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Alameen Templeton
South African lawyers and investigators are piling up evidence of Israel’s genocidal atrocities in Gaza ahead of a court hearing next month while the Zionists are appealing to the US to prevent the International Court of Justice case from continuing.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said this week the case was proceeding, with the South African ICJ legal team set to submit a memorial of facts on October 28.
“South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
Axios is reporting Wednesday Israel has requested US congressmen to “make clear to South Africa that there will be consequences for continuing to pursue the case”.
It says the Zionists are also hoping the GNU government with the DA as a key ally will “take a different approach to Israel and the war in Gaza”, Axios says.
South Africa filed a case against Israel before the ICJ in The Hague late last year, accusing it of committing genocide in Gaza and not fulfilling its obligations under the 1948 Geneva Convention.
Spanner in the works
The statement did not mention Israel’s appeal on the same day to the US Congress to intervene in the case and to prevent it from moving forward. However, Ramaphosa emphasized that the case would proceed until the final ruling.
Axios says the Israeli foreign ministry sent a classified cable to its embassy in Washington, DC and to all Israeli consulates in the US about South Africa’s case. They’re pleading to all Aipac-funded congressmen – and there’s a lot – to issue public statements “condemning South Africa’s actions against Israel and threaten that it could lead to suspending trade relations with South Africa”.
“We are asking you to immediately work with lawmakers on the federal and state level, with governors and Jewish organizations to put pressure on South Africa to change its policy towards Israel and to make clear that continuing their current actions like supporting Hamas and pushing anti-Israeli moves in international courts will come with a heavy price,” the cable reads.
Axios says the US is unlikely to use trade sanctions against Pretoria “because the US wants to maintain its relationship with South Africa in order to counter the influence of Russia and China”.
Appeal to decency
In the meantime, South Africa has called on Israel to comply with the court’s provisional orders to protect civilians and to prevent harm to them, several of which have been issued over the course of proceedings.
Israel has only played marginal lip service to the orders and has become adept at using apparent compliance as a depraved tool to increase Palestinians’ suffering. Its repeated airstrikes and assaults on the Al-Mawasi refugee camp are examples.
Its repeated evacuation orders and displacement of Gaza’s exhausted refugee population has made life impossible in Gaza as families are driven from one bombed-out “safe zone” to another leaving a trail of dwindling possessions and unmarked graves behind them.
A May order directed the Israelis cease its offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, marking the third time the court had called for action to mitigate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel has invaded and assaulted Rafah repeatedly since then.
Global solidarity emerging
Ramaphosa said the case was part of a broader global effort to promote peace in the Middle East, with several nations, including Turkey, Nicaragua, Palestine, Spain, Mexico, Libya, and Colombia, joining the case.
Unfortunately, the US will probably see such nascent formations of global solidarity as a threat while its international stature crumbles alongside its steadfast enablement of the Gaza genocide.
China has lauded South Africa’s efforts to hold Israel accountable before the UN’s highest court, and the US is certain to view that with displeasure.
The two countries said in a joint statement on September 3 they were committed to working to ensure a just and lasting settlement of Palestinian rights. But Washington is likely to see that as an encroachment on its Arabian “sphere of influence” generally accorded it in diplomatic circles.
Lasting commitment
In the joint statement, Beijing “commended the positive role that South Africa has played in activating the role of the international community in the conflict in Gaza”.
It said Beijing was standing by to collaborate with Pretoria to achieve as soon as possible a “comprehensive, just and lasting settlement” to the Palestinian crisis.
China also told the ICJ in an oral submission in February that the Palestinian armed struggle for independence was “legitimate”.
“In pursuit of the right to self-determination, the Palestinian people’s use of force to resist foreign oppression and complete the establishment of an independent state is (an) inalienable right well founded in international law,” Beijing’s legal advisor, Ma Xinmin, said.
South Africa praised China for facilitating a reconciliation dialogue among Palestinian factions under the old PLA banner, culminating in the Beijing Declaration aimed at forming a provisional government.
The two countries also demanded an immediate ceasefire, an end to hostilities, the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2728, while calling for political resolution of the Palestinian crisis.
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