Three jurists, whose statements were cited by the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" in a report published late Thursday evening, believed that the South African representatives behaved in a professional manner during the first session held on Thursday, and they warned that accusing South Africa of "hypocrisy", which is the accusation made by Netanyahu, will only make the situation worse for Israel.

Haaretz noted that the South African representatives placed at the heart of their argument “the relationship between the extremist statements made by senior officials in Israel and the Israeli army’s operations in the Gaza Strip.”

The report quoted Roy Schendorff, the former deputy advisor to the Israeli government on international law, as saying: “They (South Africa) were not surprised by their arguments, but they did not commit serious mistakes,” noting that refuting South Africa’s argument is a challenge for Tel Aviv to deal with.

He said, "The petitioners claim that even if these statements do not reflect official Israeli policy, they permeate the field (during Israeli army operations in Gaza), and that is why they showed video clips of soldiers proud of killing in the Strip. They are trying to manipulate," he said.

Shendorff stated, “There is a competition between narratives, and not just a technical and legal argument, and Israel will have to present its narrative well tomorrow (Friday), according to which it did not choose war. Hamas committed terrible acts, and Israel is defending itself and acting within the limits of the law to eliminate "A serious threat."

An international law expert from the Hebrew University, Dr. Tamar Megiddo said that “the argument of hypocrisy (referring to Netanyahu) will not only serve Israel in court, but will actually harm it,” explaining that “many in the world see things as presented by South Africa.”

She pointed out that "Israel must take advantage of the opportunity to present its point of view, without belittling or disrespecting the (judicial) process or the court."

She added, "Although it can be assumed that the court will accept the petitioner's argument to justify issuing a temporary (ceasefire) order; in my estimation, this is not enough to win the main petition."

For his part, former Deputy Attorney General, Yehuda Schaefer, described the strategy adopted by South Africa in Thursday's debate as "throwing mud and hoping something sticks." This comes, as he put it, in light of “their (South African representatives) reliance on TikTok clips of fighters, irresponsible statements by politicians, and questionable reports.”