Cuba Joins South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel at Top UN Court

Cuba has officially joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), becoming the latest country to back a legal proceeding that Israeli leaders have lambasted as “an obscene exploitation” of the Genocide Convention.

In a brief statement released on Monday, the top UN court said that late last week Cuba joined Ireland, Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, Libya, Bolivia, Turkey, the Maldives, Chile, Spain, and “Palestine” in asking to intervene in the case.

Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

“Cuba, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip,” the ICJ said in its statement.

In January, the ICJ ruled there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims that Palestinians had a right to be protected from genocide. However, the top UN court did not make a determination on the merits of South Africa’s allegations — which Israel and its allies have described as baseless and may take years to get through the judicial process. Israeli officials have strongly condemned the ICJ proceedings, noting that the Jewish state is targeting terrorists who use civilians as human shields in its military campaign.

Pro-Israel advocates welcomed the ICJ ruling because it did not impose a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza and called for the release of the hostages taken by Hamas last Oct. 7. Rather than declare that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and order the Jewish state to stop its military campaign in the Palestinian enclave, the court issued a more general directive that Israel must make sure it prevents acts of genocide.

In late October, South Africa filed the bulk of the relevant material to support its allegations.

Cuba argued that its decision to join South Africa’s case at the ICJ was motivated by support for international law.

“The Cuban government reiterates its deep concern regarding the continued escalation of violence by Israel in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, in flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter and international law,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The impunity with which the Israeli government acts is a direct result of the complicity of successive governments of the United States of America, which repeatedly obstruct and veto any action by the international community and the UN Security Council, undermining peace, security, and stability in the Middle East and around the world,” the statement continued. “This case, initiated by South Africa and supported by more than a dozen countries, must be understood and treated as an urgent call by all to stop the horrendous international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and apartheid that have been and are being perpetrated against the Palestinian people.”

Cuba also “reaffirmed its solidarity and support for the brotherly people of Palestine, victim for more than 75 years of illegitimate colonial occupation and flagrant violations of its legitimate right to exist as a free and independent nation,” before declaring that “genocide against the Palestinian people must cease immediately and unconditionally!”

Eva Yelina Silva, director of international law at the ministry, said in a video posted to social media that Cuba’s intervention in the ICJ case argues that Israeli actions in Gaza are part of a decades-long policy of genocide against the Palestinians. Silva did not mention that the Palestinian population in both Gaza and the West Bank has increased significantly over the past several decades.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, said that his country’s latest move at the ICJ “reaffirms [his] unrestricted support for Palestine and condemns any policy that undermines its right to freedom and independence.”

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists launched the ongoing war in Gaza when they invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages. The Jewish state responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

The day after Hamas’s atrocities, Cuba said the massacre was a “consequence of 75 years of permanent violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and Israel’s aggressive and expansionist policy.” The Cuban Foreign Ministry also called on the UN Security Council to “fulfill its mandate and put an end to the impunity of Israel, ‘the occupying power, of which the United States has historically been an accomplice, by repeatedly obstructing the action of the body, undermining peace, security, and stability in the Middle East.'”

Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli military.

Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Nonetheless, South Africa and its supporters at the ICJ have accused Israel of perpetrating a genocide during its military campaign.

Meanwhile, Cuba has also been pursuing closer relations with Iran, the chief international backer of Hamas and, according to several Western governments, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

Last month, a senior adviser to the Iranian health minister said that one of Iran’s top foreign policy priorities will be working to enhance its relationship with Cuba across several domains.

Last December, both countries vowed to strengthen relations and stand together against sanctions imposed on them by Washington.

“What can neutralize the sanctions is the exchange of capacities between the two countries,” then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during a joint statement with his visiting Cuban counterpart, Diaz-Canel.

“There is a serious determination between the two countries to develop relations,” Raisi said, adding that “the common feature of the two countries is that they both stand against the system of domination.”

That meeting came months after both leaders met in Havana and each said their countries faced similar situations and had to confront “Yankee imperialism and its allies with a tenacious resistance.”

Cuba has been under a US embargo since 1962 and is included on Washington’s list of countries supporting terrorism — like Iran, which is also subject to severe sanctions. Earlier this year, the US also removed Cuba from a short list of countries that it alleges are “not cooperating fully” in its fight against terrorism. However, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the Biden administration is expected to lift the US designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism before President Joe Biden leaves office next Monday.

Beyond shared hostility toward the US, Iran and Cuba have also taken several steps to expand their economic relationship. In April, for example, they established a twinning relationship between two major ports in each country to facilitate shipping and trade.

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