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SOUTH AFRICA LAUNCHES CASE AT TOP UN COURT ACCUSING ISRAEL OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA

Politics Updated on Dec 29, 2023 4:10 PM EDT — Published on Dec 29, 2023 1:55 PM
EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South Africa launched a case Friday at the United
Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and
asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks — the first such challenge
made at the court over the current war. Israel swiftly rejected the filing “with
disgust.”

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 ethnic group.

South Africa has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Many there, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, have compared Israel’s policies
regarding Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa’s past
apartheid regime of racial segregation.

South Africa asked 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, but an interim order could be issued within weeks.

WATCH: Israeli airstrike kills more than 100 people in central Gaza refugee camp

The Israeli government rejected “with disgust” the genocide accusations, calling
it a “blood libel.” A Foreign Ministry statement said South Africa’s case lacks
a legal foundation and constitutes a “vile exploitation and cheapening” of the
court.

Israel also accused South Africa of cooperating with Hamas, the Palestinian
militant group behind the deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that triggered
the ongoing war.

The statement also said Israel 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 minimize harm to
civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.

South Africa can bring the case under the Genocide Convention because both it
and Israel are signatories to it.

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 attacks.

South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country is “gravely
concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on
the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of
inhabitants.”

READ MORE: The Biden administration once again bypasses Congress on an emergency
weapons sale to Israel

The ministry added that there are “ongoing reports of international crimes, such
as crimes against humanity and war crimes, being committed as well as reports
that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes as defined in the
1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, have been and may
still be committed in the context of the ongoing massacres in Gaza.”

South Africa’s president earlier accused Israel of war crimes and acts
“tantamount to genocide.” And South Africa last month pushed for the
International Criminal Court, which also is based in The Hague, to investigate
Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and
genocide, while the International Court of Justice settles disputes between
nations.

Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch,
said South Africa’s case “provides an important opportunity for the
International Court of Justice to scrutinize Israel’s actions in Gaza using the
Genocide Convention of 1948.” She said South Africa is looking to the United
Nations’ highest judicial body “to provide clear, definitive answers on the
question of whether Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian
people.”

Jarrah stressed that the ICJ case “is not a criminal case against individual
alleged perpetrators, and it does not involve the International Criminal Court
(ICC), a separate body. But the ICJ case should also propel greater
international support for impartial justice at the ICC and other credible
venues.”

Left: A Palestinian child looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on a house,
amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group
Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 16, 2023. Photo by
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/REUTERS


RELATED

 * Israeli forces kill dozens of Palestinians across Gaza overnight
   
   By Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, Jack Jeffery, Associated Press

 * Israeli military says Gaza ground offensive has expanded into urban refugee
   camps
   
   By Najib Jobain, Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, Associated Press

 * Bethlehem resembles a ghost town on Christmas Eve, with celebrations halted
   due to Israel-Hamas war
   
   By Melanie Lidman, Associated Press


GO DEEPER

 * genocide
 * hague
 * israel-hamas war
 * south africa
 * united nations

By —

Mike Corder, Associated Press Mike Corder, Associated Press

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