Former International Court of Justice President Joan Donoghue told BBC's HARDtalk on Thursday that there had been a general misunderstanding of the meaning of the ICJ's ruling on the case.

Donoghue served as the ICJ's president from 2021 until 2024 and served on the court from 2010. She presided over South Africa's case against Israel, representing the court.

When she was asked about the court's ruling on the case, she clarified a general misunderstanding of its meaning.

The court decided that "the Palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide" and that "South Africa had a right to present that in the court."

"It did not decide, and this is something where I'm correcting something that's often said in the media. It did not decide that the claim of genocide was plausible." Clarifying further, she said that the order emphasized there was a risk to the Palestinian right to be protected from genocide. "The shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided."