After South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the war against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, over the past weekend, both sides made their case in front of the panel of 15 judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

Now Israel, South Africa, and the world are awaiting a decision by the so-called ‘World Court’ – but what exactly is this court and what would be the consequences for Israel in the case of a decision against the Jewish state?

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was established as one of the United Nations' six principal bodies in 1945, shortly after World War II.

Its purpose is to adjudicate general disputes between countries based on international law, for which the court’s rulings and opinions are one of the major sources.

Genocide, generally taken to mean a deliberate attempt to erase a people group, was made a crime in 1948, the same year the State of Israel was created, under the direct influence of the increasing understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust.

The term itself was coined by Jewish lawyer and Holocaust survivor Raphael Lemkin, specifically to describe the Nazi's attempt to systematically erase the Jewish people, making the accusations against Israel especially galling.

Read the full article at All Israel News.