This Irish Lawyer For South Africa Gave A Powerful Presentation About Israel’s Genocide In Gaza To The ICJ
Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh presented arguments that showed the suffering Israel has inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza, calling it “the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain, hope that the world that might do something.”
Irish lawyer, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who is part of the international team representing South Africa in suing Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), delivered a powerful presentation about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
The ICJ began its hearing on whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday Jan. 11 after the South African government formally sued Israel on Dec. 29, 2023, for violating the Genocide Convention.
The convention – an international treaty created in the aftermath of the Holocaust that has been signed by 152 states, including both Israel and South Africa – defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnic, racial or religious group”.
These include:
1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
South Africa say Israel has committed and is committing the first four acts.
Ní Ghrálaigh, who said she was responsible for examining the urgency and risk of irreparable harm in the case, presented arguments that showed the suffering Israel has inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza, calling it “the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain, hope that the world that might do something.”
She shared statistics of the number of Palestinian civilians, medics, teachers, journalists and UN workers who are being killed, injured and violently forced to flee each day at the current rate, as well as powerful testimonies from UN chiefs, aid workers, doctors and pastors on the ground.
“Entire multi-generational families will be obliterated, and yet more Palestinian children will become WCNSF – Wounded Child, No Surviving Family, the terrible new acronym borne out of Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian population in Gaza,” she said.
She said that the international community is continuing to fail Palestinians in Gaza despite the overwhelming evidence, including Israel’s genocidal rhetoric, actions from its military, as well as the on-the-ground videos and photos being shared on TV and social media.
Ní Ghrálaigh ended her speech by sharing two photos of a whiteboard in a hospital in Gaza on which Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, a Doctors Without Borders doctor, had written, “We did what we could. Remember Us” before and after an Israeli airstrike struck the hospital and killed him and two colleagues.
She then concluded with a quote from Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac on Christmas Day, quoting, “No apologies will be accepted after the genocide. What has been done has been done. I want you to look in the mirror and ask, where was I when Gaza was going through a genocide?”
Ní Ghrálaigh, along with the team of lawyers representing South Africa, are urging the court to institute an emergency order to stop Israel from committing further crimes in Gaza as an official judgment may take years.
