Why the ICJ ruling is unlikely to change Israel's behaviour

South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice over Tel Aviv's military operation in Gaza, which South Africa calls acts of genocide. The excessive bombing campaign and wilful destruction of property, life and limb is hardly in dispute. Israel calls it legitimate acts of self-defense, following Hamas's murderous incursion from Gaza on Israeli terrain on October 7. Hamas, shorthand for the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military organisation founded in 1987. It has governed the Gaza Strip of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories since 2007. Except for the US and members of the European…