South Africa’s legal team in the genocide case against Apartheid Israel laid out the barbaric behaviour of the terrorist regime before the world’s eyes when it presented its case at the World Court on Thursday.
The bench of 17 judges sitting in The Hague, Netherlands, were confronted with the reality of the situation in the Gaza Strip, where more than 20 000 Palestinians have been killed since an Israeli onslaught was launched on 7 October.
The indiscriminate killing of civilians, destruction of social infrastructure, deprivation of basic services – atrocities which are all too familiar to the world at this stage – were presented before the court.
“For the past 96 days, Israel has subjected Gaza to what has been described as one of the heaviest conventional bombing campaigns in the history of modern warfare. Palestinians in Gaza are being killed by Israeli weaponry and bombs from air, land and sea,” said Adila Hassim SC, highlighting atrocities committed by the terrorist regime that could be considered genocide.
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Genocidal acts
Thanks in part to the sea of evidence, Hassim was able to supply a laundry list of actions by the occupier pointing towards genocide in Palestine. The mounting death toll in the killing fields of Gaza was her first point.
Noting Israel’s average of 6 000 bombs per week, she said it deployed some of the “biggest and most destructive bombs available” and eliminated “hundreds of multigenerational families”.
Other genocidal acts presented before the court included the “infliction of serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinians”, the imposition of life-threatening conditions that, said Hassim, “are calculated to bring about its physical destruction” and the denial of “adequate shelter, clothes or sanitation”.
“In sum, all of these acts, individually and collectively,” declared Hassim, “form a calculated pattern of conduct by Israel, indicating genocidal intent. This intent is evident from Israel’s conduct …”
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Historic court case
Commentators were unanimous in declaring South Africa’s case against Israel at the World Court as a historic one. Some were encouraged that the presentation itself would spread awareness on such a lofty platform; others said it would test the impartiality of the United Nations’s (UN) highest legal body.
Speaking ahead of the first day of hearings at the World Court, attorney Dr. Nazreen Shaik-Peremanov said South Africa was in a “unique position” because of its historical struggle against apartheid, which she believed shared parallels with the Palestinian struggle.
“If we look at the ANC, the ANC is Hamas. If we look at the act of self-defence, it is self-defence indeed. When the entire world did not come to the Palestinian aid, then, pray tell, they will take up arms themselves and they would lead themselves into freedom in exactly the same manner that South Africa’s ANC will lead South Africa into democracy.,” she said.
In a post-presentation analysis on Salaamedia later the same day, Israeli activist Prof Jeff Halper said it remained to be seen whether the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was on the side of the oppressed people of Palestine.
“Everything that Israel is doing is prohibited in international law. The laws are there; they’re beautiful laws and there’s instruments for everything, it’s been well-thought-out and you even have institutions like the ICJ, ICC and so on … [but] the problem is enforcement,” he said.
Thursday’s proceedings were extensively covered by media outlets in the global south, although mainstream outlets in the West appeared reluctant to inform their audience about the presentations by SA’s legal team. The hearings resume tomorrow, when Israel is expected to present as much it can to further the “victim” narrative.
