A UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday reprimanded her colleagues for requiring Israel to work on the Sabbath, in response to a case brought by South Africa at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention.
The dissenting opinion of the Vice President of the ICJ Julia Sebutinde came in a nine-page document issued in response to the court’s order for Israel to end its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This ruling follows South Africa’s request, accusing Israel of genocide in the ongoing war with Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Israel has strongly denied these allegations.
Among her disagreements with her colleagues, Sebutinde, a Ugandan woman, objected to the court’s handling of South Africa’s request and to the “occasional oral hearings.”
“In my view, the Court should have agreed to Israel’s request to postpone the oral hearings until next week to allow Israel sufficient time to fully respond to South Africa’s request and engage counsel,” wrote Sebutinde, noting that the Israeli preferred counsel was not present on the dates scheduled by the court.
“It is also regrettable that Israel had to respond to a question from a member of the Court about the Jewish Sabbath,” Sebutinde said. “The Court’s decision in this regard concerns procedural equality between the parties and the proper administration of justice by the Court.”
Sebutinde also argued that the court’s initial ruling “does not completely ban the Israeli military from operating in Rafah.” She also urged the court to maintain its legal integrity, “avoid reacting to any shift in the conflict and refrain from micromanaging hostilities in the Gaza Strip, including Rafah.”
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Sebutinde clarified that the ruling aims to “partially limit the Israeli offensive in Rafah insofar as it implies rights under the Genocide Convention.” She warned that the ruling is “prone to ambiguity and could be misinterpreted or interpreted as an order for an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire, which is an example of an unsustainable overreach on the part of the Court.”
The judges’ ruling on Friday did not follow the order for a complete ceasefire for the entire Palestinian territory, and Israel is unlikely to comply with the court’s ruling. Friday’s decision comes just days after Norway, Ireland and Spain said they would recognize Palestinian statehood, and the chief prosecutor of a separate international court sought arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders.
Since October 7, Israeli bombings and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry, which makes no distinction between fighters and civilians.
Israel began its war in Gaza after Hamas’s attack on October 7, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping about 250. Israel says about 100 hostages are still trapped in Gaza, along with the bodies of about 30 more.
Original article source: Israel is forced to work on the Jewish Sabbath as UN court judge calls out his colleagues in scathing dissent
