South Africa accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza at top UN court

In a case that strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity, South Africa formally accused the country of committing genocide against Palestinians and pleaded on Thursday with the United Nations’ top court to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Israel has vehemently denied the allegations. As a sign of how seriously they regard the case, Israeli leaders have taken the rare step of engaging with the court to defend their international reputation. Israel often boycotts international tribunals or UN investigations, saying they are unfair and biased.

During opening statements at the International Court of Justice, South African lawyers said the latest Gaza war is part of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

The court “has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention” that amounts to “a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges and audience in a packed room of the Peace Palace in The Hague.

“Mothers, fathers, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, cousins are often all killed together. This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life. It is inflicted deliberately. No one is spared. Not even newborn babies,” said Hassim.

“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.

A woman holds a placard during an interfaith prayer service in Bo-Kaap in Cape Town. Reuters

He said the case’s “distinctive feature” was “the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of the state in Israel.”

The two-day hearing continues on Friday, when Israel, which has sent a strong legal team to make its defense, is scheduled to address the court.

South Africa sought to broaden the case beyond the Israel-Hamas war.

“The violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023. The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years,” said South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the case and vowed to continue fighting Hamas, the group whose fighters stormed through Israeli communities on Oct. 7 and killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians.

“This is an upside-down world – the state of Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting genocide,” he said in video statement. “The hypocrisy of South Africa screams to the heavens.”

The case is one of the most significant ever heard in an international court, and it goes to the core of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.

South Africa is seeking preliminary orders to compel Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, where more than 23,000 people have died, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas.

“Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court,” Hassim said.

Judges and parties at the opening of the hearings at the ICJ in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday. AP

A decision on South Africa’s request for so-called “provisional measures” will probably take weeks. The full case is likely to last years.

In a post on X after the hearing, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat called South Africa’s presentation “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy” and referred to the legal team as “Hamas’ representatives in court.” He said South African lawyers distorted the reality in Gaza through a series of “baseless and false claims.” He did not elaborate.

At a separate demonstration nearby, pro-Palestinian protesters waved flags calling for an end to “Israeli apartheid” and the adoption of a ceasefire.

Chanting by protesters on the streets around the court’s manicured grounds could sometimes be heard in the courtroom.

The case evokes issues central to South Africa’s own identity: Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

Associated Press