South Africa has launched a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday for Israel’s ‘genocidal’ acts in Gaza and urgent order declaring that Tel Aviv was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against the Palestinian group Hamas.
South Africa has also said that Israel has been acting “with the requisite specific intent… to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Israel has rejected the charge, with Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat writing on X, formerly Twitter, “Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa and its application” to the ICJ.
What Has South Africa Alleged?
In the ICJ filing, South Africa asks the court to “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people”.
The ICJ, sometimes known as the World Court, is the United Nations venue for resolving disputes between states. Decisions by the ICJ, which judges disputes between states, are final — but it has no means of enforcing its decisions.
Earlier in October, South Africa criticised the Israeli aggression in Gaza following the Hamas attack. President Cyril Ramaphosa and his African National Congress had addressed the media draped in traditional Palestinian scarves.
The ruling African National Congress issued a statement saying, “It can no longer be disputed that Apartheid South Africa’s history is occupied Palestine’s reality.
“As a result, the decision by Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime is unsurprising,” it added. The statement added that it was clear that “the degenerating security situation is directly linked to the unlawful Israeli occupation”.
Why South Africa is Against Israel?
South Africa has long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party often linking it to its own struggle against apartheid. Many there, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, have compared Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa’s past apartheid regime of racial segregation.
The African country has always backed the Palestinian cause for statehood and compared the plight of Palestinians to those of the Black majority in South Africa during the repressive apartheid era.
South Africa also recalled all its diplomats from Israel in November. Israel in turn also recalled its ambassador from South Africa.
In the same month, five countries, including South Africa, called for an International Criminal Court investigation into the Israel-Hamas war. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti — all ICC members — had sought an investigation of “the situation in the state of Palestine”.
According to Lesiba Teffo, a political scientist in the University of South Africa, South Africa and Palestine have historic relations for decades which is why South Africa support the Palestinian cause for freedom.
“Palestine was with South Africa during the struggle against apartheid, while Britain and America never supported us but they were ever supporting Israel. This context is important,” Teffo said, according to Anadolu.
However, the country’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has created deep divisions among opposition politicians and Jewish organizations.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has criticized the government for supporting Palestine and recalling its diplomats. Moreover, the South African Jewish community is largely pro-Israel due to the post-Second World War relationship between Jews and the Apartheid government.
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