The international court of justice on Friday ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide by its troops in Gaza, and to allow more aid into the besieged territory. The court, which is the UN’s highest judicial body, stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire. But it was a victory for the Palestinians, and for the global south in general, in that Israel is being held accountable for its military actions for the first time, and by one of the world’s most important courts.

By allowing the case brought by South Africa to go forward and calling on Israel to comply with the genocide convention – and to report back to the court within a month – the ruling raises the stakes on Israel’s western backers to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to rein in its devastating invasion and bombardment of Gaza. The ruling is embarrassing to Joe Biden and his top aides, especially the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who described South Africa’s case as “meritless” a few weeks ago.

While it could take years for the court to rule on whether Israel has committed genocide, the interim measures are intended to prevent conditions in Gaza from getting worse while the case makes its way through the tribunal’s process. The US, Britain and other western powers that have backed Israel unconditionally since it launched its assault on Gaza, after Hamas’s 7 October attacks, will presumably want to avoid being implicated in supporting a genocide – and that is incentive for these world powers to finally push for a ceasefire.

The Biden administration is particularly vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy if it decides to ignore the court’s findings, which are binding on its member states. But the court does not have an enforcement mechanism, aside from referring matters to the UN security council, where Washington has already used its veto power multiple times to shield Israel from demands for a ceasefire. Over the past........

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