Opens The proceedings for the accusations of genocide in Gaza leveled against Israel are in The Hague. Today and tomorrow, the International Court of Justice will indeed hold public hearings on South Africa's request in the case against the Jewish State. The hearings, explained a note from the Court in recent days, “will be dedicated to the request for provisional measures contained in South Africa's request”.
In particular, Pretoria asked the Court to indicate interim measures to “protect against further, serious and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention” and to “ensure Israel's compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to commit genocide and to prevent and punish genocide.”
Israel will then appear before the International Court of Justice in a case that could determine the course of the war in Gaza. As CNN recalls, this is an unprecedented episode: it is in fact the first time, experts explain, that the Jewish State has been tried under the United Nations Convention on Genocide, drawn up after the Second World War in light of the atrocities committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who called it “false”, meanwhile firmly rejects the accusation made by the South African government. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Tuesday that his country will present a case of “self-defense” to show that he is doing “everything” under “extremely complicated circumstances” to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.
L'Former Supreme Court judge Aharon Barak, 87, will be Israel's choice for the panel of 15 judges at the International Court of The Hague which will deal with the accusations. Both countries, the accuser and the accused, have the right to choose one of the judges.
Barak, a Holocaust survivor, was Israel's attorney general and judge of the Supreme Court. Now retired, he is an internationally esteemed magistrate certainly not close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Times of Israel notes. Professor Malcolm Shaw, an expert in international law, will defend Israel before the Hague Court.
UN: “Destruction of houses evidence of genocide”
The destruction of homes in Gaza is evidence of genocide. This was stated by Balakrishnan Rajagopal, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing, adding that approximately 56% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.
“The northern area of Gaza is the most affected, with a percentage of 82% of houses destroyed or damaged – he said -. The International Court of Justice should consider this as evidence of genocide in addition to South Africa's documented public statements.”
Use: “Unfounded accusations”
The United States does not see “any act that constitutes genocide” in Gaza. In a briefing with reporters, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “These are allegations that should not be made lightly… we are not seeing any act that constitutes genocide… This is the determination by of the State Department.”
“We believe that the presentation against Israel at the International Court of Justice only ends up distracting the world”, the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday at a press conference in Tel Aviv, stating that the accusations of genocide presented by South Africa are “unfounded “.
“This is particularly troublesome given that those attacking Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their sponsor, Iran, continue to openly call for the obliteration of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” Blinken said .
Hamas: “Court does not give in to US pressure”
“We ask the International Court of Justice not to give in to pressure from the American administration, which is a partner in the continuation of the war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”, the Hamas request from a member of the group's political bureau , Osama Hamdan.
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