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Jordanian envoy, who has said Israel at war with ‘people of Gaza,’ elected to UN high court

Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud has previously described Israel’s war against Hamas as a “vicious attack against the protected population of Gaza.”

Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud, the Jordanian ambassador to the United Nations, briefs reporters after a U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, Oct. 25, 2023. Credit: Loey Felipe/U.N. Photo.
Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud, the Jordanian ambassador to the United Nations, briefs reporters after a U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, Oct. 25, 2023. Credit: Loey Felipe/U.N. Photo.

The United Nations Security Council elected Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud, Jordan’s ambassador to the United Nations, to serve as judge on the 15-member International Court of Justice by a unanimous vote on Tuesday.

Hmoud ran unopposed for the seat on the court and will serve out the term of Nawaf Salam, who resigned in January to become Lebanon’s prime minister.

The Jordanian diplomat has described Israel’s war against Hamas as a “vicious attack against the protected population of Gaza.”

“Stressed the urgent need for stopping the Israeli war on the people of Gaza and necessity of ensuring unhindered access of aid into Gaza,” he wrote in January, after meeting with Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.

The Hague-based International Court of Justice is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is currently hearing South Africa’s case against Israel arguing that the Jewish state is committing genocide in Gaza.

Hmoud’s term is set to last until February 2027.

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