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In bringing a genocide case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa has dared, as FP’s Sasha Polakow-Suransky writes, “to take on a radioactive global issue, discussion of which is virtually verboten in Washington.”
Although the court’s ruling on genocide could take years, it has already ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip. But in some ways, Polakow-Suransky argues, the outcome is less important than Pretoria’s decision to launch the case, which has “made it acceptable to accuse Israel of grave crimes in a major formal international setting.”
This edition of Flash Points examines the case and its global implications, from its potential impact on the war in Gaza to what it might mean for Washington’s global leadership.
