The French newspaper Le Monde and the Swiss newspaper Le Monde addressed the “genocide” complaint filed by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice, in which hearings will be held tomorrow, Thursday, and the day after tomorrow. The first presented the elements of the complaint in explanation and detail, while the second considered that What South Africa provided could be devastating to Israel.
Le Monde opened its report by saying that this complaint, for Israel and the majority of Israelis, is a deviation and a sad matter, because Israel arose in the wake of (what they call) the Holocaust, and now they find themselves accused of committing the crime of genocide in Gaza.
On the other hand, this measure represents for the desperate Palestinians in Gaza an opportunity to highlight the plight they are experiencing after 23,000 people were martyred and 59,000 were injured during 3 months of devastating bombing.
Although it may take years before the judges in The Hague decide the merits of the case, South Africa demands that they take “precautionary measures” to stop the ongoing crimes in the Palestinian territories.
But the court does not have the means to implement its binding decisions, and the United States – which supports Israel in its war – may use its veto if the court requests sanctions from the UN Security Council.
“Unfounded”
For her part, Lotan indicated that the US State Department described the complaint against Israel as “unfounded” and considered it and Israel to be politically motivated, noting that the court’s initial measures could have great symbolic importance.
Hearings of the complaint – which South Africa filed on December 29, 2023 against Israel, regarding violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – will be held before the International Court of Justice on January 11 and 12 at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
In the document it sent, South Africa urges the court to order Israel “to immediately cease all military attacks that could constitute acts of genocide, to stop killing and causing serious psychological and physical harm to Palestinians in Gaza, and not to impose living conditions that could lead to physical destruction.” For the residents of Gaza.
Dehumanization
These three crimes can be legally classified as genocide if they were committed with the intention of eliminating the Palestinians in Gaza – as the newspaper says – such intent, which is a crucial element in characterizing the crime of genocide, is evident for South Africa “at the highest levels.”
The 84-page document listed “dehumanizing” statements made at the highest levels by the head of state, the head of government, and several ministers and senior officials in Israel.
Le Monde reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the war before the Knesset as “a struggle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle,” and Defense Minister Yoav Galant said, “We are fighting human animals and we act on this basis,” adding, “We impose a complete siege on Gaza. There is no electricity, no No water, no gas, everything is closed.”
The document also cites journalists, former officers and elected officials, with no authority over the conduct of the war, in addition to comments by ministers of the extreme religious right who continue to call for ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Their political camp sees in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” and the ongoing war what they call a historic opportunity to achieve the “divine will” by expelling the Palestinians from part of the Holy Land.
Although their speech, which carries genocidal overtones, is neither the speech of the army nor the government, “neither the judicial system nor the political authority has punished those who deliver such speeches, which tends to strengthen South Africa’s arguments,” says Israeli lawyer and human rights defender Michael Sfard.
Lawyers in South Africa are also demanding that Gaza residents be able to obtain humanitarian aid without restrictions, at a time when Israel has eased its blockade slightly in recent weeks. Finally, they demand that experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and investigators from the International Criminal Court be allowed to enter Gaza.
Although the judges are not bound by the measures requested by Pretoria – according to Le Monde – and they can decide to reject them or issue others, and they are not bound by any deadline, deliberations in this type of case are quick, as it did not take 9 days for the judges in The Hague to issue an order against Russia, following a complaint filed by Ukraine beginning the Russian invasion of its territory.
No country has yet officially joined South Africa, but many countries have denounced the genocide, such as Algeria, Bolivia, Brazil and other countries. Even Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), signed the complaint with 200 Israelis, despite the fact that the Israeli Foreign Ministry says that “the accusation “Israel’s genocide has no basis in fact and law, and is morally abhorrent,” before describing it as “anti-Semitic.”
Israeli concern
Le Monde indicated that this time Israel did not boycott the court, and appointed a special judge in The Hague, the highly respected former President of the Supreme Court, Aharon Barak, a Holocaust survivor. He will be sworn in at the opening of the hearings on Thursday, and South Africa will be able to appoint a judge. Second allocation.
After two days of hearings and the judges’ expected decision, a more technical procedural phase could begin, during which Israel could challenge the court’s jurisdiction in the case. South Africa and Israel would then have to submit their written submissions before hearings on the merits can be organized.
For her part, Lotan emphasized that South Africa’s complaint could be devastating to Israel, and she saw that Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s raising of this issue – before US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken – is evidence of the growing concern among Israeli officials, especially since he made statements that Pretoria considers incitement to genocide. When he said that “the entire (Palestinian) nation is responsible” for the crimes committed by Hamas and called for “breaking its backbone.”
The newspaper pointed out that accusing Israel of violating the treaty – which was adopted by an overwhelming majority of countries in 1948 in the wake of the crimes committed by the Nazis – is not an easy matter for Israel to accept, and it is preparing to prove that Pretoria is using international law to achieve political goals, especially since South Africa has been subjected to a severe rebuke. By another court in The Hague in 2017 for refusing to arrest former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accused of “genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes” in Darfur.
