Legal experts and human rights activists are raising alarms over the South African government’s failure to prosecute its citizens serving in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), creating what they describe as a state of impunity.
This criticism comes as South Africa leads a landmark genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), exposing a significant contradiction between its foreign policy and domestic enforcement.
Since the conflict escalated on 7 October 2023, Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip have resulted in what is widely considered a genocide. The offensive has led to mass murder, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure, including 84% of health centres and all of Gaza’s universities. Over 1.9 million Palestinians, representing 85% of Gaza’s population, have been forcibly displaced amid catastrophic levels of starvation.
Despite the South African government’s strong condemnation of these acts on the world stage, individuals holding South African citizenship have openly joined the IDF. Attorney Ziyaad Patel of Ziyaad E. Patel Attorneys points to a “serious disconnect” between the government’s international position and its domestic actions.
“We see that there’s a serious disconnect between the South African government and its position internationally, and what it is undertaking domestically and on the local front,” Patel stated in an interview with Salaamedia.
This lack of action persists despite clear legal frameworks that prohibit such activities. The Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act criminalises rendering foreign military assistance without permission from the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC). Furthermore, the South African Citizenship Act allows for the revocation of citizenship for naturalised individuals who engage in a war the Republic does not support.
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Calls for prosecution and accountability
Activists have been pushing for prosecutions for over a decade. In 2009, a list of 73 South Africans who fought for the Israeli military was handed to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), but the authority declined to prosecute. More recently, specific cases have emerged, such as that of Aaron Bayhack, a South African citizen identified as serving in the IDF’s Paratroopers 202, also known as the “Ghost Unit.”
According to Patel, there is “incontrovertible evidence” that Bayhack’s unit was involved in the targeted killing of civilians. “There is evidence by one of the leaders that stated that each of those members were responsible for five civilian kills,” he said. The unit operated in areas near the Quds and Al-Nasr hospitals, where eyewitnesses reported IDF snipers targeting civilians, including a 16-year-old girl.
Despite this evidence being presented to the authorities, there has been little movement. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in Cape Town has announced it is preparing a legal challenge against the NPA for its inaction.
Patel argues that the presence of these individuals poses a direct threat to South Africa’s national security. “It’s a national safety and security risk to our territory and to our sovereignty, because these individuals continue to be trained paramilitary, trained by a foreign army… and they’re coming back to our country and enjoying the freedom here, which is completely and utterly unacceptable.”
The continued impunity for these actions has led to growing frustration among those who support the Palestinian cause and expect their government to uphold its own laws. As South Africa champions international justice for Palestinians, the pressure mounts for it to address the alleged war criminals within its own borders and end the culture of impunity.
Image: Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip watch as aid is dropped from the sky. [BASHAR TALEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES]
