Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
SA celebrates historic victory for Palestine
Israel ordered to prevent genocide
SOUTH Africans celebrated a historic moment when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its outcome yesterday in The Hague, and called on Israel to deliver a report in a month and not to destroy evidence while taking steps to prevent genocide in Gaza.
The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, sat centre stage as Judge Joan Donoghue read the order.
After the hearing, Pandor addressed the media in the Hague and said the court had sent a clear message.
“It was now a test for the government and people of Israel if they will act in a manner that says all of us must respect international law,” Pandor said.
In Cape Town, people gathered at local sites such as the Dullah Omar Centre in Athlone to watch the ruling live while President Cyril Ramaphosa, at the ANC National Executive Committee in Boksburg yesterday, donned a Palestinian scarf while following proceedings. He jovially hugged members seated next to him after the outcome.
Ramaphosa in his address said he expected Israel to abide by the verdict.
“South Africans will not be passive bystanders while crimes are perpetrated upon other people elsewhere.”
More than 1000 people followed a live broadcast organised by the Palestine Solidarity Alliance. Some spectators said they were disappointed that there was no order for a ceasefire.
In the order, the ICJ said that all humanitarian aid, such as food and water, be restored to Palestine and that all hostages captured by Hamas be freed.
Donoghue said under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, Israel takes all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
The order reads: That Israel will ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in the first order and take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip, take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence.
Israel has been ordered to submit a report within one month to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to its orders.
Activist Mamphela Ramphele for the Archbishop Tutu Intellectual Property Trust said the outcome was one small step for humankind.
“The measures will not put an immediate stop to the bombardment of Gaza, which South Africa charges amounts to genocide, and if Israel ignores the order no mechanisms exist to force it to do so.
“The order is nonetheless critically important: It reflects the court’s consideration that there may be merit in South Africa’s charge that Israel’s onslaught on Gaza amounts to genocide.
“It is an official finding of Israeli misconduct by a court representing the entire world, unswayed by the political and/or ideological and/or economic interests of individual nations (however powerful).
“It is an indictment of the old-world structure of the United Nations that affords some nations more powers than others, and has enabled the United States to use its veto to block resolutions calling for a ceasefire.
“Most critically, it affirms that Palestinians are human beings, with human rights – and not animals, as senior Israeli officials have contended.”
Retired Western Cape Judge Siraj Desai said it was a momentous moment for the people of Palestine and South Africa.
“This is a triumphant moment for the Palestinian cause and its millions of supporters worldwide,” he said.
“We salute our government, our lawyers and the BDS movement for its continuous pressure in keeping this issue on our agenda and conscience.
“We did not get all the relief claimed but the order is sufficient to put both Israel and the USA on their back feet. If Israel continues with its murderous ways, and the USA supports it, our opposition will be intensified now backed by the instruments of international justice. In this instance the ICJ has gained in stature.
“We can only hope that it continues to play a positive role on the world stage.”
Gift of the Givers said in a statement that seventy five years of lies, deception, cover-up, occupation and the dehumanising of Palestinians had been exposed at the International Court of Justice.
“Successfully playing the victim for decades, Israel supported by the USA, UK, Germany, entities in Europe, billions of dollars of military and financial aid, veto power of the USA, Zionist controlled mainstream media that directs a pro-Israel narrative, billions of dollars of bought influence internationally, tentacles in every sector of society to cover up their punishment of all Palestinians, Muslim and Christian, the message was clear: no one dare challenge Israel, the untouchable, the invincible. Well South Africa just did, challenged the ultimate bully, dragged Israel to the ICJ and achieved a ruling that in essence implies a plausible case of genocide exists.”
The South African Jewish Board (SABJD) said the court’s call for hostages to be freed was fundamental. “We are saddened by our government not playing a more constructive role in engaging both sides, as they have in every other conflict to help to bring an actual end to this war,” they said.
THE United Nation’s top court said yesterday that Israel must do all it can to prevent genocide in its war with Hamas and allow aid into Gaza, as alarm has grown over Palestinians trapped by the conflict.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), was not deciding whether Israel was actually committing genocide with its military campaign in Gaza – that process will likely take several years. But it ruled that the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza was “at serious risk of deteriorating further” before a final decision, so it issued a series of emergency measures.
The case and the landmark decision have sparked global attention.
The court – while stopping short of ordering an immediate halt to the almost four-month-old war – said Israel must do everything to “prevent the commission of all acts within the scope” of the Genocide Convention.
South Africa had brought the case against Israel, accusing it of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, set up in the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust.
South Africa’s foreign ministry hailed it as a “decisive victory”. Speaking to reporters on the steps of the gilded Peace Palace in The Hague, where the court sits, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor said the measures were tantamount to a call for a ceasefire.
“How do you deliver humanitarian aid without a ceasefire? How do you provide water and access to energy? How do you ensure that those who are injured have health care and so on?” she said. “Without a ceasefire, not one of these things can be done.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the ruling as “outrageous”.
Netanyahu had suggested he does not feel bound by the court, saying: “No one will stop us – not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else”.
He said the charge against Israel “is not only false, it’s outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it”.
Israel stressed during the hearings that it was acting in self-defence after the Hamas attacks of October 7 and was doing all in its power to ease the plight of civilians.
While steps to help civilians “are to be encouraged, they are insufficient” to protect the rights of the Palestinians, the court ruled.
Outside the court, hundreds of protesters on both sides gathered, shouting slogans and waving banners.
Noyleyb, a 32-year-old pro-Israeli entrepreneur, who declined to give his last name, said: “It’s crazy how the survivors of one genocide are being put on trial for committing a genocide.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrator Nikita Shabazy, 48, said: “It really breaks my heart that there is no ceasefire in place.”
Hamas hailed the decision as “an important development which contributes to isolating Israel and exposing its crimes in Gaza”.
Mushtana Musalim, a 56-yearold displaced man from Gaza City, expressed his gratitude to South Africa for bringing the case against Israel.
“This in itself is an achievement in our favour, but going back in history, Israel has not recognised international decisions,” he said. “As Palestinians, we support the step and we feel proud of it.”
Israeli airline El Al said yesterday ahead of the ruling that it would scrap direct flights to South Africa following “a significant fall in demand by Israeli travellers”.
The war started with the October 7 attack by Hamas that resulted in about 1 140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and launched a military offensive that Gaza’s health ministry says has killed at least 26083 people, about 70%of them women and children.
On the ground, AFPTV images from Gaza City showed hundreds of Palestinians crowding around a truck delivering aid yesterday.
Footage from Maghazi refugee camp in Deir al-Balah showed scores of decomposing bodies amid the rubble.
In Khan Yunis, south Gaza’s main city, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Nasser Hospital had “completely run out of food, anaesthetics and painkillers as a result of the Israeli siege”.
Germany also said it was extremely concerned by the “desperate situation” faced by civilians in Khan Yunis, where fighting has been inching closer to hospitals sheltering thousands of displaced people. |