and punishing speech that could incite genocide.
“And there was no injunction to stop the fighting,” he said. “It is extremely important that no such order was given.”
Many Israelis believe that South Africa's accusation of genocide amounts to a reversal of reality. They accuse Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that ruled Gaza, of committing genocide in its Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, authorities say. Another 240 were taken hostage by Hamas and other militant groups, many of whom are still trapped in Gaza.
“There has certainly been an attempt at genocide against the Jewish people by Hamas, the barbaric Nazis,” said Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister.
Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, said Israel did not need to be “lectured on morality” by the court. The justices had noted some of Mr. Gallant's previous comments – including that Israel was at war with “human animals” – when discussing whether Israeli officials had used genocidal rhetoric.
In their ruling, the UN court judges said they were “deeply concerned” about the fate of the hostages and called for their immediate release.
Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 25,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities in the enclave. Most of Gaza's more than two million residents have fled their homes amid airstrikes and Israel's ground invasion.
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