This Friday, Israel began defending itself before the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations based in the Dutch city of The Hague, against South Africa’s complaint, which accuses the Israelis of having committed genocide for its military operations against the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks on 7 October.
South African lawyers presented their arguments for hours on Thursday, accusing Israel of violating the United Nations Convention against Genocide and demanding precautionary measures for Israel to stop the attacks, which reportedly killed more than 22,000 people, more than half of which women. children.
This Friday, Israeli representatives stated that their country “does not seek to destroy” the Palestinian people” and They accused South Africa of issuing a complaint that does not take into account the reality of what is happening in Gaza. One of the Israeli lawyers, Tal Becker, said that South Africa “unfortunately presented the Court with a completely distorted factual and legal picture.”
This lawyer stated that the accusation is based “on a deliberately organised, decontextualised and manipulative description of the reality of the current hostilities”.
South African lawyers said Thursday that Israel is pursuing the operation “a role model this justifies a plausible accusation of genocidal acts.” South Africa’s interest (it is the first country in the world to denounce Israel for this conflict) is due to the fact that the African National Congress, the party in power, has supported the Palestinian cause for decades.
A march in front of the Hague Tribunal this Friday to demand the release of the hostages who have been in the hands of Hamas terrorists since 7 October. Photo: AP “Defense War”
Lawyer Becker reported on the Hamas attacks on 7 October. He explained that terrorists “tortured children in front of their parents, parents in front of their children, burned people, raped and mutilated them.”
The lawyer said it The Israeli response was an act of self-defense that it did not try to attack civilians and that “Israel is in a defensive war against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people.”
He later stated that Israeli military operations “are not aimed at destroying a city but at protecting a city, its own, attacked from multiple fronts.”
Israel claims the number of civilian casualties is due to Hamas using them as human shields and hiding in civilian places such as schools and hospitals.
The South African prosecution
South African lawyer Adila Hassim said Thursday that “genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the last 13 weeks of evidence which incontrovertibly shows a pattern of conduct and related intentions that justify the allegations as plausible of genocidal acts.”
The brutality of the Hamas attack, South African lawyers argue, does not justify what South Africa considers an Israeli reaction outside of international law and “a clear genocidal intent, the articulated intent being the destruction of Palestinian life”.
The South African delegation speaks to the press in front of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Photo: REUTERS During his argument on Thursday, the Irish human rights lawyer hired by the South African government for this case, Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, said that “some might say that even the reputation of international law, its capacity and its willingness to protecting all peoples equally is at stake.”
According to the Israeli government, South Africa’s complaint is “one of the greatest displays of hypocrisy in history.”
The International Court of Justice could announce in weeks whether it will impose precautionary measures as requested by South Africa (to cease military operations) and then continue to study the denunciation of the genocide.
The decisions of this Court are final and legally binding on all Member States of the United Nations. The problem is that you don’t have the tools to enforce them if governments don’t respect them. In 2004 the Court ruled that the Israeli wall in the West Bank was illegal and ordered its demolition. But 20 years later it is still growing.
The panel of 15 judges of the International Court of Justice was expanded to 17, to accommodate an Israeli judge (Aharon Barak, former president of the Supreme Court) and a South African judge (Dikgang Moseneke, former vice-president of the Constitutional Court). Clarín yesterday incorrectly reported that Barak was the main lawyer on the Israeli side.
This position is held by British lawyer Malcolm Shaw, an expert in litigation at that court. The leader of the South African team is John Dugard, former UN rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and expert in international law.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.