Why is the EU mostly silent on South Africa's genocide case against Israel?

The case, filed to the top UN court by South Africa last month, claims Israel's siege of Gaza amounts to genocide and breaches the post-Holocaust 1948 Genocide Convention.

The Convention gives party countries, which include both Israel and South Africa, the collective right to prevent and stop crimes of genocide. Such crimes are defined as acts "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

The high-stakes legal battle marks the first time Israel defends its war campaign in the Gaza Strip before a court of law since the conflict erupted on October 7. The criminal charge is also highly symbolic for a country that was created to provide security for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, the largest genocide in history.

As ICJ cases traditionally take years before a ruling is reached, South Africa has asked the Court to provisionally call for a ceasefire to appease suffering in the besieged Gaza Strip, where, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 23,000 people have been killed since October.

Israel has vowed to contest the case which it says amounts to "blood libel." Its Western allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, have also chimed in with vehement criticism.

By contrast, other nations, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Turkey, Venezuela as well as the 57-country Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), have formally backed the move.

So where does the European Union stand?

The EU, whose efforts to mediate in the Israel-Hamas war have been plagued by its 27 member states' incoherent positions, has mostly maintained silent on the case.

A European Commission spokesperson this week reaffirmed the bloc's support to the