Irish opposition calls on Government to join South African case against Israel

The Irish Government has been accused of “cowardice” as the main opposition parties called on Ireland to join South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa says the scale of the deaths and crisis from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.

Israeli officials have said the nation will defend itself before the United Nations’ top court against the charges.

On Tuesday, representatives from Sinn Fein, the Irish Labour Party, the Social Democrats and People Before Profit attended a press conference to call on the Irish Government to join the proceedings at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands.

It comes after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government does not intend to join the case, saying there is a need to “be very careful” in defining genocide.

Mr Varadkar said: “I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews – over half the population of Jews in Europe – were killed.

“I would just think we need to be a little bit careful about using words like that unless we’re absolutely convinced that they’re the appropriate ones.”

He said that Ireland was taking other actions, such as requesting in December for a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement to see if it had breached the human rights clause and working with other European countries on a meaningful decision on the recognition of Palestine.

Under the Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

This includes killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The vice chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said the group had written an open letter to Deputy Premier and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin calling on the Irish Government to endorse South Africa’s application aimed at ceasing Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Fatin Al Tamimi said this would put an end to the “tragic bloodshed and devastation and to hold those responsible for these heinous criminal acts responsible”.

She said she was “disappointed, shocked and upset” that Mr Varadkar said Ireland would not join the South African case.

At an IPSC press conference in Dublin on Tuesday, Ireland’s main opposition parties endorsed the letter.

Sinn Fein foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy said the Government’s refusal to join South Africa’s case is “unacceptable”.

He said Ireland had previously filed an intervention at the ICJ as a third party in a case taken by Ukraine against Russia under the Genocide Convention.

Mr Carthy said: “It smacks of double standards that have been all too evident since the war in Gaza began that governments that made the referral against Russia, including Ireland, now refused to join the referral against Israel.”

He added: “There must obviously be a ceasefire, there must be sanctions, Israel must be held to account and the Irish people have been absolutely horrified by the actions of Israel in Gaza.”

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said the “scale of the horror that the people of Gaza are suffering is absolutely horrific”.

Ms Bacik said South Africa had made a “very clear” and “strong” case on how Israel is committing genocidal acts in Gaza.

She added that South Africa has also called for provisional measures to be ordered by the ICJ including the cessation of bombardment in Gaza.

The threshold for these provisional measures would be lower than the substantive action and could be completed sooner, she said.

“In terms of the impact it could have on alleviating the suffering of people in Gaza, that’s why Ireland should be supporting this action.”

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said it is “absolutely shameful” that Mr Varadkar and the Irish Government are not supporting the South African action.

He said: “There is very clearly a genocidal massacre being inflicted on the people of Gaza.

“Leo Varadkar’s excuses for not doing so are utterly shameful and disingenuous.”

Mr Boyd Barrett said the convention also allows the Government to take any unilateral measures and sanctions it considers appropriate to prevent a genocide, including the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the cessation of all trade with Israel.

Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Gary Gannon accused the Irish Government of “cowardice”.

“They’re saying ‘it’d be better if we didn’t have to act unilaterally’. I’ve never heard anything more cowardly in my own political life to defer to act unilaterally.

“Why not? If you believe something is happening, why are you waiting for the bigger boys to tell you it’s OK to act?

“The absence of fortitude from the Irish Government over the last couple of months has been one of the most shameful aspects of the Irish State, we should have the courage to go beyond ourselves.”

Independent senator Frances Black said: “It’s just beyond comprehension as to why the international community have abandoned the people of Gaza.”

The famous Irish singer, who had visited Gaza in 2018, said the Government’s “passive calls” for a ceasefire do not reflect the full wishes of the Irish people.

Ms Black added: “The Government is making a shameful political calculation out of deference to Washington and Brussels.

“Ireland needs to act decisively and comprehensively to ensure that we live up to our obligations under the Genocide Convention.”

Additionally, the IPSC called on the public to join a demonstration on Saturday at 1pm which will involve a march between the Garden of Remembrance and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Ms Al Tamimi said: “We’re targeting thousands of Irish people in the streets demanding full ceasefire, demanding that the Irish Government do something about this.”