Mexico is set to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. On Tuesday, May 28th the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced in a statement that the country had filed a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, placing it on the list of countries accusing Israel of violating the UN 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Other countries like Colombia, Nicaragua, Egypt, Turkey, and Libya have also declared their intention to join the case in different ways.
Mexico outlined its intervention in a declaration of intervention by saying that “The Genocide Convention not only proscribes mass killings, but also a broader array of conducts brought together by the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” adding that “In that sense, Mexico upholds the position that denial of access to humanitarian aid, to the extent that it creates conditions of life calculated to cause serious bodily and mental harm to members of a group, as well as to bring about its partial or total physical destruction, must be examined to the light of Article II of the Convention on against Genocide.”
Mexico’s decision comes after protesters clashed against police outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City on the same day. A fire broke out outside the embassy as 200 people joined the “Urgent action for Rafah” demonstration. The entire embassy did not catch on fire, though there was indeed a fire as protesters chanted anti-war slogans outside of the Embassy. But demonstrators were allegedly tear gassed and arrested.
The ICJ has not yet decided whether Mexico’s application is admissible. And this news comes after an Israeli strike set fire to a refugee camp in Rafah, where Palestinians were told to flee to by Israel during their conflict with Hamas. This has sparked major backlash and international outrage as it was seen as an attack on civilians.