South Africa has submitted a request to the United Nations International Court of Justice for a case against Israel, accompanied by a request for provisional measures against it for its potential failures to prevent the crime of genocide, to which the besieged and bombarded Palestinians in the Gaza Strip appear to be subjected.

The French news website Media Part alerted that this court - which is different from the International Criminal Court - has jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between countries.

He pointed out that the powers of this court are limited due to the sovereignty of states, which are subject to their jurisdiction only from the moment they give their consent, or if they sign an optional clause related to compulsory jurisdiction, which is what only a third of the member states of the United Nations have done.

Because of the limitations of this jurisdiction - as the site says in a report by Antoine Perrault - South Africa took a third path, which is to resort to the court on the basis of an international treaty that includes a jurisdictional requirement, which is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly on the ninth. From December 1948.

Therefore, Pretoria wants to condemn and prevent "genocide" in connection with Israel's war on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which turned into a war on the Palestinian people, because this crime must be prevented or suppressed from the moment the intent that defines it is revealed, which is to commit Certain acts “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

The request submitted by South Africa on December 29 confirms that “Israel’s actions and omissions constitute genocide insofar as they are accompanied by the specific intent required to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza as part of the larger national and racist community.”

A specious argument

A request for an advisory opinion was submitted in The Hague this year to the International Court of Justice on “the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem,” based on a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 30. /December 2022.

Israel's representative at the United Nations unsuccessfully opposed such a resolution, which "demonizes Israel - in his opinion - and absolves the Palestinians of any responsibility for the current situation."

The Israeli delegate added that referral to the institution “would eliminate any chance for reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians,” which is the deceptive argument adopted by Washington, London, and Ottawa, in contrast to Paris.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice issued a clear advisory opinion against the “separation wall” built by Israel, which, according to the United Nations Foundation, constitutes an element of obstruction of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

The advisory opinion recommended demolishing the wall, compensating for the damages, and preventing companies from continuing construction, but Israel found it difficult to tolerate such an interpretation of its systematic policy.

Since then, the Court has lost 15 of its wisest and most experienced international judges, according to one observer, and they were replaced in a single day by diplomats, experts in the art of division, motivated by the desire not to offend anyone.

He refused in disgust

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just rejected with "disgust" South Africa's assertions, saying "we will continue our defensive war, which is unparalleled in justice and morality," adding that the army "is doing everything it can to avoid harming civilians, while Hamas is doing everything to avoid harming civilians." "In order to harm them and use them as human shields."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat had described the request as “defamation without a legal basis,” while stressing that his country “respects international law in its war against Hamas in Gaza.” However, the request submitted by Pretoria will leave traces that cannot but disturb those. They count on erasing it.

According to Filho, the path to achieving justice in this matter remains long and winding, so that the word of the strongest is no longer the first or the last, and until it becomes clear to those who rule us that no one is above the law.

Source: Aljazeera + Mediapart