Israel rejects genocide accusations at international court hearing

The Hague: Israel has rejected as “a grossly distorted story” accusations brought by South Africa at the UN’s top court that its military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign aimed at wiping out the Palestinian population.

Israel told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defence of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide. It called on judges to dismiss South Africa’s request to halt the Gaza offensive, saying such a move would leave Israel defenceless.

A day earlier South Africa argued that Israel’s aerial and ground offensive, which has laid waste to much of the narrow coastal enclave, aimed to bring about “the destruction of the population” of the Gaza Strip. Local authorities there estimate more than 23,000 people have so far been killed.

However, South Africa’s interpretation of events was wrong, Israel’s Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser Tal Becker told the court.

“If there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel,” adding: “Hamas seeks genocide against Israel.”

Becker told a packed auditorium at the ornate Palace of Peace in The Hague that Israel was fighting a “war it did not start and did not want”.

Adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry Tal Becker attends a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Friday. Credit: AP

“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” he added, noting that the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to level that charge.

Israel described the allegations levelled by South Africa as hypocritical and said the case reflected a world turned upside down.

Israel launched its all-out war in Gaza after a cross-border rampage on October 7 by Hamas and other militants. Israeli officials said 1200 people were killed, mainly civilians, and 240 taken hostage.

“The appalling suffering of civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, is first and foremost the result of Hamas’ strategy,” Becker said, adding that Israel had a right to defend itself. Hamas denies Israeli allegations that its militants hide among civilians.

“Israel is in a war of defence against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people, to ensure that they do not succeed,” Becker said, adding: “The key component of genocide, the intent to destroy a people in whole or in part, is totally lacking.”

Even when acting in self-defence, countries are required by international law to follow the rules of war and judges must decide if Israel has.

As two days of hearings ended, ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue said the court would rule as soon as possible on South Africa’s interim request to halt the fighting.

By asking the court to order the halt of the Gaza military operation “the applicant seeks to thwart Israel’s inherent right to defend itself ... and render Israel defenceless,” Becker said.

“The application and request [by South Africa] should be rejected for what they are, a libel,” he said.

Palestinian backers with flags marched through The Hague and to watch proceedings on a giant screen in front of the Peace Palace. As Becker spoke, they chanted: “Liar! Liar!”

Israeli supporters were holding a separate gathering of family members of hostages taken by Hamas.

Judges and parties stand up during a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on Friday.Credit: AP

Israel often boycotts international tribunals and UN investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But this time, Israeli leaders took the rare step of sending a high-level legal team – a sign of how seriously they regard the case and likely fear that any court order to halt operations would be a major blow to the country’s international standing.

The ICJ’s decisions are final and without appeal, but the court has no way to enforce them.

The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted following the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Since Israeli forces launched their offensive, nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

South Africa says this amounts to genocide and is part of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.

Post-apartheid South Africa has long advocated the Palestinian cause, a relationship forged when the African National Congress’ struggle against white-minority rule was cheered on by Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The case, therefore, strikes at the heart of the national identities of both Israel and South Africa.

Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa has stood down its captain, who is Jewish, for the upcoming Under-19 World Cup which starts on Friday because of heightened security risks linked to comments he made supporting Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza.

David Teeger made the comments in October, but protests against Israel’s campaign in Gaza had were expected at tournament venues. CSA said it had been advised of planned protests were likely to focus on Teeger, the London Telegraph reported. It said the decision was made “in the best interests of all the players, the SA U19 team and David himself”. He remained in the squad.

Israel was founded as a Jewish state in the wake of the Nazis’ slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II. South Africa’s governing party, meanwhile, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime, which restricted most black people to “homelands.”

The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, 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 8000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.

Reuters, AP

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