Someone shuffled my papers: Video of Israel lawyer fumbling in ICJ amuses netizens

Court cases are tense no matter the issue they are about. The presiding judges maintain strict silence and protocol as lawyers from both sides bring in their knowledge and expertise in order to win the case using smallest of the legal provisions, manoeuvres or loopholes as the case may be. And when it comes to International Court of Justice (ICJ) deliberating on cases of great global importance, the stakes can't be any higher.

It is precisely because of this, when an international lawyer makes a gaffe or a 'silly error' it becomes the talk of the town. And in the social media age, this means global trolling.

Not that his competence or legal expertise was called into question, but British lawyer Malcolm Shaw, one of those representing the Israeli side in the ongoing 'genocide' case in the ICJ, has a 'whoops' moment just when he was in the middle of presenting his argument in the case that involves some serious charges against Israel.

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As he carefully and methodically presented what he wanted to say in the matter, the courtroom was silent and attentive to the extent that even a pindrop could be heard. The panel of judges looked at documents, possibly thinking about finer points of International Law and its applications in the context of Israel-Hamas war, expecting strong argument from Shaw...when he just stopped talking.

All eyes were suddenly on Shaw as the continuous stream of proceedings suddenly stopped. And they saw him going through his papers.

A lawyer messing around with the papers in an international court may be a rare sight as everyone is expected to be in tip-top form backed by their painstaking preparation beforehand, but Shaw started looking at his papers, clearly not finding what he was meant to.

"Excuse me....I've lost the page," he can be heard saying in the video recording of the court proceedings.

"Well, someone has shuffled my papers," he added as he looked at page after page.

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He definitely did not break any law or rule and any legal representative has a right to take time to go through their documentation during the court proceedings. But ICJ is such a haloed place that this small error appeared to amuse social media users.

Watch the full video here.

What's the case about?

The emergency case has been launched by South Africa against Israel in the ICJ saying that the latter has breached the UN Genocide Convention in the ongoing war. In simpler terms, Israel has been accused of a 'genocide'. South Africa wants the ICJ to compel Israel to immediately stop its military campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in death of at least 23,469 people so far, according to the figures of theHamas-run health ministry in the enclave.

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Israel has strongly denied charges of genocide.

(With inputs from agencies)