Last week, South Africa submitted a request to the International Court of Justice to take action against Israel over its military operations in the Gaza Strip. However, this move faces several challenges that may hinder achieving its objectives.
South Africa had asked the court a week earlier to issue an urgent order declaring that Israel violates its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its campaign against Hamas. Israel described South Africa’s request as baseless, accusing Pretoria of collaborating with what it called “a terrorist group calling for the destruction of Israel,” referring to Hamas. Israel also claimed that it is working to minimize harm to civilians.
The website “Axios” published a report revealing Israeli “behind-the-scenes” maneuvers to undermine South Africa’s “genocide” file. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed its embassies to pressure diplomats and politicians in host countries to issue statements against the “South African file,” according to an urgent cable obtained by Axios. The cable from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that Israel’s strategic goal is for the court to reject the request for a judicial order and refrain from determining that Israel commits genocide in Gaza, recognizing that the Israeli military operates in the sector according to international law.
The cable, obtained by Axios from three different Israeli officials, states:
* There could be significant potential effects of the court’s ruling not only in the legal world but also in bilateral, multilateral, economic, and security ramifications.
* It asks for an immediate and unequivocal public statement as follows: that the country publicly and clearly declares it rejects the baseless, absurd, and heinous accusations against Israel.
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The Israeli Argument:
* According to the 1948 Convention, genocide is defined as creating conditions that do not allow the survival of the population with the intention of exterminating them.
* Therefore, emphasizing Israel’s efforts to increase humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza and reduce the number of civilians killed is “extremely important,” as stated in the cable.
* The embassies were instructed to ask diplomats and politicians at the highest levels to “publicly recognize that Israel (along with international actors) is working to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as reduce damage to civilians.”
* They were told that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would send messages to dozens of world leaders in the same vein.
The International Court of Justice announced on Wednesday that it would hold public hearings in the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel on January 11 and 12.
