The Hague [Netherlands], January 12: South Africa accused Israel of "systematic genocidal acts" during hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Thursday.
South Africa is presenting its side of a case it brought against Israel, alleging that Israel has violated the UN Genocide Convention.
"Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law."
Both German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economy Minister Robert Habeck, both from the Green party, have rejected the genocide charge.
Habeck, visiting Sderot, an Israeli border community that suffered numerous casualties when Hamas and others attacked it on October 7, said "genocide is something else." Hamas "drove through the streets here with the sole aim of slaughtering as many people as possible," while Israel does not target civilians and did not go into Gaza to murder children and women, he said on Thursday.
Israel is due to present its arguments on Friday.
South Africa said Israel is employing an unprecedented wave of violence to destroy the lives of Palestinians, according to its legal representatives.
It is calling for the legal protection of Palestinian lives in summary proceedings, urging the judges to order an end to military action.
South Africa condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, but Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said, "No armed attack can provide any justification to breach the convention." He spoke of a politics of "apartheid against Palestinians in the last 76 years."
South Africa's legal representative, Adila Hassim, described acts of violence by the army, such as bomb attacks and blockades of humanitarian aid, speaking of "genocidal acts." South Africa also substantiated the accusations with statements made by Israeli ministers and officers, calling the Palestinians "human animals" and saying that Israel will "spare no one" as genocidal rhetoric.
Many people protesting had gathered in front of the court. Others were marching to the court.
More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, with at least 70 percent of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health authority.
The court intends to rule on the urgent appeal in a few weeks. The main case, the genocide allegations, could take years.
Meanwhile, Dutch police kept rival demonstrations apart in The Hague as South Africa opened a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of breaching the UN Genocide Convention and saying the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas could not justify its actions in the Gaza Strip.
Pro-Israel protesters waving flags marched through the streets while Palestinian supporters brandished placards saying: "End Israel apartheid."
The top United Nations court, which rules on disputes between countries, 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 forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnia-Herzegovina enclave of Srebrenica.
Source: Qatar Tribune
