ICJ vice-president: 'The Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel'

Julia Sebutinde, the Ugandan vice-president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has said God "is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel" and the signs of the "end times" are "being shown in the Middle East". 

Early last year, Sebutinde was the only judge on a 17-member ICJ panel that ruled it was "plausible" that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, who voted against all six measures adopted by the court.

And in July 2024, she was again the sole dissenter when a 15-judge panel found that Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories was "unlawful". 

In February 2025, a study accused her of directly lifting sentences almost word for word in her dissenting opinion written on 19 July 2024.

It alleged that “at least 32 percent of Sebutinde’s dissent was plagiarised”. Sebutinde declined to comment on the controversy to MEE at the time.

Now, the 71-year-old judge has publicly addressed criticism of her position for the first time.

"The Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel," she said on 10 August in a speech at the Watoto Church in Uganda, according to the Ugandan news website Monitor. 

"The whole world was against Israel, including my country."

Sebutinde described her disappointment that the Ugandan government has distanced itself from her position.

"The position taken by Judge Sebutinde is her own individual and independent opinion, and does not in any way reflect the position of the government of the republic of Uganda," a government spokesperson said in January 2024.

Sebutinde recalled: "Even though the government was against me, I remember one ambassador saying, 'Ignore her because her ruling is not a representation of Uganda'." 

'God has allowed me to be part of the last days'

Sebutinde, who briefly served as the ICJ's acting president earlier this year, further revealed that she stood to be vice president of the world court, a role she now holds, because she felt compelled by God to do so.

She said God called her a "coward" and told her to "wake up" when she was lying in bed on the morning of the election worrying about criticism over her stance on Israel. 

ICJ president 'plagiarised 32 percent of pro-Israel dissenting opinion'

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The judge also shared her thoughts on Gaza, saying the situation signalled the "end times" predicted in the Bible.

"I have a very strong conviction that we are in the end times," she declared. "The signs are being shown in the Middle East. I want to be on the right side of history."

She continued: "I am convinced that time is running out. I would encourage you to follow developments in Israel. I am humbled that God has allowed me to be part of the last days."

The study alleging Sebutinde had plagiarised her July dissenting opinion was produced by an anonymous Palestinian researcher for US scholar Norman Finkelstein's recent book Gaza Gravediggers.

The study alleged she plagiarised from various pro-Israeli commentators and lawyers, and that she directly lifted several sections from Wikipedia and BBC News.