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SvennoJ on 03 January 2024
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ICJ confirms details of public hearings on ‘provisional measures’

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has confirmed that it will hold public hearings on January 11 and 12, in proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel on December 29, 2023. The hearings to be held at the ICJ’s court in the Peace Palace in The Hague will be dedicated to South Africa’s request for “provisional measures”, the ICJ said in a press release.

South Africa requested the “provisional measures” in order to:

  • “Protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of
    the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention.”
  • “Ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide.”

South Africa will make its oral argument on Thursday, January 11 from 10am to 12 noon (09:00-11:00 GMT).

Israel, which has promised to fight South Africa’s accusation, will then make its oral argument on Friday, January 12 from 10am to 12 noon (09:00-11:00 GMT).

US says South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is ‘meritless’

The United States has condemned a case brought before the UN’s top court accusing Israel of genocide, calling the accusation “meritless”. “We don’t think it’s a productive step,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday. “We have not at this point seen acts that constitute genocide.”

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby also condemned the case in remarks on Wednesday, calling the submission “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”

That’s despite the evidence compiled by South Africa in its case, whose arguments were not directly contradicted by the US.


Senior US education official resigns over Biden administration’s ignoring ‘atrocities’ in Gaza

A senior US Education Department official has stepped down in protest at President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, the Reuters news agency reports.

Tariq Habash, special assistant in the Education Department’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, said in a resignation letter: “I cannot stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives, in what leading human rights experts have called a genocidal campaign by the Israeli government.”

Reuters also reported that 17 Biden re-election campaign staffers, in a letter published on Medium, urged Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. “Biden for President staff have seen volunteers quit in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades feel uncertain about doing so for the first time ever, because of this conflict,” the anonymous staff members wrote in the letter.