World Court gets 5 new judges; 1 accused Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’ weeks after Oct. 7

The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council this week elected five new judges to the International Court of Justice, prompting alarm from Israel’s envoy to the UN, who said that some of the judges’ positions and statements are examples of the international body’s “institutional bias against Israel.” Ambassador Danny Danon pointed to one of the judges accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” shortly after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre, and said another had advised a legal case against Israel.

The five judges elected Tuesday to serve on the UN court in The Hague were Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, Francois Alabrune of France, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan, Rena Lee of Singapore, and Phoebe Okowa of Kenya. The ICJ is composed of 15 judges, each of whom serve nine-year terms, with five judges elected every three years. These judges’ terms will begin in 2027 and end in 2036. Two of the five newly elected judges, Hmoud and Okowa, are incumbent ICJ judges who were appointed in 2025 to fill vacant positions after their predecessors stepped down.

They will now serve full terms on the bench. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Reacting to the election of the five new judges, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said Wednesday on X, “Electing judges who have previously taken positions against Israel raises serious doubts about the Court’s impartiality.” The new judges at The Hague: one absurdly accused Israel of war crimes just one month after the October 7 massacre, while another served as a legal adviser in proceedings against Israel.

The UN elected five judges to the International Court of “Justice,” which is expected to… Advertisement — Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) November 4, 2026 Danon pointed to statements made by the Jordanian judge, Hmoud, during a UN Security Council session on October 30, 2023 , just weeks after the Hamas attack, in which he accused Israel of committing “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes” during its nascent offensive against the terror group in Gaza.

Danon said Hmoud “absurdly accused Israel of war crimes just one month” after the massacre. He also said that another of the newly elected ICJ judges “served as a legal adviser in proceedings against Israel.” Danon did not identify which of the judges he was referring to or provide evidence. Two of the five new judges, Akande and Okowa, have previously served as legal advisers in ICJ proceedings against Israel’s policies in the West Bank.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds a hearing on South Africa’s request that the court order Israel to halt its military operation in Gaza, May 24, 2024. (Nick Gammon/AFP) In 2024, the ICJ declared in a nonbinding ruling that Israel’s 56-year-long control of “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” was “illegal,” and that Israel was obligated to bring its presence in that territory to an end “as rapidly as possible.” Advertisement And since December 2023, the court has been deliberating a case brought by South Africa that alleged that the offensive launched by Israel against the Hamas rulers of Gaza in the wake of the October 7 massacre breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Israel has rejected the accusation of genocide, which has become widespread among its critics, as baseless, and accused South Africa of acting as an emissary of Hamas. It says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the terror group’s fighters operate out of densely populated areas. Proceedings at the ICJ generally last for years. Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report. Your next read: ToI Editors' Picks LIMITED TIME OFFER: Join The Times of Israel Community today, and you'll receive a physical book of your choice, carefully curated by our editors.

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