UN court to hear South Africa genocide case against Israel
The International Court of Justice will consider a complaint filed by South Africa charging Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The court’s ruling for Israel to cease its military activities there is also demanded in the petition.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is being closely followed, although it will merely provide an opinion on the genocide claim because it is not a criminal prosecution.
Israel has fiercely denounced the charge as “baseless”.
South Africa will submit its case on Thursday, while Israel will defend itself on Friday.
In its argument South Africa claims that Israel’s activities are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group.
It asserts that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
It demands that the court impose “provisional measures” immediately, including Israel ceasing all military operations in Gaza.
The claims were described by Israeli President Isaac Herzog as “atrocious and preposterous”.
“We will be in the International Court of Justice and we will present proudly our case of using self-defence… under humanitarian law,” he added.
He said the Israeli military was “doing its utmost under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties” .
South Africa’s appeal for Israel to halt its military campaign might be resolved swiftly by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a UN tribunal with its headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands; nevertheless, it may take years to get a definitive decision about Israel’s potential for genocide.
Though they are not enforceable, ICJ verdicts are potentially legally obligatory on parties to the court such as South Africa and Israel.
The court gave Russia an order in 2022 to “immediately suspend military operations” in Ukraine, but Russia disregarded the directive.
International law expert William Schabas, who oversaw a UN commission that looked into Israel’s battle with Hamas in 2014, stated that the threshold for the court to grant an injunction against Israel is low.
He told that South Africa must “demonstrate that there are elements that support its case” for the court to make an order, but this does not include “making a definite decision as to whether or not genocide is actually taking place.”
Israel’s military action in Gaza has drawn harsh criticism from South Africa, whose ruling African National Congress has a long history of supporting the Palestinian cause.
Since the conflict started in the wake of Hamas’s strikes on southern Israel on October 7, more than 23,350 people have died in Gaza, according to the health ministry operated by Hamas. There were around 240 individuals held hostage and 1,300 people killed in the incidents, the majority of whom were civilians.
