On Thursday, Jan. 11, Israel will defend itself against genocide allegations in the United Nations’ International Court of Justice. But that doesn’t mean what you might think.

The ICJ is an unusual court. Its function is for governments to address their problems by suing each other under international law instead of, say, going to war. But it’s not a criminal court, it doesn’t have prosecutors, and it can’t try people for war crimes or crimes against humanity such as genocide. That makes it very different from the International Criminal Court.