by Anthony Deutsch, Toby Sterling and Stephanie van den Berg
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Israel on Friday rejected accusations of genocide brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming the right to self-defense after the massacres perpetrated on October 7 by Hamas.
On the second and final day of hearings before the Hague court, lawyers for the Jewish state denounced baseless allegations after having listened the day before to their South African peers accusing Israel of leading a campaign intended to “destroy the population “from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli lawyers in return accused South Africa of playing into the hands of Palestinian Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the West.
Israel’s military actions are acts of self-defense against Hamas and “other terrorist organizations,” said Tal Becker, legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
South Africa’s interpretation of the facts is “grossly distorted”, he said, adding: “If there were acts of genocide, they were perpetrated against Israel.”
They also say Israel is doing everything possible to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza, including urging Palestinians to evacuate.
South Africa filed a petition with the ICJ in December in which it considers that Israel’s war against Hamas fighters in Gaza violates the 1948 Genocide Convention. This treaty, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, defines genocide as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.
South Africa is demanding emergency measures from the Court, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, to stop the Israeli offensive. The court is expected to rule on these emergency measures before the end of the month but its decision on the genocide allegations could take years.
According to Tal Becker, Pretoria “seeks to weaken Israel’s inherent right to defend itself” and “render Israel defenseless.”
“How can an occupier who has been oppressing people for 75 years say this is self-defense?” commented Neen Haijjawi, a Palestinian who recently arrived in the Netherlands and was protesting in front of the Peace Palace. from The Hague with other demonstrators.
The Israeli offensive, launched after the massacres of October 7 which cost the lives of some 1,200 Israelis, left more than 23,000 dead in the Gaza Strip transformed into a field of ruins.
The decisions of the International Court are final and cannot be challenged on appeal, but it has no means of enforcing them. The debate, however, has a strong symbolic significance and supporters of both camps have been demonstrating for two days in The Hague.
(Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version, edited by Kate Entringer)
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