Alwaght- The ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza over the past three months have been so painful that even non-Muslim states cannot close their eyes to these crimes. After the United Nations Security Council failed to pass a strong resolution against the Israeli regime due to the American vetoes, South Africa has taken the case of Israeli crimes in Gaza to the International Court of Justice.
In this connection, the ICJ on Friday announced in a statement that South Africa has made a complaint against Israeli genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
“Israel’s stated policy, acts and omissions are genocidal in character are committed with the requisite specific intent to the destruction of the Palestinian people under its colonial occupation and apartheid regime in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” a statement by Palestinian foreign ministry, citing the suit, said.
Israel has been and continues to be involved in acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and it risks continuing to these actions, according to South African complaint. Pretoria asked the court to take measures with the aim of protecting against further serious and irreparable damage to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention and ensuring Israel’s compliance with its obligations under this Convention to refrain from committing genocide and to prevent and punish it.
The South African complaint comes as the Israeli regime over the past three months with its relentless attacks devastated the already impoverished enclave, killing over 22,000 predominantly children and women. The 2.4 million population of Gaza, 85 percent of whom left their homes, are struggling with tragic humanitarian conditions. The international community describes the Israeli actions genocidal and asks for immediate cessation of war.
Israel has rejected South Africa’s move as “baseless”, calling it “blood libel.”
“South Africa’s claim lacks both a factual and a legal basis, and constitutes despicable and cheap exploitation of the Court,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said.
South Africa is one of the countries that has always supported the Palestinians in condemning the genocidal policy of the Israeli apartheid regime. It equates the plight of the Palestinians with the conditions of the black majority in the country during the rule of the apartheid regime under the control of the white minority, and the people of South Africa feel what is happening in Gaza with their skin and flesh. Therefore, South Africa is trying to eliminate the violence and racism in the occupied territories with the help of the international community, just as it eliminated the apartheid regime at home.
Will Pretoria suit proceed?
The ICJ allows a third party to file a suit against one of a war or dispute sides. Therefore, any party to the post-World War II treaty can sue another signatory to the convention in the Hague-based court.
South African case has a precedent. For example, Gambia in 2020 filed a suit against Myanmar for its genocidal actions against the Rohingya Muslim minority. So, South Africa is also qualified to condemn the Israeli genocidal actions through the ICJ.
The ICJ deals with disputes between countries and its decisions are final and cannot be appealed, but it has no means to implement them. South Africa is seeking a ruling of the court based on Article 36(1) of the court’s statute and Article 9 of the Genocide Convention, which was issued first in 1948 in response to the alleged massacre of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Therefore, in this case, especially if the court confirms the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the minimum effect is that it will further tarnish the image of Tel Aviv in the international system and lead to further isolation of this regime.
The Israelis claim that the ICJ is unqualified to address the Palestinian case, but ICJ judges in 2021 ruled that it is qualified to handle the Palestinian case, including the case of the regions occupied after 1967 war. But since Israeli regime is not a signatory to Treaty of Rome, it has so far has not allowed the representatives of the court to visit the occupied territories to closely probe violations of Palestinian rights.
Symbolic side of South African complaint
Having in mind that the Israeli regime over the past 75 years has shown no commitment to any international law, the South African suit with ICJ can be seen a symbolic move. Pretoria has always been a supporter of the Palestinian nation and over the past few months, it repeatedly called on Tel Aviv to end its war on Gaza and open the way for delivery of aids. Even South Africa announced in November that it had summoned its diplomats in Tel Aviv for consultations, and subsequently the Israeli Foreign Ministry also announced that it had recalled its ambassador from South Africa.
With its legal action, South Africa wants to draw attention to the Israeli crimes as the world community is idly watching the war. In other words, South Africa leaders want to form an international consensus against Tel Aviv.
Middle East Eye, citing a lawyer specializing at cross-border conflicts and criminal investigations, maintains that the ICJ ruling will have immediate effect and force Israel to stop its brutal attack on civilians in Gaza. Probably, Israel will decide not to appear in court, but such procedures show the true description of Tel Aviv’s severe violation of Palestinian rights.
With more countries joining South Africa’s action and condemning the Israeli attacks in Gaza, Netanyahu’s hard-line government can be forced to withdraw from Gaza. Hard-line Israeli officials, who are facing numerous cases of financial and security corruption, are worried about mounting global pressure against them. Because there is a possibility that they will be prosecuted by some countries and cannot easily travel outside the occupied territories, and even seizure of their assets abroad is possible.
South Africa’s suit also has a special symbolic significance from another viewpoint, and that is to bring shame to more than 50 Islamic and Arab countries. Due to the religious, linguistic and cultural commonality with the Palestinians, the Arab countries should have taken firm positions against the genocide in Gaza, but these countries did not take any action to punish Tel Aviv and only issued weak statements. Even according to reports, countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia support Tel Aviv behind the scenes.
Arab monarchies could cripple Israel by oil and economic boycott to force it end its hostilities, but some of them, to surprise of all, have launched a ‘Dubai-Eilat corridor’ to transport goods to Israel from Persian Gulf ports as Yemen’s Ansarullah Movement in solidarity with Gaza imposes a ban on ships sailing to Israeli ports . So, the move by South Africa as a non-Muslim country is a wake-up call to the Arabs to not sit on their hands and close their eyes to war since further Arab silence only makes the Israelis more audacious.
Silence of Palestinian Authority
South African legal action against Israel draws attention to another matter: The inaction of the Palestinian Authority that can use leverages at its disposal against the Israeli regime.
It is noteworthy that Palestine became a member of the ICJ in 2015, and therefore, with Palestine’s membership in this court, the Palestinian Authority can deal with the crimes committed by the Israeli regime during the war it wages on the defenseless Palestinian people.
In March 2022, the Palestinian Authority sued Israeli government for settlement projects and demographic changes to Al-Quds (Jerusalem), triggering an international legal response. Finally, the United Nations General Assembly voted against Tel Aviv with a majority and asked the ICJ to issue its advisory opinion on the actions of the Israeli regime to change the demographic structure of the occupied Al-Quds, the racist legislations and plans against the Palestinians, and the impact of the policies and actions of this regime on the legal status of occupation.
But while that hundreds of thousands of Gaza people are under Israeli fire and over 22,000 of them were killed and more were injured, the Palestinian Authority remains silent to the Israeli crimes. The Palestinian Authority could at least file a suit with the ICJ calling for a probe into Israeli genocide. Instead, such countries as South Africa and Russia undertake its job at ICJ and the UN.
