Israel is accused of subjecting Palestinians in Gaza to acts of genocide, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) opened a hearing on Thursday into South Africa’s genocide case against it.
During Israel’s three-month-old war in Gaza, more than 23,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, lawyers told the United Nations’ highest court. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, and an Israeli blockade severely limiting food, fuel and medicine has caused a humanitarian “catastrophe”, according to the UN.
South Africa’s case in The Hague argues that Israel violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, established in the aftermath of the Holocaust, which requires all countries to prevent the recurrence of such crimes. He filed an 84-page document with the court detailing acts he says constitute genocide in Gaza.
Adila Hassim, a lawyer representing South Africa, told the ICJ that Israel had violated Article II of the Genocide Convention, which included the “massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Israel deployed 6,000 bombs a week…No one is spared. Not even newborns. UN chiefs described it as a graveyard for children,” she said.
“Nothing will end the suffering except an order from this court,” she added. South Africa has asked the ICJ to order Israel to suspend its military campaign.
Also called the World Court, the ICJ is the highest legal body of the UN that can decide issues between member states.
Alanna O’Malley, professor of United Nations and international history, told Tel Aviv Tribune that South Africa’s case was “historic”.
“The invocation of the various articles of the Genocide Convention by the South African legal team shows us the way in which they are going to present this case structurally,” she told the Hague court, calling it “extremely convincing”.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was pursuing the case for what he called “the ongoing massacre of the people of Gaza.”
Israel will respond to South Africa’s allegations on Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hypocrisy and lies were presented to the UN’s highest court, adding that South Africa’s accusation of genocide in Gaza against Israel cannot take place than in a topsy-turvy world.
“We fight terrorists, we fight lies,” Netanyahu said. “Today we saw a world turned upside down. Israel is accused of genocide while it fights against genocide.
“Israel is fighting murderous terrorists who have committed crimes against humanity: they have massacred, raped, burned, dismembered, beheaded – children, women, the elderly, young men and women,” he said. declared. “South Africa’s hypocrisy screams to the heavens. »
“Genocidal intent”
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, another South African lawyer, addressed the issue of Israel’s “genocidal intent” against Palestinians in Gaza, which is usually the hardest thing to prove in a case of this type.
“Israeli political leaders, military commanders and those in official positions have consistently and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” he said.
“These statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and Gaza’s physical infrastructure. »
Ngcukaitobi drew the court’s attention to comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 28, 2023, calling on ground troops preparing to enter Gaza to “remember what Amalek did to you.”
“This refers to God’s biblical command to Saul to destroy an entire group of people in retaliation,” the lawyer said.
“The evidence of genocidal intent is not only frightening, but it is also overwhelming and indisputable,” he added.
Israel has rejected accusations of genocide as baseless, with President Isaac Herzog calling the case “absurd” and saying it constitutes a “blood libel.”
On Thursday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat called the affair “hypocrisy” and accused South Africa of being the “legal arm” of Hamas.
“Stop the genocide”
Aya Daloul, a resident of Gaza, said she hoped for a favorable ruling and for the ICJ to help “end the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians.”
“The war must end. We must return home and live in freedom and peace,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Outside the ICJ, large numbers of protesters gathered to express solidarity with the Palestinians and call for an end to Israel’s war, with people waving Palestinian flags and occasionally chanting: “Stop, stop the genocide”, “We are all Palestinians” and “Boycott Israel”. “.
“I am here because we cannot watch this genocide every day on social media and do nothing,” said Kim Wouters, a protester from Brussels.
Meanwhile, South Africans feel “very proud” of their country’s legal action, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Fahmida Miller said, reporting from Pretoria.
“What is happening in Gaza resonates very deeply with many South Africans because of their own history of apartheid, subjugation, oppression, institutionalized racism and the challenges that South Africans have had to overcome,” she declared.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday that the United States sees no basis for South Africa’s allegations of genocide against Israel following the deaths of civilians in Gaza.