A legal battle over whether IsraelB次元官网网址檚 war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United NationsB次元官网网址� top court with preliminary hearings into South AfricaB次元官网网址檚 call for judges to order an immediate suspension of IsraelB次元官网网址檚 military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation.
The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of IsraelB次元官网网址檚 national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South AfricaB次元官网网址檚 identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared IsraelB次元官网网址檚 policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to B次元官网网址渉omelandsB次元官网网址� before ending in 1994.
Israel normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by
B次元官网网址淚 think they have come because they want to be exonerated and think they can successfully resist the accusation of genocide,B次元官网网址� said Juliette McIntyre, an expert on international law at the University of South Australia.
In a statement after the case was filed, the Palestinian AuthorityB次元官网网址檚 foreign ministry urged the court to B次元官网网址渋mmediately take action to protect the Palestinian people and call on Israel, the occupying power, to halt its onslaught against the Palestinian people, in order to ensure an objective legal resolution.B次元官网网址�
Two days of preliminary hearings at the International Court of Justice begin with lawyers for South Africa explaining to judges why the country has accused Israel of B次元官网网址渁cts and omissionsB次元官网网址� that are B次元官网网址済enocidal in characterB次元官网网址� in the Gaza war and has called for an immediate halt to IsraelB次元官网网址檚 military actions.
ThursdayB次元官网网址檚 opening hearing is focused on South AfricaB次元官网网址檚 request for the court to impose binding interim orders including that Israel halt its military campaign. A decision will likely take weeks.
IsraelB次元官网网址檚 offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the . About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, health officials say. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
In the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas overwhelmed IsraelB次元官网网址檚 defenses and stormed through several communities, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. They abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom have been released.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed the case as B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� during a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
B次元官网网址淚t is particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel B次元官网网址� Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter Iran B次元官网网址� continue to call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,B次元官网网址� he said.
The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, has never adjudged a country to be responsible for genocide. The closest it came was in 2007 when it ruled that Serbia B次元官网网址渧iolated the obligation to prevent genocideB次元官网网址� in the July 1995 massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the .
South Africa B次元官网网址渨ill have a hard time getting over the thresholdB次元官网网址� of proving genocide, said McIntyre.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not simply a matter of killing enormous numbers of people,B次元官网网址� she added in an email to The Associated Press. B次元官网网址淭here must be an intent to destroy a group of people (classified by race or religion for example) in whole or in part, in a particular place.B次元官网网址�
In a detailed, 84-page document launching the case late last year, South Africa alleges that Israel has demonstrated that intent.
Israel responded by insisting it operates according to international law and focuses its military actions solely against Hamas, adding that the residents of Gaza are not an enemy. It asserted that it takes steps to minimize harm to civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement called South AfricaB次元官网网址檚 case a B次元官网网址渄espicable and contemptuous exploitationB次元官网网址� of the court.
The ICJ case revolves around the genocide convention that was drawn up in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II and the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Both Israel and South Africa are signatories.
In its written filing, South Africa says it went to the court B次元官网网址渢o establish IsraelB次元官网网址檚 responsibility for violations of the Genocide Convention; to hold it fully accountable under international law for those violationsB次元官网网址� and to B次元官网网址渆nsure the urgent and fullest possible protection for Palestinians in Gaza who remain at grave and immediate risk of continuing and further acts of genocide.B次元官网网址�
A team of lawyers representing South Africa will present three hours of arguments in the wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice at the world court on. IsraelB次元官网网址檚 legal team will have three hours on Friday morning to refute the allegations.
Among South AfricaB次元官网网址檚 delegation will be former U.K. opposition leader , whose leadership of the left-of-center Labour Party was stained by He is a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel.
Human Rights Watch said the hearings will provide scrutiny in a U.N. courtroom of IsraelB次元官网网址檚 actions.
B次元官网网址淪outh AfricaB次元官网网址檚 genocide case unlocks a legal process at the worldB次元官网网址檚 highest court to credibly examine IsraelB次元官网网址檚 conduct in Gaza in the hopes of curtailing further suffering,B次元官网网址� said Balkees Jarrah, the groupB次元官网网址檚 associate international justice director.
The U.N. court, headquartered in the ornate Peace Palace in a leafy suburb of The Hague, deals with disputes between nations. The International Criminal Court, based a few miles (kilometers) away in the same Dutch city, prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Israel is back on the ICJ docket next month, when hearings open into a U.N. request for a non-binding on the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
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