The US has described South Africa’s decision to bring a genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as unproductive, saying it has not observed acts that constitute “genocide”, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We don’t think it’s productive,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

“Genocide is, of course, a heinous atrocity, one of the most heinous atrocities that any individual can commit,” Miller said, adding that those are allegations that should not be made lightly.

White House, for its part, said it found the submission “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”