A British lawyer will defend Israel at the International Court of Justice in the Hague against South Africa’s accusation that the Jewish state is perpetrating genocide against the Palestinians in its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
Professor Malcolm Shaw KC, who will present Israel’s defense against the charges next week, is a leading expert on territorial disputes and a published author on the law of genocide.
Shaw’s appointment was confirmed by an Israeli official on X. Ynet reported that he is one of four lawyers chosen to represent Jerusalem at the hearings.
A hearing set for January 11 is expected to see South African representatives lay out their case against Israel, while Israel will present its defense against the charges on the following day.
Shaw, 76, is also a human rights expert, who has represented countries including United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Cameroon at the international court.
In its application filed last week, South Africa accused Israel of actions during its war against Hamas in Gaza that are “genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent… to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Israel is a signatory to the Genocide Convention adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 and is therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the ICJ, a UN organ, and its rulings.
Under the terms of the convention, Israel is obligated to send representatives to the court following the submission of a filing against it.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the terror group burst across its southern border from Gaza on October 7, slaughtering some 1,200 people — mostly civilians who were massacred amid horrific acts of brutality — and kidnapping more than 240 others.
It rejects any assertion that it is targeting civilians or engaged in anything other than a campaign for its security. Israel says it is making an effort to avoid harm to civilians while fighting a terror group embedded within the civilian population. It has also long accused Gaza-based terror groups of using Palestinians in the Strip as human shields, operating from sites, including schools and hospitals, which are supposed to be protected.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has claimed that since the start of the war, more than 22,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians. These figures cannot be independently verified and are believed by Israel to include some 8,500 Hamas fighters, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. Another estimated 1,000 terrorists were killed in Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Cases in the ICJ are heard by a panel of all 15 judges of the court, but both parties to a case may themselves nominate a judge to the panel. Decisions are made by a simple majority of the presiding judges.
A government official said that Israel will certainly nominate a judge on its behalf and that prominent US lawyer Alan Dershowitz has been one of several names floated who might be picked for this role.
Officials from several government ministries and agencies are involved in dealing with the ICJ case, including the Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, among others.