Judge Julia Sebutinde is set to assume the presidency of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), marking another milestone in her groundbreaking career as well as a significant shift for the court.
The Ugandan jurist, who recently made headlines for her robust defence of Israel against South Africa’s genocide allegations, will take the helm following current President Nawaf Salam’s departure.
Salam has been appointed Prime Minister of his native Lebanon by new president Joseph Aoun, whose election, backed by the US and Saudi Arabia, represents a major blow to Iran and its proxy Hezbollah.
Sebutinde’s recent ruling on the Israel-Hamas War has particularly resonated in international legal circles. She dismissed South Africa’s requests for temporary injunctions to halt the Gaza war, asserting that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is fundamentally political rather than legal in both its nature and historical context, and therefore falls outside the court’s purview.
Her claiming there is no evidenc of intent seems quite out of place. In partivular as the court has ruled as provisional measures that Israel needs to prevent and criminally prosecute genocidial incitement from high ranking politicians and arny officials.
There is plenty of statements from the Israeli president, prime minister, multiple ministers and army officials, which reflect in the chants and celebrations of soldiers in the IDF who celebrate the murder and destruction as they live out their intended and explicitly stated annihilation of Palestinians.
For an exhaustive description see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_genocide#Genocidal_intent
It is implausible that this judge sees all of this differently than a huge majority of legal, historical and human rights experts in the world without this being motivated by a political bias.