In a rare moment of triumph for pro-Israel voices at the Hague, the International Court of Justice is promoting a defender of Israel, Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda, as its vice president. 

Judge Sebuntinde was the only one out of the ICJ’s 17 judges to vote against six emergency measures that urged Israel to do it all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in its military campaign at Gaza.

An Israeli judge, Aharon Barak, voted against four of the provisions, while the rest of the panel took the side of South Africa on allegations that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and should halt its offensive.

The first African woman to sit on the UN’s top court, Judge Sebuntinde was serving her second term when last month she put forth her dissenting opinion at the Hague.

South Africa failed to demonstrate that Israel’s actions were, she said, “committed with the necessary genocidal intent, and that as a result, they are capable of falling within the scope of the Genocide Convention.”

Judge Sebuntinde’s ruling sparked a bit of an outcry, most notably from the ambassador of Uganda to the United Nations, Adonia Ayebare, who said the judge’s opinion “does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine.”

At the international court, though, Judge Sebutinde is up for a promotion. She will serve for a term of three years, according to a Tuesday statement from the court’s registry, and deputize Judge Nawaf Salam of Lebanon. 

The International Court of Justice describes itself as “the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.”