The courtroom of the International Court of Justice, ICJ, at The Hague was a place of fireworks last week as judicial luminaries traded legal punches, and world class judges took notes as umpires. The scenario came to be as the court responded to the case of alleged genocide against the Palestinians filed by the Republic of South Africa against Israel was called for hearing.
This was the trending issue all through the weekend; the courtroom was filled, there was full bodied press presence in the gallery that hosted media people from round the globe, and outside the court building were protesters from the two sides of the divide flying the flags of Israel and the Palestine as the case may be.
The salvos may have been shelved given the duration of hearings for the case, but the verdict is expected in as much as an average of 30 or more days of deliberations. It could be ashorter waiting time depending on how quickly the 17 judges put their positions together as well as making room for those men of the silk who may have to do a dissenting report if the need arises.
A matter like this has far reaching implications when it comes through – it is not as easy as cutting a wedding cake.Determining whether there has been a case of genocide by Israel against people in Gaza is to be upheld is not a walk in the park; mass murder of Jews (Israelis) and in the surrounding non Israeli territories did not start on 7 October, 2023.
Major punch lines
South Africa
SA minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola said that it is unacceptable to justify acts of genocide in the name of self-defense. He put forward the fact that SA had issued a statement earlier condemning the actions of Hamas on 7 October, 2023 and did also through diplomatic means. In another breadth, Lamola tried to douse the fears of some citizens on the consequences of acting against Israel, which has a powerful backer in the United States.
Lamola emphasized that SA was only exercising its rights as signatories to the Genocide convention actionable at the UN’s highest court, the ICJ, adding that he does not see why the country should be punished for doing this for humanity.
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, member, SA legal team, powered in a dramatic manner the argument that Israel had a genocidal intent before the court. He said SA is not alone in the genocidal rhetoric against Palestinians in Gaza; UN special working groups also warned that what is happening in Gaza reflects genocide in the making. However, like has been observed by some others, he remained hard on what is needed to be done to nail home his points against Israel; he hardly mentioned anything against Hamas expectedly.
Israel
Tal Becker, Israel’s Foreign Minister Advisor, said ‘South Africa has put before the court a profoundly distorted factual and legalpicture. The entirety of the case hinges on a deliberately curated, decontextualized and manipulated description of the reality of the current hostilities. South Africa purports to come to this court in the lofty position of a guardian of the interest of humanity, but in delegitimizing Israel’s 75-year existence, in the opening presentation (yesterday) reigns hollow…’
On the second day of presentations, Israeli Attorney, Galit Raguan, told the court that there was near total silence of SA in mentioning the Hamas except on its mass murder attack of the 7thof October, the action that triggered the present hostilities.
Raguan stated that SA avoided mentioning the constant advance warning given the civilians in Gaza by Israel to move to safer areas before any response to the Hamas offensive. She said in order to move public opinion against Israel, Hamas induced civilian casualties by using hospitals and civilian facilities to launch military attacks and also give covering to its fighters.
Earlier, Tel Aviv had called on the ICJ to throw out South Africa’s case against it because the action in Gaza is in self-defense.
Biblical Amalekites appears at ICJ in 2024
The bible, a book many would love to remain confined to the archive of history, made it to the ICJ several hundred years after as part of the evidence against Israel’s genocidal intent courtesy Ngcukaitobi, the SA lawyer. Though he was reporting Israeli PM, Mr. Benyamin Netanyahu’s charge to the nation to remember what God commanded the children of Israel of old to do to the Amalekites, enemies of Israel. Where the Amalekites are today, and who they are is better left to bible historians to properly locate them.
All said, all eyes are on the eminently distinguished judges to deliver judgment on the case.