Tánaiste clarifies Irish position on genocide case against Israel

TÁNAISTE Micheál Martin has moved to provide clarity on Ireland’s position over South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Asked, when speaking to reporters in Cork this week, if Ireland should have joined with South Africa in bringing the action, Mr Martin said there had been a “lot of misinformation” about the matter.

“South Africa took a case on its own, it didn’t invite others to join it at the time. What happens in situations like this is, when a country takes a case to the International Court of Justice in respect of the Genocide Convention, it asks the court for provisional measures — and that’s before it files its more substantive case.

“So, South Africa has asked the court for provisional recommendations or measures. The court’s now going to consider that and it’s only when the country that has filed the complaint of genocide files its own what’s called a memorial — the substantive case — that then countries decide whether they’ll join at that stage or not.

“Very often that depends on the initial provisional findings of the court and indeed the memorial itself that the country puts forward,” the Foreign Affairs Minister said.

“No country in the world has joined South Africa yet, not even Palestine, because of the mechanisms by which this works, and so we will consider this,” he added.

Mr Martin said he believes Israel has committed breaches in terms of international humanitarian law in respect of what has happened in Gaza, showing “disproportionate use of violence against the civilian population”.

South Africa has asked the ICJ to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza. As two days of hearings ended on Friday, ICJ president Joan E Donoghue said the court would rule on the request for urgent measures “as soon as possible”. Israel has insisted that its war in Gaza is a legitimate defence of its people.