The Republic of South Africa today accused Israel of genocidal acts against the Palestinians before the International Court of Justice in The Hague and appealed to the court to immediately order the suspension of the Israeli military operation in Gaza.
At the start of a two-day preliminary hearing, South African lawyers told the UN's top court that the latest war in Gaza is part of Israel's decades-long oppression of Palestinians.
South Africa is demanding an immediate halt to Israel's air and ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave, which it says is aimed at "destroying the population" of Gaza.
"Israel has genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza. This is evident from the way these military attacks are carried out. The intent to destroy Gaza was initiated at the highest state level," Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, legal representative of the South African Republic, said in court.
South Africa is asking the court to act urgently "to protect the Palestinian people from further, serious and irreparable harm under the Genocide Convention, which continues to be violated with impunity".
"In extending our hands to the people of Palestine, we do so with the full awareness that we are part of humanity. These were the words of our founding president Nelson Mandela, this is the spirit in which the Republic of South Africa acceded to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1998," he said in opening speech by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Ronald Lamola.
Lamola said that the violence and destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on October 7, 2023.
"Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the past 76 years, on October 6, 2023, and every day since October 7, 2023," he stated.
Adila Hasim, presenting the case of the Republic of South Africa, said that Israel violated Article 2 of the Convention by committing acts that fall under the definition of genocide. "The actions show systematic patterns of behavior from which one can conclude about genocide," she added.
Israel dismissed the genocide accusations as baseless and accused Pretoria of playing the role of "devil's advocate" for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group it is waging a war against in Gaza.
"I want to make a few things absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on the "X" social network.
He added that Israel is waging a war against Palestinian militants, not against the Palestinian people, and that "they are doing so in full compliance with international law."
South Africa's Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said South Africa condemned the October 7 Hamas attack, but added that any attack, even one involving heinous crimes, was no justification for violating the Genocide Convention.
Before the start of today's hearing, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters gathered near the Court.
The pro-Israel protest was held with Israeli flags and "Bring them home" slogans referring to hostages held by Hamas since it attacked Israel on October 7, while pro-Palestinian protesters waved flags reading "End Israeli Apartheid, Free Palestine" and chanted "Netanyahu the criminal" and "Truce immediately".
The hearing continues tomorrow with arguments from Israel's legal team.
The International Court of Justice is expected to rule on possible emergency measures later this month.
The court will then not decide on the charges of genocide, and the procedure may take several years.
The US rejected the claim that South Africa is the legal arm of Hamas
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said this evening that the US disagrees with Israel's condemnation of South Africa as the legal arm of Hamas, but also rejects that country's accusation of Israel's genocide in Gaza.
"I wouldn't characterize our South African partners that way," Patel answered a journalist's question.
He also assessed that "the accusation that Israel is committing genocide is unfounded," Israeli media reported.
Patel then referred to humanitarian aid to Gaza and said that more than 7.000 trucks of humanitarian aid had entered Gaza since the end of October, but added that this was not enough and called for more aid to be delivered faster.
This, as the spokesman said, was one of the central topics discussed by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during his week-long visit to the Middle East region, which ended today.
Israeli military spokesman Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said in response to the process started today at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the war in Gaza that Israel will not allow the world to forget the crimes of Hamas, committed on October 7.
"In these days, it is important to mention that we are fighting a just war, a war that the enemy chose to start, knowingly, when he committed crimes against humanity and cruel acts unseen for decades in the Western world," Hagari said at a press conference.
He added that many crimes were documented by the "terrorists" themselves, but that many in the world try to ignore them as if they did not happen, Israeli media reported.
"They happened and we will remember and we will not forget and we will not let the world forget," the spokesman said and announced that the world would not be allowed to forget the hostages who have been held in Gaza since the beginning of the war.
In the attacks of Palestinian extremists led by Hamas on October 7 in the south of Israel, about 1.200 people were killed and about 250 of them were kidnapped and taken to Palestinian territory.
Since then, more than 23.000 people have been killed in Gaza in the Israeli offensive from the air, land and sea, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the data of the local ministry.
Netanyahu: Today we saw the world turned upside down, Israel is accused of genocide while fighting genocide
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that hypocrisy and lies have been presented to the UN's highest court, adding that South Africa's accusation against Israel for the genocide in Gaza can only happen in a world turned upside down, Reuters reports.
"We are fighting terrorists, we are fighting lies," Netanyahu said.
"Today we have seen the world turned upside down. Israel is accused of genocide while fighting genocide. Israel is fighting murderous terrorists who committed crimes against humanity: they slaughtered, raped, burned, dismembered, beheaded - children, women, old people, young men and women. South Africa's hypocrisy screams to the heavens. Where was South Africa when millions of people were killed or torn from their homes in Syria and Yemen, who did it? Hamas partners," Netanyahu said.
He said Israel would retain the right to defend itself until it achieved "total victory."
Israel accuses South Africa of being a legal arm of Hamas
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat said today that South Africa is "acting as the legal arm of Hamas" as the country presented its genocide claim against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
Hayat accused Pretoria of "ignoring the fact that Hamas terrorists entered Israel, killed, slaughtered, raped and kidnapped Israeli citizens, just because they are Israelis, in an attempt to commit genocide," Israeli media reported.
He announced on the X platform that South Africa "aspires to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual crimes it committed on October 7".
In addition, he labeled the South African lawyers as "representatives of Hamas in court".
A statement from Israel's Foreign Ministry said it was "one of the biggest displays of hypocrisy in history" with "a series of false and baseless claims".
"South Africa, which acts as the legal arm of the terrorist organization Hamas, has completely distorted the reality of Gaza after the massacre on October 7," added the statement of the Israeli ministry and announced that "the State of Israel will continue to defend its citizens in accordance with international law."
Hamas praises South African legal team, Israel criticizes it
Palestinian Hamas has praised the South African legal team that presented a case against Israel for genocide today at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
In a short statement on the Telegram account, it was stated that South Africa proves "its principled position in support of our Palestinian people and that it rejects the brutal crimes of the occupier (Israel) against our people".
The Islamic extremist organization expressed hope that the case would first bring an end to Israel's three-month bombardment of Gaza and then Israel would be prosecuted on charges of genocide, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, Israeli politicians sharply criticize the hearing where Israel is accused of genocide in the war against Hamas.
In a video announcement on the X platform, the leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, said that "it is not Israel that is on trial today, but the integrity of the international community."
"If a country that protects itself from a brutal murderous terrorist attack can find itself in a court for genocide, then the convention on genocide has become a reward for terrorism and anti-Semitism. Instead of judging the murderers, the world judges the murdered," said Lapid, alluding to the attack. Hamas on October 7.
The Israeli Minister of Economy agreed with this assessment after a meeting with German Vice Chancellor Robert Habakkuk in Jerusalem, adding that the new form of anti-Semitism is opposition to Israel.
The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben Gvir, said that "rioters have never participated in such vile lies", according to Israeli media.
Bonus video:
