THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Former Apartheid state, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians there and pleaded with the United Nations’ top court to order an immediate halt to the country’s military operation.
South Africa is seeking binding preliminary orders to compel Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, in which more than 23,000 people have died, according to the health ministry which is run by Palestinians.
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 as a plausible claim of extreme genocidal acts.
Israel says it is following international law and does its utmost to avoid harm to civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll, saying its enemy embeds in the totally destroyed residential areas.
South Africa is not impressed by such arguments, insisting Israel committed genocide by design! 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. The dispute strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the so-called Holocaust.
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.
Israel often boycotts international tribunals or U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. A decision on the request for so-called provisional measures will likely take weeks. The case is likely to last years.
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.
South Africa argued that Israel’s actions in Gaza are an inevitable part of its history since it declared independence .About two-thirds of the dead in Gaza are women and children. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
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 in besieged hospitals.
Finding food, water, medicine and working bathrooms has become a daily struggle for Palestinians in Gaza. Last week, the U.N. humanitarian chief called Gaza “uninhabitable” and people are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner.
The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, has never judged a country to be responsible for genocide.
The closest it came was in 2007 when it ruled that Serbia violated the obligation to prevent genocide in the July 1995 massacre by Bosnian Serb (NATO) forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.
The International Criminal Court, based a few miles (kilometers) away in The Hague, prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The case revolves around the genocide convention that was drawn up in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II. Both Israel and South Africa are signatories.
Israel is back on the International Court of Justice’s docket next month, when hearings open into a U.N. request for a non-binding advisory opinion on the legality of Israeli policies in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
That the USA in the guise of Vice President Joe Biden, as honest broker, acting peace negotiator in the maritime border dispute would be laughable, were it not potential for Israel to attack their neighbor again.
In a visit to Israel in March 2010, Biden announced, there is absolutely no space between the USA and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security- none at all, also announcing on arrival in Israel. It’s good to be home,
Given USA decades of peace brokering between Israel and Palestine, this is already a road of pitfalls, one sidedness and duplicity, well traveled. There is trouble ahead. Oh, and in demonology, Leviathan is one of the seven princes of Hell.
AP / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
The German government firmly and explicitly rejects the accusation of genocide that has now been made against Israel before the International Court of Justice. “This accusation has no basis whatsoever,” spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said in a statement.