Pretoria has lodged an urgent appeal at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to force Israel to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Gaza. A world away from the death and destruction in Gaza and Israel, robed lawyers battled it out over technical legal arguments in the Peace Palace in The Hague.
South Africa argues Israel is breaking its commitments under the UN Genocide Convention, a treaty signed in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust.
Top lawyer for South Africa Adila Hassim said Israel’s bombing campaign aimed at the “destruction of Palestinian life” and had pushed Palestinians “to the brink of famine”.
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” she said.
As a fellow signatory to the treaty, South Africa can take Israel to the ICJ, which rules on disputes between countries and is often described as the “World Court”.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has long been a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause, often linking it to its own historic struggle against the white-minority government, which had cooperative relations with Israel.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tells The Africa Report that South Africa and the United States, one of Israel’s key allies, had disagreed about the Palestine question ever since South Africa’s first post-apartheid government came into power in 1994.
“We’ve always been at opposing ends when it comes to voting on that question historically,” he says, adding that this was unlikely to change. “I think we should respect the different viewpoints amongst us.”
No armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious… can provide justification for or defend breaches of the convention
South Africa has acknowledged the “particular weight of responsibility” of accusing Israel of genocide. It “unequivocally” condemned the Hamas attacks that sparked off the war in Gaza.
South Africa’s director-general of international relations, Zane Dangor, earlier confirmed to The Africa Report that there had been no formal discussions between South African and US officials on the court case.
Israel has dismissed the case as “atrocious” and “preposterous” and vowed to set out a robust defence on Friday.
“No armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious… can provide justification for or defend breaches of the convention,” said Pretoria’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.
The Gaza war erupted when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack, which resulted in about 1,140 people killed in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 23,357 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
‘Atrocious and preposterous’
Israel President Isaac Herzog has already hinted at his country’s likely defence against what he called an “atrocious and preposterous… claim”.
“We will present proudly our case of using self-defence… under international humanitarian law,” he said.
In fact, it is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews
Herzog said the Israeli army 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”.
The US is backing its ally Israel, with the State Department describing the charges as “unfounded”.
“In fact, it is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
…But US pressure on South Africa regarding Ukraine?
As it is an urgent procedure, the ICJ could rule in a matter of weeks.
Its rulings are final and cannot be appealed. However, countries do not always follow the court’s verdicts — the ICJ has ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine, for example.
But a court ruling against Israel would certainly increase political pressure on the country, with many speculating it could serve as a pretext for sanctions.
David Feldmann, spokesperson for the US embassy in Pretoria, did not want to comment on specific questions on South Africa’s case, other than to say: “South Africa is a sovereign country that has the right to make its own decisions about how to engage with Israel and the international community. We have an open and candid dialogue with South African officials on all manner of bilateral and global issues, including on issues where we have different perspectives.”
This is in contrast with the pressure exerted by, in particular, the US on South Africa due to its stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
US ambassador Reuben Brigety last year called a press conference with South African media in which he threatened with steps against South Africa after he claimed to have evidence that South Africa sold arms to Russia after the docking of the Russian vessel, the Lady R, at a South African naval base in December 2022.
A subsequent judicial inquiry found no evidence of such, but the US has been threatening to drop South Africa from special trading dispensations like AGOA due to its refusal to take in a stance more aligned to that of the US on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
South Africa’s finance minister Godongwana says he isn’t expecting economic fallout from his country’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“I don’t see why anyone would make this an issue in Davos,” he says, ahead of his departure for the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, which happens next week. “I don’t know why people would have an attitude towards a country that would use multilateral institutions to settle disputes.”
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