Newspaper Page Text
4A Sunday, December 31, 2023
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia I gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD
South Africa launches case accusing Israel of genocide
Peter Dejong Associated Press
View of the Peace Palace which houses World Court in
The Hague, Netherlands, on Sept. 19, 2023.
BY MIKECORDER
Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Neth
erlands — South Africa
launched a case Friday at
the United Nations' top
court accusing Israel of
genocide against Palestin
ians 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 submis
sion 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 Palestin
ians 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, includ
ing President Cyril Rama-
phosa, have compared
Israel's policies regarding
Palestinians in Gaza and
the West Bank with South
Africa's past apartheid
regime of racial segrega
tion. Israel rejects such
allegations.
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.
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 “despi
cable and contemptuous
exploitation” of the court.
Israel also accused South
Africa of cooperating
with Hamas, the Palestin
ian militant group behind
the deadly Oct. 7 attack in
southern Israel that trig
gered the ongoing war.
The statement also said
Israel operates according
to international law and
focuses its military actions
solely against Hamas, add
ing that the residents of
Gaza are not an enemy. It
asserted that it takes steps
to minimize harm to civil
ians and to allow humani
tarian aid to enter the
territory.
South Africa can bring
the case under the Geno
cide Convention because
both it and Israel are signa
tories 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.”
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 Punish
ment of Genocide, have
been and may still be com
mitted in the context of
the ongoing massacres in
Gaza.”
South Africa's president
earlier accused Israel of
war crimes and acts “tan
tamount 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 indi
viduals for war crimes,
crimes against human
ity and genocide, while
the International Court
of Justice settles disputes
between nations.
In the Israeli-occupied
West Bank, the Pales
tinian Foreign Ministry
welcomed South Africa's
accusations against Israel.
In a statement on social
media, it urged the court to
“immediately take action
to protect Palestinian peo
ple and call on Israel, the
occupying power, to halt
its onslaught against the
Palestinian people.”
Balkees Jarrah, associate
international justice direc
tor at Human Rights Watch,
said South Africa's case
“provides an important
opportunity for the Inter
national Court of Justice to
scrutinize Israel's actions
in Gaza using the Genocide
Convention of 1948.” She
said South Africa is look
ing to the United Nations'
highest judicial body “to
provide clear, definitive
answers on the question of
whether Israel is commit
ting genocide against the
Palestinian people.”
Jarrah stressed that the
ICJ case “is not a crimi
nal case against individual
alleged perpetrators, and it
does not involve the Inter
national Criminal Court
(ICC), a separate body. But
the ICJ case should also
propel greater international
support for impartial jus
tice at the ICC and other
credible venues.”
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