People gather around the bodies of the Salah and Abu Hatab families, killed when the tent where they were sheltering was hit by Israeli bombardment, at the morgue of the Nasser medical centre in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 4, 2024, as battles between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants continue. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
Countries have been urged to back South Africa’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) case alleging that Israel has violated the Genocide Convention, due to be heard next week.
In a statement released on Wednesday night, the newly-formed International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine called on other countries to file declarations of intervention at the ICJ in support of South Africa’s application, which has recently been slated by both Israel and the United States.
“Declarations of intervention in support of South Africa’s invocation of the Genocide Convention against Israel will increase the likelihood that a positive finding of the crime of genocide will be enforced by the United Nations such that actions will be taken to end all acts of genocide and those who are responsible for the acts will be held accountable,” the coalition said.
The coalition includes the Progressive International, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the Black Alliance for Peace, Democracy for the Arab World Now, the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, Popular Resistance, CODEPINK, the National Lawyers Guild and others.
In its 84-page application to the court, South Africa alleges that, since 7 October 2023, Israel has failed to prevent genocide and to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide. “More gravely still,” the application notes, “Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Israel initially declared war on Hamas after it breached the Gaza-Israel barrier, launching an attack on Israeli civilians and military bases. Details of the attack remain unclear, though the final civilian death toll is now thought to be 695. It is believed that 236 people were taken hostage by Hamas.
Two days after the attack, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant ordered a complete siege on Gaza, adding: “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”
In the months that have followed, Israel’s onslaught on Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 22 000 Palestinians. At least 57 000 have been injured, according to Gaza’s Hamas controlled health ministry.
Israel has maintained that its military operations in Gaza are aimed only at taking out Hamas, accusing the group of using Palestinans as human shields. However, South Africa’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Naledi Pandor has described Israel’s response to the 7 October attack as “collective punishment”.
South Africa has requested that the ICJ indicate provisional measures in order to protect Palestinian rights from “further, severe and irreparable harm”. These measures include the immediate suspension of Israel’s military operations in and against Gaza, as well as the state desisting from and preventing genocidal acts, such as “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.
Ajamu Baraka, chair of the coordinating committee of the Black Alliance for Peace, called South Africa’s action “a courageous attempt to do no less than salvage the credibility of the international mechanisms that were meant to protect human rights and international law”.
The coalition’s statement follows a similar call by the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Coordinating Committee (PAACC) urging all state parties to the Genocide Convention to urgently and fully support South Africa’s bid.
“Our coalitions and networks, representing the Palestinian political leadership and every strand of Palestinian civil society, fully support the proceedings which are vital to ensure that states comply with their international obligations to end the risk of genocide and genocidal acts, and urge the adoption and implementation of all the requested provisional measures to bring the genocidal destruction of the Palestinian people to an end,” the PAACC said.
Malaysia and Turkey have already officially backed South Africa’s application.
This week, spokesperson Eylon Levy confirmed that the Israeli government would challenge the case, accusing South Africa of blood libel. “We assure South Africa’s leaders, history will judge you. And it will judge you without mercy.”
On Washington’s side, White House national security council spokesperson John Kirby called South Africa’s submission “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever”.
Meanwhile, South Africa has assembled an impressive legal team, including senior counsels John Dugard, Max du Plessis, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi and Adila Hassim, as well as Sarah Pudifin-Jones, Lerato Zikalala and Tshidiso Ramogale.
Dugard — who served as UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories from 2001 to 2008 — has chaired two commissions of inquiry into Israel’s violations of international law.