South Africa says 'Israel' failed to disprove genocide charges at ICJ

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Jan 2024 20:35
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On the second day of the hearings, "Israel" urged judges to dismiss the genocide case, stressing that the calls to cease its aggression against the Palestinian resistance lacked merit.

South Africa's Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola, center, and Palestinian assistant Minister of Multilateral Affairs Ammar Hijazi, right, address the media outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 (AP)

South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola declared on Friday that "Israel" failed to disprove the accusations of genocide presented to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by the South African government.

The lawsuit, filed in December, seeks emergency measures from the ICJ to immediately halt "Israel's" genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip.

During the second day of the hearing, "Israel" urged judges to dismiss the genocide case, stressing that the calls to cease its aggression against the Palestinian resistance lacked merit.

"Israel's" legal adviser argued that halting the genocidal campaign would leave the regime defenseless, citing a cross-border raid by the Palestinian resistance on October 7.

Minister Lamola countered, stating that self-defense is not a valid response to genocide.

The legal proceedings at the ICJ continue amid the ongoing genocide of the people of Gaza.

On the first day of hearings, Thursday, Justice Minister Lamola argued that the violence and destruction in Palestine had roots beyond the October 7 events, pointing to 76 years of systematic oppression and violence experienced by Palestinians.

The legal team emphasized that South Africa is particularly mindful of "Israel’s" "institutionalized regime of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices designed and maintained to establish domination, subjecting the Palestinian people to apartheid on both sides of the Green Line."

They also pointed out that the decade-long impunity for widespread and systematic human rights violations has emboldened "Israel" in its recurrence and intensification of humanitarian crimes in Palestine, while simultaneously acknowledging that "the genocidal acts and omissions" by "Israel" "inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the Palestinian people since 1948."

'Israel' accuses S. Africa of being 'legal arm of Hamas'

The National Post reported on Thursday that the Israeli Foreign Ministry leveled petty accusations against South Africa, alleging that the country is acting as the "legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization."

The claims came during two days of preliminary hearings at the United Nations' top court in The Hague.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lior Haiat tweeted, "Today, we witnessed one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims."