South Africa has proven to be one of the most active countries against Israel's attack on Gaza. The Hebrew government, defended by a former Supreme Court judge, as expected denies all the allegations.
“Israel categorically rejects South Africa's outrageous blood libel, which in its submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. The accusation has no factual or legal basis and renders the term “genocide” meaningless, considering the systematic killing of six million Jews during the Holocaust. Created after the assassination, Israel officially denied the charges sent by South Africa to the ICJ in The Hague, Netherlands.
“Israel operates within international law and directs its military operations in Gaza exclusively against Hamas and other terrorist organizations. In both words and actions, Israel has made it clear that the civilian population of Gaza is not the enemy. Israel is working to minimize civilian casualties and allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. In contrast, the Palestinian people “Hamas has deliberately built its terror infrastructure around and under hospitals, schools, mosques and other civilian areas, with the express intention of using them as human shields as part of its war strategy. Hamas also diverts and steals humanitarian supplies for the people of Gaza,” the official defense brief sent to the court said.
Indeed, the text continues, “Not only is Hamas guilty of these and other war crimes, it is also complicit in the genocide of the Jewish people. Its strategy calls for the murder of Jews and its leaders openly declare that the goal is to repeat the atrocities of October 7th.
The case presented by South Africa “seeks to discredit the State of Israel in an effort to prevent another attack like the one on October 7, defend its citizens against continued indiscriminate rocket attacks, and fight to free 100 hostages (including children, infants, women and the elderly) still held by Hamas. On October 8, the day after the worst atrocities against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, South Africa made its hostility to Israel clear when it invited senior Hamas leaders to express its solidarity and blame Israel for the new conflict in the region.
At a time when Hamas welcomes representatives and defends itself against Israel's destroyers, by launching blood libels against it, “South Africa has become a criminal accomplice to a genocidal and terrorist organization” and “will leave a moral stain on the South. Africa's reputation.”
This is the basis of the defense, led by Aharon Barak, a former Israeli Supreme Court judge and Holocaust survivor, who seeks to dismiss the charge of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The 15-judge panel will next Thursday, December 29, begin hearing an urgent request formally presented by South Africa in The Hague, alleging that Israel committed crimes of genocide in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, within the conflict zone with Israel. Hamas. The African country is one of the most aggressively anti-Israel – shortly after the war against Hamas began, it decided to strip South African nationality from all citizens of the country who wanted to travel to Israel to take part in anti-Hamas operations. .
Aharon Barak, 87, was selected by Israel as part of a panel of 15 judges. The former judge of Israel's Supreme Court will be able to present his arguments next Friday, a day after South Africa's Supreme Court judge and former vice-president Dikang Moseneke. The case was brought before the ICJ.
According to the Israeli press, it should be noted that Aharon Barak is not an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – especially the controversial reform of the judicial system proposed by the government and finally rejected by the courts a week ago. .
Even so, as Reuters points out, Aharon Barak has been accused of having a judicial career marked by hypocrisy for allowing and legalizing the occupation of Palestinian-owned land.
South Africa wants the ICJ to urgently order an end to military operations in the Gaza Strip, saying Israel has committed, is committing and is likely to continue committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the court said.
The main judicial body of the United Nations (UN), created in June 1945, the role of the Court is to settle legal disputes and disputes between nations, according to international law. The panel of 15 judges, elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, works on two types of cases: arbitrating legal disputes between states that use their services and providing advisory opinions on legal issues related to them. Requested by United Nations organizations and specialized agencies.
It should be remembered that the International Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction to try individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity. Because it is not a criminal court, it does not have a lawyer capable of initiating the process – this task is the responsibility of national courts, the criminal courts established by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.
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