DEUTSCHE WELLE
The Palace of Peace, an ornate red-brick building in The Hague that houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is a long way from the bombed-out streets of Gaza or the Israeli Kibbutzim laid to waste on October 7.
But on Thursday and Friday, its Great Hall of Justice was transported to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Legal teams from Israel and South Africa painted competing pictures of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza for the consideration of the UN top court’s judges, not to mention the rest of the world.
In one, South Africa accused Israel of carrying out a genocide of the Palestinian population in Gaza, with its campaign against Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls the tiny, densely populated strip.
In the other, Israel vehemently denied those charges and accused South Africa of conjuring up a profoundly distorted reality. The Israeli Defense Forces’ actions had to be understood in the context of two-party war and as Israeli self-defense against Hamas, which is classified by the US, EU and others as a terrorist organization, Israel stressed.
Tense hearings kick off long process
South Africa, whose post-apartheid government has long-standing ties with the Palestinian cause and frequently condemns Israel, filed its case in late December 2023. The country also requested so-called “provisional measures” from the ICJ that would order Israel to halt its campaign immediately and allow more humanitarian aid in, among other things.
Israel is asking the ICJ, sometimes dubbed the World Court, to dismiss South Africa’s case, as well as the provisional measures.
The ICJ’s judgment on whether Israel can be considered guilty under the 1948 Genocide Convention, which was implemented in the wake of Nazi Germany’s mass murder of millions of European Jews in the Holocaust, could take months if not years.
A ruling on the provisional measures could come in a few weeks, but it is unclear how the ICJ could make Israel suspend its campaign should the judges side with South Africa.
‘World should be ashamed’ about what’s going on in Gaza
On Thursday, South Africa laid out a blistering case against Israel’s intense, three-month bombardment, which has the stated aim of wiping out Hamas’ military capabilities.
More than 23,000 Palestinian deaths with 70% of them women and children, close to 60,000 injured, and thousands more missing, presumed dead, lawyer Adila Hassim summarized, citing figures from Gazan authorities and the United Nations in her statement. Eighty-five percent of the population displaced, one in four people starving, and swathes of buildings razed to the…
