TheCable

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has fixed January 11 and 12 to hear a petition filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

According to the court, South Africa will make its case on January 11 and Israel would make hers on the 12th, with two hours planned for each side.

On Friday, South Africa asked the ICJ for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against Hamas.

South Africa had requested immediate measures, saying the court should order an end to the violence against Palestinians in order to protect their rights “from further serious and irreparable harm”.

In the application, South Africa stated that the “acts and omissions by Israel” are “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

In response to the suit, Lior Haiat, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, said his country “rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa in its application”.

Haiat said South Africa’s claim lacks factual and legal basis, adding that it constitutes a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the court.

The Israeli official also accused South Africa of cooperating with a terrorist organisation that is seeking the destruction of the Jewish nation.

In another response, Eylon Levy, Israeli spokesperson, said: “The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice at The Hague to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel”.

“We assure South Africa’s leaders, history will judge you, and it will judge you without mercy,” Levy said.