ON Friday, the voice of justice echoed in The Hague Peace Palace where The International Court of justice (ICJ) while issuing its interim order in the case South Africa v. Israel, with a majority opinion, upheld South Africa’s call for justice to prevent the ongoing Israeli acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip. The World Court while instituting its emergency measures, ordered Israel to report in a month regarding the progress of the Court order. The President of the UN top Court–an American judge Joan Donoghue –categorically ruled that the order creates international obligations for Israel in Gaza. The verdict is absolutely a triumph for the supremacy of international law.

As per the Court order, ‘’The plausible rights in question in these proceedings, namely the right of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts [under the] Convention … are of such a nature that prejudice to them is capable of causing irreparable harm.” Moreover, the ICJ while deliberating on the case gave high importance to the Israeli statements on its genocidal intent. In the case of obligations owed to the international community as a whole, that is, ergaomnes, (international obligations of the states). That said, under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention ‘’ Compliance may invoke a state’s responsibility in international law, for which non-compliance can result in an internationally wrongful act and its ensuing consequences.’’

Notably, in their exercise of legal perceptivity, the Court Judges gave high importance to Raphael Lamkin’s indoctrination–of the term genocide which became the basis for Nuremburg Trails (1945-46) and the very formation of the Convention of the........

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