The International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Amid anticipation of Friday’s interim decision from the International Court of Justice on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, 210 members of the United States House of Representatives signed a letter calling South Africa’s case against Israel “grossly unfounded and defamatory.” The letter expressed its “disgust” with South Africa’s demand for the court to impose a “halt [in] its military efforts in Gaza.”

The letter reads, “South Africa’s accusation of genocide against Israel exposes how far Israel’s enemies will go in their attempts to demonize the Jewish state. While barely acknowledging the Hamas terrorists who gleefully massacred, mutilated, raped, and kidnapped innocent civilians on October 7, South Africa makes grossly unfounded and defamatory charges against Israel on the world stage, abusing the judicial process in order to delegitimize the democratic State of Israel.”

The members of Congress conclude by reaffirming that they “​​vigorously denounce South Africa’s deeply hostile stance towards Israel and thoroughly reject its charge of genocide.” 

Friday’s ruling will not include a decision on whether Israel is committing genocide, but rather on emergency measures to impose a cessation of fighting.

Members from both parties signed the letter, signaling there is still bipartisan support not only for Israel in general, but for its current military operations as well. 

At the same time, a growing number of young people in the United States say they believe Israel is committing genocide, as do some academics who study the subject. Numerous countries, such as Turkey, Jordan, Columbia, Brazil, and Pakistan, have supported South Africa’s case. But Germany is intervening as a third party on the side of Israel, and other countries such as the US and France have spoken out against South Africa’s case.

The rulings of the ICJ are binding, but it does not have specific enforcement mechanisms to ensure the relevant parties comply with them. It is unlikely that Israel will comply with any ruling which places significant roadblocks to achieving the goals of its military campaign.

Support for Israel in the US remains robust, with at least one recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll showing that 80 percent of Americans — including majorities from every age demographic — support Israel over Hamas. 

Additionally, recent data show that whereas the civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio in this war is somewhere between 1.5:1 and 3:1 based on different estimates of the number of Hamas terrorists killed, the global average is 9:1 according to the United Nations and the Center for Civilians in Conflict.