Sagaøya—“the Saga Island,” a traditional Scandinavian epithet for Iceland reflecting its role in preserving the medieval Norse sagas—stands for Scandinavians, and particularly for Norwegians, as the emblem of the untainted Norse. But now woke has come to Iceland as well. Not only in the form of Muslims, but the woke virus. This means that antisemitism has pitched camp in the minds of the leaders and is poisoning the population.

The Icelanders preserved the notion of law and justice. They have now abandoned it. Like the leaders in the Nordic countries, they believe in “international law” (folkerett) as if it were an unambiguous concept. Of course it is not. It has a history and development like everything else. Today’s holders of power do not possess the monopoly, but attempt to use the concept as a weapon against their enemies. In doing so they weaken the force of what was supposed to be a rule-based order.

We do not expect much from Espen Barth Eide and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet, UD). But the Icelanders! That they too can sink so low is disheartening.

Iceland’s government has decided to join South Africa’s case against Israel for genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

South Africa accuses Israel of breaching its obligations under the UN Genocide Convention in connection with the war in Gaza, which began with the Hamas attack in October 2023, writes the Icelandic broadcaster Ruv.

In the legal documents submitted on Wednesday, it states that Iceland condemns both Hamas’ terrorist attack and Israel’s military offensive, in addition to the tragic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

– By joining South Africa’s case we are using our voice in support of international law (folkerett) and humanitarian law. And we can be proud of that, says Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrin Gunnarsdóttir.

A total of 14 other countries have previously announced that they would join the case against Israel, among them Spain, Ireland and Belgium, Mexico, Brazil and Chile.

The United States, on the other hand, has submitted that they believe there is no basis for a case against Israel.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was established in 1945 as the UN’s principal judicial organ, where disputes between states are handled.

This is in contrast to the International Criminal Court (ICC), where individual persons can be prosecuted for violations of human rights and war crimes.

Both the ICJ and the ICC, which is independent of the UN, are located in The Hague in the Netherlands. (NTB)