12/1/2024–|Last updated: 12/1/202401:57 PM (Mecca time)
The International Court of Justice in The Hague began the second day of hearings in the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel for committing genocide crimes against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, demanding an immediate end to the war that Israel has been waging against the Strip for 98 days.
In his plea before the court on Friday, the legal advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tal Baker, said that South Africa’s demand for an immediate halt to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza would leave Israel unable to defend itself.
In response to South Africa’s accusations that Israel committed genocide in its war on Gaza, Baker said, “Hamas seeks genocide against Israel.”
Baker accused South Africa of “seeking to undermine Israel’s inherent right to defend itself, and render it incapable of defending itself.”
He claimed that the lawsuit – which South Africa submitted to the court – presented a distorted and false picture of the events.
Self-defense
The legal advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that what Israel is doing in Gaza is self-defense against Hamas, and that stopping military operations will prevent Israel from defending itself, noting that South Africa enjoys a close relationship with Hamas.
He claimed that Israel complies with the law, “but it does so in the face of Hamas’s absolute contempt for the law,” as he put it.
In his effort to refute the Israeli occupation committing genocide crimes in Gaza, Baker said that the main element on which what is being classified as genocide is “the intention to destroy a people in whole or in part, which is not present at all” in Israel’s war on Gaza.
Yesterday, Thursday, trial sessions on charges of committing genocide in Gaza, filed by South Africa, began. The 84-page lawsuit indicates that Israel failed to provide basic food, water, medicine, fuel, and provide shelter and other humanitarian assistance to the residents of the Strip.