The victims of the Gaza war and the suffering of the civilian population were the sole responsibility of the terrorist organization Hamas. “Israel is at war with Hamas, but not with the Palestinian people,” Becker said. “The applicant seeks to undermine Israel’s inherent right to defend itself (…) and to render Israel defenseless,” said the legal advisor.
He called on the judges to reject South Africa's request for an appropriate emergency measure from the ICJ. Israel's lawyer, Malcolm Shaw, also said the court did not have the authority under the Genocide Convention to order the country to stop its military operations.
Portal/Thilo Schmuelgen Legal advisor Becker speaks of an attempt to “make Israel defenseless”
South Africa's allegations
South Africa filed a complaint with the Court in December. On the first day of the hearing, on Thursday, its representatives called on the court to impose emergency measures and order Israel to immediately suspend the offensive in Gaza.
The air and ground attacks, which the Palestinians say have killed nearly 24,000 people so far, were aimed at “annihilating the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as part of the larger national, racial and ethnic group of Palestinians”, South Africa argued in its statement. your statement of allegation.
Wildner (ORF) on the trial against Israel
Nikolaus Wildner reports on the opinion of the people of Israel about the judgment against their country.
South Africa's legal representative, Adila Hassim, spoke in court about a “systematic pattern that indicates genocidal intent”. South Africa's lawsuit alleges that Israel failed to provide the people of the Gaza Strip with essential food, water, medicine, fuel, shelter and other humanitarian aid during the more than three-month war against the radical Islamic group Hamas.
Incriminating statements
Statements by Israeli ministers are also cited as evidence of the intention to commit genocide. South Africa speaks of “direct and public incitement to genocide”. Threats to make Gaza uninhabitable are cited, as well as demands from right-wing extremist ministers to permanently expel the Palestinians.
In contrast, Israel's representative Becker told the hearing that the military actions were an act of self-defense against Hamas and “other terrorist organizations.” South Africa's interpretations of events were grossly distorted. “If there were acts of genocide, they were committed against Israel,” Becker said.
“Israel is waging a defensive war against Hamas, not the Palestinian people, to ensure it will not succeed,” Becker said. “The key component of genocide, the intention to destroy a people in whole or in part, is completely absent.”
Portal/Thilo Schmuelgen Palestinian supporters demonstrated in The Hague during the hearing
Traditional ally of South Africa's PLO
The 1948 Genocide Convention, which emerged in the wake of the Holocaust and was signed by Israel and South Africa, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious. ”
Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has championed the cause of the Palestinians and their desire for a state of their own. This goes back to the fact that, at the time, Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) supported the African National Congress (ANC), which was fighting against the rule of the white minority in South Africa.
Difficult procedure
The ICJ's decisions are legally binding, but the court does not have the capacity to enforce them. This week's hearings only deal with the eventual granting of emergency measures by the judges. They generally consist of asking a State to refrain from doing anything that might escalate the legal dispute. A decision on the measures is expected in the weeks following the hearings.
If the court finds it has prima facie jurisdiction, the case will continue to be heard at the Peace Palace in The Hague. This also applies if judges decide against immediate measures. The main trial on the genocide charge could drag on for years.