IRELAND’S OFFICIAL SUBMISSION related to South Africa’s case against Israel has been received by the International Court of Justice.

In its submission, Ireland outlined a number of arguments for interpretation of various articles of the Genocide Convention, citing previous case law in doing so. 

As a party to the Genocide Convention, Ireland has the right to intervene in the case, which means making a submission to the court detailing its view of the case and the laws in question. 

PRESS RELEASE: Ireland, invoking Article 63 of the #ICJ Statute, filed a declaration of intervention in the case #SouthAfrica v. #Israelhttps://t.co/JMbcm9o9ht pic.twitter.com/d2HhgOqt4d

— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) January 7, 2025

In March last year, the Irish government indicated its intention to officially intervene in the case, where Israel stands accused of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. 

At the time, Tánaiste Micheál Martin explained the reason for intervening by pointing to the withholding of aid, targeting of civilians and infrastructure, the “indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas” and the “collective punishment of an entire population”.

“The list goes on,” said Martin. “It has to stop.”

South Africa brought the case against Israel in late December, 2023. 

Its initial application described Israel’s actions since 7 October 2023 as “genocidal in character” and “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”. 

Israel has denied the accusations.

Ireland’s announcement of its intervention towards the end of last year was met with harsh criticism and false claims from supporters of Israel and some Israeli officials. 

Many of those claims focused on Micheál Martin’s statement that Ireland would be “asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State”.