Israel forced to work on Jewish Sabbath as UN court judge calls out colleagues in scathing dissent

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A U.N. International Court of Justice (ICJ) chided her colleagues on Friday for requiring Israel to work on the Sabbath when responding to a case brought by South Africa to the ICJ under the Genocide Convention.

The dissenting opinion from ICJ Vice President Julia Sebutinde came in a nine-page document, issued in response to the court's order for Israel to end its military offensive in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza. That ruling stems from South Africa's request, which accuses Israel of genocide in its ongoing war with Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Israel has vehemently denied these charges. 

Among her disagreements with her colleagues, Sebutinde, who is Ugandan, objected to the court's handling of South Africa's request, and the "incidental oral hearings." 

Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), speaks next to Judge Julia Sebutinde, vice president of the ICJ, at the start of a hearing in The Hague Netherlands, on May 16. (Reuters/Yves Herman)

"In my view, the Court should have consented to Israel's request to postpone the oral hearings to the following week to allow for Israel to have sufficient time to fully respond to South Africa's Request and engage counsel," Sebutinde wrote, noting that the Israel's preferred Counsel was not available on the dates scheduled by the Court. 

"It is also regrettable that Israel was required to respond to a question posed by a Member of the Court over the Jewish Sabbath," Sebutinde said. "The Court's decision in this respect bear upon the procedural equality between the Parties and the good administration of justice by the Court." 

Sebutinde also argued that the court’s initial ruling "does not entirely prohibit the Israeli military from operating in Rafah." She also urged the court, to maintain its judicial integrity, to "avoid reacting to every shift in the conflict and refrain from micromanaging the hostilities in the Gaza Strip, including Rafah." 

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Sebutinde clarified that the ruling operates to "partially restrict Israel’s offensive in Rafah to the extent it implicates rights under the Genocide Convention." She warned that the ruling is "susceptible to ambiguity and could be misunderstood or misconstrued as ordering an indefinite, unilateral cease-fire, thereby exemplifying an untenable overreach on the part of the Court." 

Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 19, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP via Getty Images)

The judges’ ruling on Friday stopped short of ordering a full cease-fire across the entire Palestinian territory, and Israel is unlikely to comply with the court's ruling. Friday's decision comes just days after Norway, Ireland, and Spain said they would recognize the Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor of a separate international court sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as leaders of Hamas.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli bombardments and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

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Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.