The International Court of Justice in The Hague held public hearings on Thursday and Friday to evaluate South Africa's lawsuit against Israel for alleged genocide. Pretoria – and the countries of the Arab world – maintain that Israel violates Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention in its military actions against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip. However, not all countries think the same about this judicial process, which will not firmly condemn Israel and which could take years.
South Africa claims that more than 50 countries have expressed support for their demand before the highest court of the United Nations accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Others, including the United States, have strongly rejected South Africa's accusation that Israel is violating the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Others have simply remained silent.
The global reaction to the historic case that was tried on Thursday and Friday at the International Court of Justice in The Hague shows a foreseeable global division regarding the intractable problem of Israel and the Palestinianswhich has already lasted 75 years and whose new phase turns 100 days on January 14, 2024.
Most of the countries supporting South Africa's case are from the Arab world and Africa. In Europe, only the Muslim nation of Türkiye has publicly expressed its support.
No Western country has declared its support for South Africa's accusations against Israel. The United States, a close ally of Israel, has rejected them as unfounded, the United Kingdom has described them as unjustified and Germany has said that it “explicitly rejects” them.
China and Russia have said little about one of the most consequential cases ever brought before an international court. The European Union has also not commented.
The United States fires: “Unfounded accusations”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared on his most recent visit to Israel before the judicial process began that South Africa's accusations “are baseless” and that the case “distracts the world” from efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: genocide “is not a word that should be thrown around lightly, and we certainly don't think it applies here”.
“We do not agree with what South Africans are doing”said the UK Foreign Minister, David Cameron, about the case.
Israel strongly rejects accusations of genocide and says it is defending its people. Tel Aviv maintains that the offensive is aimed at eradicating the leaders of Hamas, the militant group that runs the territory and that led this new phase of the conflict by launching surprise attacks against southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.
Blinken said a case of genocide against Israel was “particularly galling” given that Hamas and other groups “continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.”
United States, United Kingdom, EU and other countries They classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Israel's military response in Gaza has pushed the besieged Palestinian enclave into all-out war, with more than 23,700 dead, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Most of them, according to reports from the Gazan institution, are civilians. More than two thirds are women and children. To date, much of northern Gaza has become an uninhabitable moonscape, with entire neighborhoods obliterated by Israeli airstrikes and tank fire.
South Africa has also condemned the Hamas attack on October 7, but maintains that it does not justify Israel's indiscriminate response.
Germany, unwavering support for Israel
Germany's announcement of support for Israel on Friday, the day the hearings closed, has symbolic meaning given its history of the Holocaust, when the Nazis murdered six million Jews in Europe. The State of Israel was created after World War II as a refuge for Jews in the shadow of those atrocities.
“Israel has been defending itself”, declared German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. His statement also invoked the Holocaust, which largely prompted the creation of the UN Genocide Convention in 1948.
“In view of Germany's history… the federal government considers itself especially committed to the Genocide Convention,” he declared. He called the accusations against Israel “completely unfounded”.
Germany said it intends to intervene in the case on Israel's behalf.
The EU has only said that countries have the right to bring cases to the UN court. The majority of its member states have abstained from speaking out.
Turkey, which is in the process of joining the EU, was a lone voice in the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his country had provided documents that were being used against Israel in the case.
“With these documents, Israel will be condemned”Erdogan said.
Arab condemnation is unanimous
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (ICO) was one of the first blocs to publicly back the case when South Africa brought it forward late last month. He claimed that the Israeli defense forces were carrying out a “massive genocide” and accused Israel of “attacking indiscriminately” to the civilian population of Gaza.
The ICO is a bloc of 57 countries that includes Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. Its headquarters are in Saudi Arabia. The Arab League, based in Cairo and whose 22 member countries almost all belong to the ICO, also supported South Africa's case, which also gained support outside the Arab world.
Namibia and Pakistan agreed to the case at a session of the UN General Assembly held this week. Malaysia also expressed its support.
“No peace-loving human being can ignore the carnage committed against the Palestinians in Gaza,” declared Namibian President Hage Geingob, according to The Namibian newspaper.
The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded “legal responsibilities for Israel's atrocities in Gaza.”
The silence of China, Russia and India
China, Russia – which also faces genocide accusations in court – and India have remained largely silent, apparently aware that taking a stance in such an incendiary case has few advantages and could irreversibly alter their relations in the region. .
India's foreign policy has historically supported the Palestinian cause, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to express solidarity with Israel and call the Hamas attack terrorism.
The gray scale
A handful of South American countries have spoken out, including the continent's largest economy, Brazil, whose Foreign Ministry declared that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva supported South Africa's case. However, the body's comments did not directly accuse Israel of genocide, but rather focused on the need for a ceasefire in Gaza.
South Africa's lawsuit against Israel has two aspects: wants the court to declare that Israel is committing genocide and issue a provisional ruling ordering the end of its military campaign in Gaza. The court said it would soon rule on a provisional sentence, but that, given the seriousness of the case, the Final verdict on genocide charge could take years.
Brazil said it hoped the case would get Israel to “immediately put an end to all acts and measures that could constitute genocide.”
Other countries have not come to coincide with South Africa. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the genocide case was “far from clear” but that he hoped the court would order a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no one – including The Hague – will stop Israel's war against Hamas. Echoes of when Russia declined to listen to the court when it was told to stop its invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
*AP
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