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12 January 2024

Why Germany Should Join Sides with Israel before the ICJ in its Defense against South Africa’s Accusation of Genocide

Yesterday and today, the ICJ heard an application for provisional measures brought by South Africa, in which Israel is accused of the particularly serious crime of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza due to its reactions to the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. This participation in the proceedings, as well as other reasons to be explained below, speak in favor of also declaring an intervention in the proceedings between South Africa and Israel – in this case, however, with the aim of supporting Israel as defendant and countering the South African argumentation. Continue reading >>
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11 January 2024

Warum Deutschland vor dem IGH dem von Südafrika gegen Israel erhobenen Vorwurf des Völkermords entgegentreten sollte

Heute und morgen verhandelt der IGH im Verfahren des einstweiligen Rechtsschutzes über eine Klage Südafrikas, in der gegen Israel aufgrund seiner Reaktionen auf die Anschläge der Hamas vom 7. Oktober 2023 der besonders schwere Vorwurf des Völkermords an Palästinenserinnen und Palästinensern erhoben wird. Die prozessuale Beteiligung der Bundesregierung an zwei weiteren Verfahren wegen Völkermords sowie weitere, nachfolgend zu erläuternde Gründe sprechen dafür, für das Hauptsacheverfahren zwischen Südafrika und Israel ebenfalls eine Nebenintervention zu erklären – hier allerdings mit dem Ziel, Israel beizustehen und der südafrikanischen Argumentation entgegenzutreten. Continue reading >>
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11 January 2024

The Missing Party

South Africa’s argument today was historic and extremely important. If you missed it, I recommend that you go back and look for the recording. For the Israeli viewer, at least, the South African argument was a real service because at last, we could connect to a very dominant narrative in world politics, which is completely concealed by Israeli media. However, the hearing also exposed a problem in South Africa's argument, which was also apparent in the written application. The South African case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is highly selective. Prof. John Dugard, in an impressive performance, described how observers watched the events of October 7th “with horror”. But people reading the documents and listening to the oral arguments, without otherwise following the events, might think that before and after October 7, Palestinian forces did not shoot a single bullet. Continue reading >>
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08 January 2024

The Body of the Judge and the Suffering of the Collective

The widespread prediction among experts right now is that Israel’s chances of prevailing at the ICJ in its response to South Africa’s genocide application are slim. Let’s assume, for a moment, that the prediction is accurate. As has been reported, Israeli authorities, too, have acknowledged that there’s a real risk of an ICJ decision against Israel. What does this mean for Israel’s legal strategy? When a party is preparing to lose in a proceeding, one relevant question is what the minority opinion will look like. Aharon Barak’s appointment as an ad-hoc judge for the ICJ proceedings may reveal some of the outlines Israel is preparing for this minority opinion: even if we lose, we may still try to convince the world that the issue at hand is none other than the memory of the Holocaust. But this is a morally and politically risky choice to make. Continue reading >>
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