South Africa says it plans to file a memorial document with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) next month to provide evidence that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office announced the move on Tuesday, vowing that a lawsuit it initiated against the Israeli government late last year will continue until the top court issues its ruling.
Africa’s most advanced economy filed a case with The Hague-based ICJ back in December, alleging that Israel’s offensive in Gaza following a surprise attack by Hamas on the Jewish state more than 11 months ago is genocidal in character.
Israel declared war on Hamas following a series of raids by the Gaza-based militant group last October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israeli concert goers and soldiers.
Since then, Israeli military operations have resulted in nearly 41,000 Palestinian deaths and 95,000 injuries according to the local health ministry, turning much of Gaza into rubble and rendering it uninhabitable.
South Africa, a longtime supporter of Palestinian independence, has accused West Jerusalem of attempting to wipe out a significant portion of the Palestinian population.
In May, the top UN court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after initially directing it to take all measures to prevent any acts that could be deemed war crimes. The hostilities, however, have persisted.
South Africa’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on genocide allegations has received overwhelming praise in the country, with parallels being drawn to the country’s own historic fight against apartheid
Several countries, including Nicaragua, Palestine, Türkiye, Spain, Mexico, Libya, and Colombia, have all moved to join the case against the Israeli government. The ICJ has set an October 28 deadline for South Africa to present arguments for continuing the case.
The interim ruling of the ICJ earlier this year saw a panel of 17 judges pass seven emergency measures requested by Pretoria.
While the case is in progress, we hope that Israel will abide by the court’s provisional orders issued to date, Pretoria said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement comes amid reports that West Jerusalem has begun lobbying the US Congress to put pressure on South Africa’s new multi-party government to drop the ICJ suit.
According to a memo cited by Axios on Monday, Israeli diplomats have been told to push for bills targeting the African nation on state and federal levels, so that even if they won’t materialize, presenting them and talking about them will be important.
The Israeli diplomats will also try to convince Pretoria that it has a chance to pursue dialogue with Israel instead of boycotts and punishments, the outlet reported.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
Dear South African .. UN is a vassal to USA and Isra-hitler .. so please, don’t waste your time .. Isra gestapo already killed almost a million Palestinians, and NO ONE ARAB COUNTRIES DID ANYTHING .. better to leave them alone up to the last Arab is gone, after that the Jews will get rid of the Christians, at least that is the goal.
Good for South Africa, but unless the members of the ICJ are totally blind and stupid or co-opted they are already fully aware of the FACTS on the ground in Palestine. Why they refuse to act is the question that must be answered.
Your logic is right –refusal to act can only mean they are heavily controlled by the USA probably in fear of removal of financial support as that’s the USA,s standard course of action – “we will make you an offer you cant refuse ” – World Mafia.
Remember how they influenced the UN stating quote- “we pay the largest amount of money to the UN so it must obey us ” ( Senate speech ) .
Again it threatened to withdraw funding —that worked they became compliant.
Seems Zionist threats don’t shake South Africa like they do ICC. Bravo South Africa, bravo.