Spain announces its decision to join South Africa’s case at the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said on Thursday that Spain will request to join the genocide lawsuit filed by South Africa before the International Court of Justice against  Israel’s crimes in the Gaza Strip. Spain will thus be the second European country to announce its intention to join the cause after Ireland. 

Albarez said, in a press conference in Madrid: “We do this because of our commitment to international law and our desire to support the court in its work, to support the United Nations, and to strengthen the role of the court, as the highest legal entity in that system,” according to what was reported by “Reuters.” 

The International Court of Justice is the highest judicial body of the United Nations, and its decisions are legally binding, but it lacks mechanisms to implement them. Last Friday, the court ordered Israel to ensure “unhindered access” to investigators authorized by the United Nations to look into genocide crimes.

In addition, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced that it welcomed Spain’s announcement of joining the lawsuit submitted by South Africa before the International Court of Justice. Considering this, in addition to the joining of many other countries to the lawsuit, “in furtherance of international justice in its prosecution of the occupying entity that is committing the most horrific crimes of genocide and crimes against “Humanity.” 

In a brief statement published on her Telegram account, she called on “countries around the world to join the lawsuit filed against the criminal Zionist entity, which continues to kill and commit massacres with the intention of genocide and ethnic cleansing, regardless of the precautionary decisions of the International Court of Justice.”

In a ruling issued on January 26, the International Court of Justice also ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza. But South Africa has since repeatedly urged the court to act, arguing that the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza forces the court to issue further emergency measures. On May 24, the International Court of Justice again ordered Israel to stop its military attack “immediately” in Rafah.

 In turn, the Palestinian Authority submitted a request to join South Africa before the International Court of Justice in the genocide case. It said it has a “special interest of a legal nature that may be affected by the decision in the case.” A statement by the court in The Hague said, “On May 31, the State of Palestine submitted to the Registry an application for permission to intervene and declare intervention” in the genocide lawsuit filed by South Africa.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the Parliament of Slovenia approved the government’s decision to recognize the independent Palestinian state, after Spain, Ireland and Norway adopted the same step on May 28, which sparked an angry reaction from Israel, according to what Reuters reported. 

Earlier, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz said, “Palestine will be liberated from the river to the sea,” in a statement condemned by Israel, after Diaz explained at the end of a video clip circulated on social media that Spain’s move to recognize the Palestinian state on May 28 “ “Just the beginning.” On May 25, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles described the war on Gaza as a “true genocide,” days after a similar statement by the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister in which she described the war in Gaza as a genocide.