South Africa accuses Israel of genocide
International Court of Justice will be asked to issue interim measures.
Later this morning, South Africa will ask the International Court of Justice to rule that Israel must “immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza”.
In addition, says South Africa, Israel must stop killing or harming members of the “Palestinian people as a group protected by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”. Other detailed requirements would be included in the order urgently sought by South Africa.
The request for what are called “interim measures” — in effect, a temporary order — is made at the end of an 84-page application that was submitted to the world court by South Africa on 29 December.
Israel has not published its response. But, in a video released last night, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.
He continued:
Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.
The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is doing its utmost to minimise civilian casualties, while Hamas is doing its utmost to maximise them by using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
The IDF urges Palestinian civilians to leave war zones by disseminating leaflets, making phone calls, providing safe passage corridors, while Hamas prevents Palestinians from leaving at gunpoint and often, with gunfire.
Our goal is to rid Gaza of Hamas terrorists and free our hostages. Once this is achieved, Gaza can be demilitarised and deradicalised, thereby creating a possibility for a better future for Israel and Palestinians alike.
Lawyers from South Africa have three hours to address the court this morning. Israel’s legal team have three hours to respond tomorrow. The hearing, in The Hague, begins at 10am each day (9am UK time) and will be streamed live (and on demand) on the court’s website and on UN Web TV.
Israel will be represented at the hearing by Professor Malcolm Shaw KC of Essex Court Chambers in London.
South Africa’s delegation will be led by its minister of justice, Ronald Lamola MP. The justice ministry said that he and his officials
will be joined by senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe which include, amongst others, Jeremy Corbyn the former leader of the opposition in the United Kingdom.
Having spent yesterday afternoon writing about the Post Office scandal, I have not had time to summarise or analyse South Africa’s written arguments.
Possible responses by Israel have been discussed in recent media commentaries:
It’s not known how long the court will take to announce its decision on interim measures. There will be a full hearing of South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide at a later date.
Update 1815: the BBC has a full report of today’s hearing here. The link to “evidence submitted before the hearing” is in fact a link to South Africa’s written application to the court.
South Africa’s legal action has been condemned by the UK government, the Jewish Chronicle’s political editor reports.
Update 12 January
I am publishing in full the speech delivered by the legal adviser to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Tal Becker. You can read it here.
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