Brazil to join South Africa's ICJ ‘genocide' case against Israel
BRASILIA
Brazil said it will request to intervene in South Africa's genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.
South Africa filed a case in 2023 asking the ICJ to declare that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza. Other countries – such as Spain, Turkey, and Colombia – had already asked the court to intervene in the case.
'The international community cannot remain inactive in the face of ongoing atrocities,' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
'Brazil believes there is no longer room for moral ambiguity or political omission. Impunity undermines international legality and undermines the credibility of the multilateral system.'
Brazil's planned intervention in the case, earlier reported by the Brazilian paper Folha de S Paulo, comes as Israeli abuses in Gaza, including harsh restrictions on aid that have brought the Gaza Strip to the brink of mass famine, are under growing scrutiny.
The 'Brazilian government announces that it is in the final stages of submitting a formal intervention in the ongoing case at the International Court of Justice, brought by South Africa under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,' the statement said.
'The Brazilian government expresses deep indignation at the recurring episodes of violence against the civilian population in the State of Palestine, not limited to the Gaza Strip but extending to the West Bank.'
The South American nation said that civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have been subjected to 'recurring episodes of violence' and serious rights violations, including the 'shameless use of starvation as a weapon of war'.
Several other countries, including Spain, Turkiye, and the Republic of Ireland, have also asked to intervene in the case, urging the ICJ to state that Israel is in violation of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Brazil has itself become increasingly vocal in its criticism of Israel, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denouncing Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide at a BRICS meeting earlier this month. The Foreign Ministry statement notes that the decision to intervene in the case is based on the 'plausibility that the rights of Palestinians to protection against acts of genocide are being irreversibly impaired'.
The court has yet to rule on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, but issued an order in January 2024, demanding that Israel take action to prevent genocide in the Strip through acts such as allowing greater access to humanitarian aid. However, pressure has had little impact, and the United States and other Western allies have remained firmly supportive of Israel despite a growing chorus of experts and rights groups warning of systematic rights abuses in Gaza.
Israel initiated a full blockade in March that barred all aid from Gaza for several months, before allowing a limited resumption of assistance through the GHF.
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