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The Hague, Netherlands — South Africa pressed the International Court of Justice to demand a complete ceasefire in Gaza and to find Israel guilty of genocide during the opening of a two-day contentious and historic hearing at The Hague.
“No attack, however serious, can justify breaches to the [genocide] convention whether as a matter of law or morality,” South Africa’s Justice Minister Roland Lamola told the court, as he argued that Israel planned to eliminate all Palestinians in Hamas ruled Gaza.
Lamola said that the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 did not justifies Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, stating that “no attack, however serious, can justify breaches to the [genocide] convention whether as a matter of law or morality.”
The Justice Minister arrived in the Netherlands for Thursday morning’s presentation of South Africa’s complaint that Israel was in violation of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention of Genocide. Israel and south Africa are both signatory on the convention, which means that in principle, Israel accepts the authority of the court.
In addressing the court South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi charged that ‘’Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza, adding that “Israel’s political leaders, military commanders and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent.”
Israel challenged for the first time at the ICJ
The South African complaint is the first time Israel has faced genocide accusations at ICJ. The court had set up two consecutive three-hour hearings on the complaint. South Africa went first, on Thursday, with Israel set to present its arguments Friday morning. Stakes for Israel are high, as the court could, at a first stage, order Israel to stop the war, and then at a second stage, find Israel guilty of genocide.
The hearing on Thursday in the Hague has drawn international attention, with more than one hundred journalists allowed, unprecedently, into the ‘’Peace Palace’’ court building. Additional dozens of tv crews arrived to the Dutch capital to cover the case, and also to cover demonstrations, for and against Israel, staged in the vicinity of the court. The chilling weather did not deter thousands of demonstrators from across the Netherlands and even from other European countries to arrive to the place.
Demonstrators is support of Israel marched near the ICJ carrying pictures of hostages or of Israelis killed on Oct. 7. Family members of hostages held in Gaza lead the rally, calling on world leaders not to forget the necessity of liberating their loved ones. The march was halted by police for several long minutes, after pro-Palestinian activists tried to interfere, shouting anti-Israeli slogans. According to Israel’s foreign ministry, the activists breached the conditions set by the local police, designed to keep the Israeli march and the pro-Palestinian demonstration nearby apart.
Inside the court house, tensions were palpable. The Israeli and South African teams each received a room for consultations, far apart, never crossing each other’s path. The South African legal team, wearing either scarfs with the colors of their flag or keffiyeh scarfs, was joined by several Palestinian militants, including representatives of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in the country.
The team was also joined by far-left European politicians such as French Jean-Luc Mélenchon and former leader of the British Labor party Jeremy Corbyn. With the south African legal team using multiple pictures and videos for their presentation, the court room felt more like a political rally than a judicial hearing.
The difference in style was noticeable also when the hearing ended, with the south Africans staging a press conference together with Palestinian officials on the steps of the court. The Israeli team opted for a press conference later in the day, at a Jewish center in the city, where speakers were first and foremost families of hostages held in Gaza.
What is South Africa seeking?
The South African complaint submitted to the court on Dec. 29 seeks two goals. The first, a more long-term goal, is for the ICJ to recognize that Israel has been carrying out a genocide against Gaza Palestinians. The second, for the short run, is for the court to issue provisional measures, calling on Israel to stop its military occupation in Gaza, to enable external bodies to examine the situation on the ground and to enable unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the Strip.
For the ICJ to issue these provisional measures, South Africa does not need the court to recognize a genocide by Israel. What is does need is for the court to recognize plausible risk for genocidal acts against Gaza residents. Such a decision, say experts, could be issued in a matter of days.
Dr. Adila Hassim, who presented what South Africa titled the ‘’genocidal acts’’ chapter, showed photos of mass graves in Gaza with bodies buried in linens and plastic bags and videos of buildings destroyed by bombing, describing Israel’s alleged ‘’unparalleled and unprecedented killing’’ of Palestinians.
The ’’genocidal act’’ part was followed by the ‘’genocidal intent’’ chapter, presented by Tembeka Ngcukaiobi. The South Africa lawyer claimed that Israeli elected and top officials have made statements calling for the elimination of the Gazan population. Israeli soldiers, he said, have been making similar calls, reflecting how the inciting rhetoric by the leaders inspired and encouraged killings on the ground.
In an attempt to prove his point, Ngcukitobi referred to a statement made by prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Oct. 28, on the eve of the ground offensive, when he said positioned Hamas as an iteration of the biblical Amalek. Quoting Deuteronomy 25:17, Netanyahu said, “You must remember what Amalek did to you.” For Ngcukitobi, that meant calling on Israeli soldiers to combat all of the Palestinian people in Gaza, not just Hamas.
On the same issue, Ngcukitobi showed a video of Israeli soldiers dancing while singing ‘’it’s a blessing to kill the descendants of Amalek,’’ and, ‘’there is no such thing as uninvolved’’ civilians.
Arguing that for Israel’s leadership the enemy is not just the Hamas military branch or the organization of Hamas, but all of the Gaza population, the south African lawyer quoted comments made by President Isaac Herzog Oct. 13 – “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.”
Another quote used by South Africa was one made by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said on Oct. 9, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” In the same vein, Ngcukaiobi quoted COGAT, who had said “Human animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity and no water [in Gaza], there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”
Prof Vaughan Lowe, who addressed specifically the provisional measures requested by South Africa, argued that ‘’Hamas is not a state and cannot be party to the [genocide] convention, and cannot be party to these proceedings. Other bodies could address the question of past atrocities.’’ He also said that Israeli authorities have done ‘’practically nothing’’ to stop the rhetoric of incitement, criticizing what he described as ‘’Israel’s inability to see it has done something wrong, in grinding Gaza and its people into the dust.’’
Israel slams South Africa, for ‘representing Hamas’
Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lior Haiat, also in the Hague for the hearings, issued a written statement after the hearing, saying ‘’today we were witness to one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims. South Africa, which is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization, utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the Oct. 7 massacre and completely ignored the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens, simply because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide.’’
Qualifying South Africa as representing Hamas, Haiat added that ‘’South Africa seeks to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual crimes they committed repeatedly on Oct. 7, as its leaders have stated.’’
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