Speaking to the Sunday Independent this weekend, Ms Erlich said the application made by Ms Ní Ghrálaigh and the South African delegation at the ICJ is “inherently false and biased” and “completely ignores” the role and responsibilities of Hamas for the war.
The diplomat also claimed South Africa has “publicly and shamelessly aligned itself with Hamas” and says it is “embracing a proscribed terror organisation” which is “calling for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people across the globe”.
Last week, Ms Ní Ghrálaigh’s work as a top human rights barrister brought her to the ICJ, the UN’s highest court.
‘The fact that Ms Ní Ghrálaigh is from Ireland means a lot to me’
In a powerful address on Thursday, Ms Ní Ghrálaigh said the conflict in Gaza was the “first genocide in history” being broadcast in “real-time”.
Addressing the court in both English and French, which she studied at Cambridge University, she said her task was to convince the court of the urgent need for provisional measures to be imposed to protect the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.
In response to the application, Ms Erlich has described South Africa as “Hamas’s representatives in the court”.
She told the Sunday Independent that the South African team is “ignoring the fact that Hamas uses the civilian population in Gaza as human shields and operates from within hospitals, schools, UN shelters, mosques and churches, with the intention of endangering the lives of the residents of Gaza.”
She also welcomed statements from the Irish Government emphasising the role of Hamas in this war.
“As Taoiseach Varadkar stated, it is important to remember and understand the origin of the term genocide, and acknowledge the agenda of Hamas which openly declares its genocidal intents — as we’ve witnessed since October 7.”
Meanwhile, Palestine’s ambassador to Ireland, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, described the opening statement by Ms Ní Ghrálaigh as “a landmark speech”. She also said “the fact that Ms Ní Ghrálaigh is from Ireland means a lot to me”.
“She is Irish. She knows the meaning of colonisation, starvation, occupation and oppression.”
Reacting to the ICJ case, Dr Abdalmajid said: “The whole world has witnessed this genocide online — live. You cannot say it isn’t happening. We see it. You cannot hide it or lie about it.”
‘We need to be strong to stand up for our cause, but we have no time to grieve’
The diplomat also revealed her family suffered further losses in Gaza as recently as 10 days ago, and added that she has not been able to process their deaths.
“We have had more tragedies. We have now lost 12 family members. For a period of time it was very, very difficult. Maybe when this war is over — and I hope it will be soon — we will have time to deal with our grief. But now we are trying to freeze our feelings.
“To be able to stand up for our cause we need to be strong — but it is not easy. We don’t have time to grieve.”
Ms Ní Ghrálaigh was brought up by her Dublin-born mother and Mayo-born father in London but has often travelled back to Ireland.
She only began training as a lawyer after completing an undergraduate degree in languages, working in the interim for a think-tank to save for the cost of a conversion course.
She took up a position at a human rights firm in London but turned down the offer of a solicitor’s training contract to work as a legal observer on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in Northern Ireland.
She then spent a further year in Derry working for a solicitor’s firm representing many of the Bloody Sunday families.
The ICJ hearing is the latest in a long line of high-profile cases for Ms Ní Ghrálaigh.
She has presented to the ICJ before, on behalf of Croatia in a 2015 case against Serbia alleging genocide in the early 1990s.
She has also worked for the ‘Hooded Men’, a group of men interned in Northern Ireland in 1971 who last year received an apology from the PSNI for their treatment.