Hats off to SA’s stance on Israel

The last time most of the world was this infatuated with South Africa was last year, when the Springboks transformed into carnivores and ate the All Blacks for lunch and brought home the Webb Ellis Cup in a Tupperware as proof.

This time, the playing field is the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where South Africa pointed an accusatory finger at Israel over genocide against Palestinians.

Two factors seem to have struck a chord the world over as South Africa delivered the 84-page filing, noting that Benjamin Netanyahu and company are contravening the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

Firstly, South Africa has been repeatedly vocal about how Israel is determined to indiscriminately flatten Gaza in the name of retaliating against a Hamas attack.

Secondly, we have followed up our words with action, using the legal route. This is like in school when a bully would be taken on by one brave pupil, who would later be cheered on by others.

In South Africa’s cheerleading squad is the 57-member strong Organisation of Islamic Countries; Malaysia; Türkiye; the 22-member Arab League; as well as other countries and advocacy groups.

These allies all agree that they cannot keep quiet as a humanitarian catastrophe takes place. For the time being, they are honorary South Africans as they collectively attempt to use the United Nations’ highest authority to deliver justice to Palestinians.

Of course, there are those, such as the US, who have described South Africa’s efforts as meritless, counterproductive and without basis of fact. As America is a superpower, it will be interesting to see how this will affect diplomatic relations between the two nations.

There will always be a price to pay for standing up to a bully, even when they are not terrorising you. The victim’s fight becomes your righteous fight, but so do the consequences, such as stray left hooks leading to blue eyes. Time will tell what Israel and its enablers will unleash on South Africa as they retaliate for the ICJ case.

As far as I can tell, most South Africans are proud of what their government has done. They are filled with extreme patriotism as South Africa is the only country in the world that is taking the fight to Israel and, in turn, standing up for freedom and equality.