The Spanish Government has taken a step that may further strain its relations with the Israeli Executive: Spain has decided to intervene in the case opened by the International Court of Justice after South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel last December for the alleged crime of genocide. in Gaza. This was announced this Thursday by the head of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, in an urgent and surprise appearance at the headquarters of his ministry.
The head of Spanish diplomacy has justified his decision by the failure by the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu to comply with the precautionary measures issued by the highest UN court, which on May 24 ordered to “immediately stop” the military operation on Rafah and Last January it ruled that the Israeli army must allow unrestricted access of humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza to prevent genocide. All of these mandates from the highest UN court, Albares has stressed, are mandatory.
Despite appearing in the procedure, the Foreign Minister did not want to define whether the massacres of civilians in Gaza constitute a crime of genocide, as some members of the Spanish Government have said, including the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, alleging that it corresponds the international court to rule on the matter. The Government’s decision, he stressed, seeks to support the UN court in carrying out its investigation, for which the Foreign Ministry will present an interpretive report on which the department’s legal advice is already working.
Spain is not the only European country that has decided to take part in the case against Israel. Ireland and Belgium have also anticipated their intention to intervene, as the minister recalled.
Last December, South Africa asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to open proceedings against Israel for allegedly violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). The Convention against Genocide obliges countries to prevent it and provides for the jurisdiction in these cases of the ICJ, a UN court that resolves disputes between States.
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Following South Africa’s request, Spain, Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya and Mexico have joined the case before Spain, with Chile joining them. In addition, Maldives, Egypt, Turkey, Ireland and Belgium intend to intervene, although they have not yet formalized it. Palestine has also asked the UN Court to join the case.
The minister has assured that, despite Israel’s order to cease all its contacts with the Palestinian population and the threat to close it if it did not comply, the Consulate General of Spain in Jerusalem has continued to “function normally” throughout this week.
Furthermore, Albares has delayed the announced presentation of protests over the insults expressed on social networks by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, against the governments of Spain, Ireland and Norway, the three that recognized the Palestinian State last week. . The minister has alleged that, after consulting with his Norwegian colleague and verifying that the attacks by the head of Israeli diplomacy “have subsided” in recent days, the intention of the three countries is “not to fuel the escalation or fall into provocations.” That is, do not act at the moment.
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