The Guardian amends report after mischaracterising ICJ ruling

The Guardian has issued another correction concerning its reporting on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and proceedings over Israel and Gaza.

In a 5 September article by Beirut correspondent William Christou, the paper stated that the ICJ had ruled in January 2024 that the claim of genocide was “plausible”. This language has been widely misreported in international coverage but is not an accurate reflection of the court’s decision.

As the ICJ’s former president Joan Donoghue explained in an April 2024 interview, the court did not rule on the plausibility of genocide itself. Instead, it found that certain rights claimed by South Africa — specifically, the right of Palestinians to be protected from genocide — were “plausible” and merited provisional protection while the case proceeds. The court stressed that this decision did not touch on the merits of the allegation of genocide.

The Guardian has since amended its report to state: “In an interim judgment in January 2024, the ICJ ruled that Palestinians’ right to be protected from genocide was at ‘imminent risk’.” An editor’s note was also added to acknowledge the error.

This is the third time the Guardian has had to correct reporting on this specific issue. Other outlets, including The National and The Times, have published similar claims but have yet to issue corrections.