What to Know About South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel

TIME

On Jan. 11, South Africa and Israel will take the stand before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case that could shape the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Transcript

00:00 The world is watching horror as Palestinian men, women and children were slaughtered,

00:04 blown up, buried alive under the rubble of their homes, left to die painful deaths

00:09 in unresourced hospitals, resulting in over 23,000 deaths through destruction to homes,

00:17 schools, hospitals, water, treatment plants and other public infrastructure

00:22 that impairs the conditions of life and is calculated to bring about the destruction

00:27 in whole or in part of the Palestinians living in Gaza. South Africa has unequivocally condemned

00:33 the attack by Hamas on the 7th of October and it has also done so and is not verbal to the

00:40 state of Israel conveying its condemnation of that action of Hamas on the 7th of October.

00:46 And South Africa has reiterated here in court that those atrocities are no justification

00:53 for any form of genocide. With the recent escalation of the aggression of Israel in Gaza,

00:59 South Africa has supported a number of UN resolutions calling for immediate ceasefire

01:03 and the provision of humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine. Sadly the world has not

01:09 succeeded in stopping the genocide that is currently unfolding in Gaza. The international

01:15 community has largely remained passive in response to these atrocities. Women and children in areas

01:21 such as refugee camps, schools and hospitals have been targeted leading to a humanitarian crisis.

01:26 We also unequivocally called the United Nations Secretary General invoked a rarely used article

01:34 of the UN Charter, Article 99. The Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on the 6th of December

01:40 2023 called on the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

01:47 and unite in a call for a full humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian

01:52 militants. This plea of Ubuntu, a plea for humanity of the international community to prevail,

01:59 was simply ignored. Israel's institutional impunity was reinforced. In keeping with our

02:04 obligation as a state party to the Genocide Convention, our government has approached the

02:10 International Court of Justice to prevent the unfolding genocide in Gaza. We have also asked

02:15 for provisional measures which include an immediate suspension of Israel's military operations

02:20 in and against Gaza. The commitment to justice and bring an end to the humanitarian atrocities

02:26 in Palestine resonate deeply with the collective consciousness of the global community. The scale

02:32 of these actions is reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide 30 years ago. We are here on behalf of

02:39 South Africa and the global community to seek justice for the victims, particularly children,

02:44 women and the elderly. We believe that without the intervention of this court,

02:48 of the international community, we will see the total destruction of the Palestinian people in

02:54 Gaza. Remaining silence in the efficacy of this and in and of itself will be a gross violation

03:00 of international law.

03:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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