Last week the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague held five days of hearings for yet another case against Israel and its campaign in Gaza.
This time, the fate of the Palestinians and the sanctity of the United Nations (UN) were at stake. Forty-one states and four international organisations presented arguments to determine whether Israel has violated its obligations regarding its treatment of UN agencies and their representatives and the rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
While Ireland submitted a strongly worded statement to the court denouncing Israel’s multiple violations of international law, it is one of only six states that have made submissions but did not also present oral arguments.
Whether or not this is part of a carefully balanced political strategy designed not to strain further the increasingly fraught relationship with the United States, failure to appear in the Peace Palace gives the impression of lacklustre support for the Palestinian people and undercuts our stated position of solidarity.
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The request for an advisory opinion on the obligations of Israel in relation to the UN and its agencies, including the provision of aid to the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, arises from the General Assembly.
Led by Norway, a resolution to send this question to the ICJ was passed by 137 votes in December. The death of 291 UN personnel, many of whom worked in Gaza as part of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa) – along with allegations that UN workers and facilities have been deliberately targeted by the Israeli military – has put the organisation at the centre of this case.
The situation was exacerbated by Israel’s defiance of the court’s previous orders to halt the military campaign and supply humanitarian assistance. The result has been the further devastation of the Palestinian people.
Opening the proceedings, the UN legal counsel Elinor Hammarskjöld, a relative of the former UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld who was killed in Congo in 1961, pointed out that no aid has entered Gaza since March 2nd.
In effect, as argued by the Palestinian representatives, Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war with catastrophic effects. Already devastated by the military campaign (more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the onslaught began, according to Palestinian health officials), with Israel’s blocking of humanitarian supplies, the Palestinians who remain are slowly starving to death.
A sizeable majority of submissions to the court condemned Israel’s actions. Among the states who did so were Norway and Spain, who have been increasingly vocal in their support for Palestine. They are also Ireland’s leading European allies on this question since they recognised Palestinian statehood at the same time as Ireland in 2024. Spain has worked closely with Ireland to push the EU to do more on this issue. So why did Ireland not join our European allies and stand up for Palestine at the ICJ?
It may have something to do with the increasingly tempestuous transatlantic relationship.
The US president Donald Trump has been resolute in his support of Israel in its actions against the Palestinians. Recently he stated that he “fully supports” the resumption of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military activities in Gaza and has warned Hamas that there “would be all hell to pay” if the remaining hostages are not released.
For Ireland, the shifting sands of the transatlantic relationship, formerly one of the buttresses of Irish foreign policy, has been threatened by a mercurial Trump. As he is highly critical of our trade surplus and has a trigger-happy approach to tariffs that would severely affect our economy, maintaining the “special relationship” with the US has become a central focus for the Government.
Ireland’s outspoken position on Palestine is a pressure point with the US, particularly among Republicans. During US senate hearings last week for Edward Walsh, President Trump’s nominee as ambassador to Ireland, Republican senator for Idaho Jim Risch declared that by recognising Palestinian statehood, Ireland was “much out of step” with the US on Israel.
The comment would have done little to assuage Government fears of a growing tension with the US. Such a perception in Washington would certainly have been exacerbated by a public argument in support of Palestine at the UN’s highest court. It seems that even defining issues such as Palestine are secondary to the desire not to aggravate the untethered occupant of the White House.
For its part, Israel has become even more intransigent. It did not appear at the ICJ last week. Even before proceedings began, Israel violated the ceasefire conditions by continuing to bomb Gaza, saying it would do so until Hamas releases all remaining hostages. Israel has couched its actions in the tacit legality of the Knesset, which passed two laws in 2024 demanding the cessation of Unrwa activities, the implementation of which represents a violation of Israel’s obligations under the UN charter. This has raised the criticism that no matter how many advisory opinions and judgments the court declares, and regardless of how many resolutions the UN passes, Israel will continue to violate international law, rendering the UN essentially hamstrung.
However, it is precisely when such grievous violations of international law and human rights take place that institutions such as those of the UN are most needed. Most states that argued before the court reiterated the importance of protecting both the Palestinians and the immunity and privileges of the UN.
Ireland’s absence from the Peace Palace last week is a missed opportunity to show that we stand beside the Palestinian people on the grounds of international law – not just in the face of public opinion.
Alanna O’Malley is associate professor at the Leiden University Institute for History
