The hearing of the International Court of Justice , the main judicial body of the United Nations, has begun in The Hague on the accusation of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel for the war in the Strip triggered by the Hamas massacre on 7 October and which has so far killed over 23 thousand Palestinians.
" Israel has committed, is committing and risks continuing to commit acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza " is the accusation, in summary, presented with a request from Pretoria on 29 December to the International Court of Justice and which will be discussed today and tomorrow in two public hearings at the Palais de la Paix.
The first day will be dedicated to the prosecution's arguments which will be illustrated by the South African delegation , led by the Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola, and composed of a team of diplomats, lawyers and international politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn, the former British Labor leader several times accused at home of anti-Semitism. According to South Africa, Israel is violating the Genocide Convention which it ratified in 1950.
THE ACCUSATION – In particular, we read in the 84 pages presented to The Hague, «the acts and omissions of Israel have the character of genocide because they accompany the specific intent required to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza as part of the national, racial group and broader ethnic group than the Palestinians." Pretoria also accuses Israel before the Court of Justice (which settles disputes between states, while the International Criminal Court prosecutes individual responsibilities) of not fulfilling «its obligations to prevent genocide, nor its obligation to prosecute» those responsible «for the 'direct and public incitement to commit genocide' as required by the Convention.
In the application, South Africa therefore asks the Court to impose "precautionary measures" (which would be binding) such as ordering Israel to stop the killings and "serious physical and mental harm inflicted" on the Palestinians in Gaza and to allow access to humanitarian aid in the Strip . All accusations that Israel considers "unfounded" .
THE REPLY – «There is nothing more atrocious and absurd» than the lawsuit brought by South Africa, anticipated Israeli President Isaac Herzog, while just on the eve of the hearing, Benyamin Netanyahu's government opened a website «to show the world some of the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas." «This site – explained the prime minister's office – will help the State of Israel in its mission to remind the world that we are victims of the unprecedented terrorist event we have experienced».
The United States has already sided with Israel, as has Great Britain . While hypothesizing that "Israel may have violated international law in Gaza", former Tory Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister David Cameron criticized the South African move: "I don't think it is useful or even right - he declared -. It is up to the courts to define the term genocide, not the states . Our opinion is that Israel has the right to defend itself."
But for the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, it is a moral duty, "a question of principle". His party, Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, supports the Palestinian cause by comparing it to its own fight against apartheid . According to many analysts, the decision to appeal to the International Court was dictated, from an internal perspective, by the need to regain consensus in view of the 2024 general elections by proving faithful to its principles. And on the international level by the desire to increase its influence, as a member of the Brics, in favor of the global South.
The comment by former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was very harsh, according to which today's Court of Justice session in The Hague is "the Dreyfus Affair of the 21st century". Bennett called the meeting “a spectacle of hypocrisy, anti-Semitism and shame . It was Hamas that, without any reason, attacked, burned, killed and kidnapped Israelis on October 7th. Yet it is Israel that is under accusation,” he said. "Shame on those who take part - he concluded - in this fiction."
(Unioneonline/vl)