THE United States has intervened in the genocide case against Israel brought at the United Nations’ highest court by South Africa.

The US argued this week that the accusations against Israel were false and warned that a ruling against Israel could undermine international law.

The International Court of Justice is considering whether Israel’s military operation in Gaza to crush Hamas amounts to genocide under a treaty drawn up after World War II. 

Israel has vehemently denied the allegations.

In a filing to the ICJ the US says that the accusations are part of a “broader campaign” against Israel and the Jewish people “to justify or encourage terrorism against them.”

Any party to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide can intervene to contribute its assessment of the legal questions in the case. 

More than a dozen other countries have filed interventions in the Israel case, including Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland which have taken a different view to the US.

Reed Rubenstein, a legal adviser at the State Department who represents the US, said on Thursday that a finding against Israel would “feed the perception that the court is simply just one more tool in the ongoing pro-Hamas lawfare campaign” against Israel.

Since a ceasefire came into effect last year, the heaviest fighting in Gaza has subsided, but there have been almost daily Israeli violations of the truce.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant in 2024 in connection with the Gaza conflict. The ICC said there was reason to believe the pair used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeting civilians.

The Trump administration responded by sanctioning ICC officials, including nine judges and top prosecutors.