The Hague, Netherlands – Israel pushed back at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday against the South African complaint over genocide allegedly taking place in the Gaza Strip, on a second, historic hearing day in the Hague.
Foreign affairs legal adviser Tal Becker opened the three-hour hearing Friday morning, arguing that if there anyone committing genocidal attacks in the region, it was and is Hamas, stating that on Oct. 7 the world saw ‘’massacre, mutilation, rape and abduction openly displaying inhalation. Torture of children in front of their parents, parents tortured in front of their children.’’ The assailants, reminded Becker, ‘’proudly filmed their barbarism.’’ Becker spoke of Johny Simantov, who hid in the shelter together with his wife Tamar and their three children Omer, Arbel and Shahar. ‘’They are here, they are burning us, we are suffocating,’’ Becker quoted the messages sent by Simantov.
Becker argued that the applicants attempt ‘’to deny Israel its obligation to its citizens, its hostages, to the thousands of Israelis displaced from their home,’’ and that South Africa seeks that ‘’Israel should be denied the ability to defend its citizens.’’
Becker reminded the court that Hamas has never hidden its genocidal agenda vis-à-vis Israel. It is no secret, added Becker ‘’that South Africa enjoys close relations with Hamas,’’ saying that by its complaint, Pretoria wants to enable Hamas ‘’continue its unbated attacks even after Oct. 7.’’ He also moted that a delegation by Hamas arrived to South Africa a few weeks after Oct. 7 ‘’for a solidarity visit’’ as described by Pretoria.
It is not the Israeli operation in Gaza that is unprecedented, claimed Becker, ‘’what is unparalleled and unprecedented is the degree of Hamas entrenchment into the civilian population,’’ in Gaza, he said.
A ‘Shabbat table’ is staged outside the ICJ building in the Hague, with empty seats for all of the hostages held in Gaza. David Saranga, head of Israel’s fore ministry’s digital department, told The Jerusalem Post that ‘’family members of the hostages are present in the Hague for the display of the empty Shabbat table. Dozens of Israel supporters are also present at the place, waving the Israeli flag,’’ adding that large forces of police are keeping the Palestinian activists at arms-length.
Representatives of the families of the hostages are also present in the court itself. A diplomatic source noted to the Post that the South African complaint is causing the families extreme distress and sorrow, as they see their terrible plight ignored and their loved ones forgotten and discarded by the applicants.
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