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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (news agencies) — A continent away from the war in Gaza, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians and pleaded with the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to urgently order a halt to the country’s military operation. Israel has vehemently denied the allegations.
South African lawyers said during the opening arguments that the latest Gaza war is part of a decadeslong oppression of the Palestinians by Israel.
They asked judges to impose binding preliminary orders on Israel, including an immediate halt to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
“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 genocidal acts,” South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges and audience in the packed, ornate room of the Peace Palace in The Hague.
“Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court,” she said.
And South Africa insisted 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,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
“What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such, but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of the state in Israel,” he said.
Ahead of the proceedings, hundreds of pro-Israeli protesters marched close to the courthouse with banners saying “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages held by Hamas since it attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Among the crowds, people held Israeli and Dutch flags.
At a separate demonstration nearby, pro-Palestinians protesters waved flags saying: “End Israeli Apartheid Free Palestine” and chanting “Netanyahu criminal” and “Ceasefire now!”
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
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 Holocaust, during which 6 million Jews were murdered.
It also evokes issues central to South Africa’s own identity: Its governing party, 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.
In a sign of how seriously Israel is taking the accusation, although it normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased, it has sent a strong legal team to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks.
A decision on the request for so-called “provisional measures” will likely take weeks. The case is likely to last years.
While Israel has vehemently denied the allegations and is unlikely to comply with any order from the court to halt operations, it likely fears that any such order would be a blow to its international standing.
Israel’s lawyers will address the court Friday.
South Africa immediately sought to broaden the case beyond the narrow confines of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“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,” said South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.
South Africa argued that Israel’s actions in Gaza are an inevitable party of its history since it declared independence in 1948.
