South Africa launches case at The Hague accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza
South Africa launched a case at the United Nations’ top court on Friday accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks.
South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice alleges that “acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character” as they are committed with the intent “to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
Interim order
It also asks the Hague-based court to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza.
A hearing into that request is likely in the coming days or weeks. The case, if it goes ahead, will take years.
South Africa can bring the case under the Genocide Convention because both it and Israel are signatories to the convention.
The Israeli government “rejected with disgust” the South African genocide accusations, calling it a “blood libel”.
Exploitation
A Foreign Ministry statement said the case lacks a legal foundation and constitutes a “vile exploitation and cheapening” of the court.
Israel also accused South Africa of co-operating with Hamas, the militant group whose October 7 cross-border attack in southern Israel triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
The statement also said Israel is committed to, and operates according to, international law and focuses its military actions solely against Hamas, adding that the residents of Gaza are not an enemy.
It asserted that it takes steps to minimise harm to civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
Whether the case will succeed in halting the war remains to be seen. While the court’s orders are legally binding, they are not always followed.
In March 2022, the court ordered Russia to halt hostilities in Ukraine, a binding legal ruling that Moscow flouted as it pressed ahead with its devastating attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities.
South Africa has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Many, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, have compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa’s past apartheid regime of racial segregation.
Mr Ramaphosa has accused Israel of war crimes and acts “tantamount to genocide”.
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How about asking it to order Hamas to release all remaining hostages, refrain from further attacks on Israel and removing the bits about exterminating all Jews from its charter?
how about putting Netanyahu on trial?
Netanyahu can be removed from office at the ballot box, Hamas haven’t held an election in Gaza since they took power there back in 2006.
When Israel recount the Nakba and Israel stop bombing civilians maybe
Are you going to ask Israel to release all the hostages it takes? Look up Israel’s “Administrative Detention” policy. They are hostages with a fancy name. You complain that Hamas has a charter to exterminate the Jews, while Israeli is currently enacting policies that look a lot like the extermination of all Palestinians? In fact Netanyahu stood in the UN brandishing a map with no reference of Palestinian terriroties only Israel.
Remember the Likut party slogan “From the river to the sea, there shall be only Israeli sovereignty”.
https://youtu.be/kNH85jgzJ0Y?t=627
Are you in favour of a 2 state solution?
I am, but Israel is not. Israeli claims all the land of the former British Mandate of Palestine. They have never offered a two state solution, and consistently reject the idea.
That is not true, Yitzac Rabin, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert all offered the Palestinians deals that left a Palestinian state as the ultimate destination but the Palestinians leaders rejected them.
Wel yes. But also, remember, that Hamas only exists because of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and the subsequent violence, deportation, demolition of homes, murder, and apartheid against Palestinians, all in breach of international law. This is something the West choses to ignore because of 1) the Holocaust 2) Zionists are, in general, descendants of white Europeans and Americans 3) fear of being branded ‘anti-semitic’ (even though Palestinians are Semitic people too, and even though thousands of Jews are anti-Zionism) 4) dodgy theology.
No, Hamas has always existed in various guises. It is one of the many offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Jihadist organisation founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, and led in ‘Palestine’ by Amin al-Husseni (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem). Both of them were virulent anti-Semites and enthusiastic supporters of Hitler. The Grand Mufti (who was, by the way, the uncle of Yassa Arafat [of PLO fame] and a big hero of his) visited Hitler several times and recruited muslims for the Waffen-SS.
This is just ‘gesture’ politics for propaganda purposes. No way is it ‘genocide’ in the legal sense of the term. However, the October 7 Massacre is closer to genocide because Hamas deliberately targeted civilians merely because they were Jews.
Indeed. Israel’s operations has a military objective, namely to try and neutralise the threat posed by Hamas to their security. One may agree or disagree with their tactics (as I am no military tactician, I do not feel qualified to make a judgement on that) and of course all civilian casualties are tragic and should be avoided wherever possible but that doesn’t change the fact that it is essentially a military operation and not genocide, which is a systematic attempt to kill large numbers of people solely because of their ethnicity or some other characteristic. The 7 October atrocities on… Read more »
The government of Israel appears to be intent on conducting it’s most ambitious programme of Hamas recruitment (or whatever entity Hamas is replaced by) for many years.