In this week’s theater of the absurd, the state of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague on Thursday and Friday. Israel will be there to defend itself against South Africa’s charge that the country is committing genocide against the people of Gaza by militarily responding to the October 7th terrorist attack committed by Hamas.

The 84-page filing is absurd on its face. Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is a crime that requires specific actions and intent- i.e. acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such. 

By all accounts, including South Africa’s, Israel has the undeniable military capability to completely destroy the entire Gaza Strip in a matter of minutes if it so desired. Noticeably, Israel has not done so, and instead has taken extreme measures to protect Gazan civilians.