Ombudsman: SBS breached accuracy rules on ICJ ruling

The SBS ombudsman has upheld a complaint by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) that an SBS World News report misrepresented the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) findings on genocide allegations against Israel.

In a decision dated November 4, SBS ombudsman Amy Stockwell found that a report broadcast on September 15 breached SBS’s accuracy requirements by stating that the ICJ had “found it plausible Israel is committing genocide”.

In its complaint, AIJAC pointed to the text of the ICJ’s January 2024 provisional measures order. The order found that Palestinians in Gaza had a plausible right to be protected from genocide, not that Israel was plausibly committing genocide.

AIJAC also cited former ICJ president Joan Donoghue. In an April 2024 BBC interview, she expressed concern about media mischaracterisation of the decision, saying the court “didn’t decide that the claim of genocide was plausible”.

Stockwell concluded that the report had adopted the court’s language of “plausibility” while attributing to it a finding about Israel’s conduct that the court had not made. She also found that the report’s reference to Israel rejecting the ruling did not correct the inaccuracy.