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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa announced that more than 50 countries have expressed support for a case at the United Nations Supreme Court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza War.
Other countries, including the United States, strongly reject South Africa’s claims that Israel is violating the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Many more remain silent.
The world’s reaction to the landmark case, heard at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Thursday and Friday, is a predictable global divide on the 75-year-old issue of Israelis and Palestinians. It shows. Sunday marks the 100th day of the bloodiest conflict to date.
Most of the countries supporting South Africa’s case are from the Arab world and Africa. The only Muslim country in Europe that has publicly expressed support is Turkey.
Western countries have not expressed support for South Africa’s claims against Israel. The United States, a close ally of Israel, rejected them as unfounded, Britain called them unjustified and Germany said it “explicitly rejects” them.
China and Russia have said little about one of the most serious cases before international courts. The European Union has also not commented.
USA: “Innocent” allegations
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Israel the day before the trial began, called South Africa’s allegations “baseless” and said the case “is distracting the world from efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict.” “There is,” he said. Press secretary John Kirby said genocide is “not a word that should be thrown around lightly and we certainly don’t believe it applies here.”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “I disagree with the actions of the South Africans.”
Israel vehemently rejects the allegations of genocide and says it is protecting its people. The newspaper said the attack, which operates in the same territory, sparked the conflict by launching a surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. The aim is to eradicate the leaders of Hamas, the extremist group that caused the conflict.
Blinken said genocide incidents against Israel are “particularly upsetting” given that Hamas and other organizations “continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people.”
The US, UK, EU and others classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military response in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. More than two-thirds of the dead were women and children. Much of northern Gaza has been left uninhabitable and desolate, with entire neighborhoods wiped out by Israeli airstrikes and tank fires.
South Africa also condemns Hamas’s October 7 attack, but says it does not justify Israel’s response.
Germany’s support for Israel
Germany’s declaration of support for Israel on Friday, the closing day of the hearings, has symbolic significance given the history of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis murdered six million Jews in Europe. Israel was founded after World War II as a haven for Jews in the shadow of these atrocities.
“Israel has been defending itself,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said, citing the Holocaust, which was a major catalyst for the creation of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention. .
“Given Germany’s history… we believe the federal government is particularly committed to the Genocide Convention,” he said. He said the allegations against Israel were “totally baseless.”
Germany said it intended to intervene in the case on Israel’s behalf.
The EU said only that countries have the right to sue in UN courts. Most member states have refrained from taking a position.
Turkey, which is in the process of joining the EU, was the only voice in the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had provided documents that were used against Israel in the incident.
“With these documents, Israel will be condemned,” he said.
arab condemnation
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation was one of the first groups to publicly support South Africa’s lawsuit when it was filed late last month. “A large-scale massacre is being carried out by the Israel Defense Forces,” he said, accusing Israel of “indiscriminately targeting” civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The OIC is a 57-nation bloc that includes Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt. The head office is located in Saudi Arabia. The Cairo-based Arab League (nearly all 22 member states are members of the OIC) also supported South Africa’s case.
South Africa also attracted some support from outside the Arab world. Namibia and Pakistan agreed to this at the United Nations General Assembly this week. Malaysia also expressed support.
“No peace-loving human being can ignore the genocide committed against Palestinians in Gaza,” Namibian President Hage Geingob was quoted as saying in the southern African newspaper Namibian.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for “legal accountability for Israeli atrocities in Gaza.”
China and Russia: silence
China, Russia (also facing genocide charges in the world court), and emerging power India have remained largely silent, with little benefit to taking a stand in such inflammatory cases. They seem to be aware that they have the potential to irrevocably disrupt relations in the region. .
India’s foreign policy has historically supported the Palestinian cause, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to express solidarity with Israel and call Hamas attacks terrorism.
somewhere in the middle
Several South American countries have spoken out, including Brazil, the continent’s largest economy, whose foreign ministry said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva supports South Africa’s claims. However, the ministry’s comments did not directly condemn Israel’s genocide, but instead focused on the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
South Africa’s case against Israel has two aspects. South Africa wants the court to issue an interim ruling alleging Israel is committing genocide and ordering an end to military operations in Gaza. The court is expected to issue a preliminary verdict soon, but said it could take several years to reach a final verdict on the genocide charges, reflecting the seriousness of the case.
Brazil said it expected Israel to “immediately cease all acts and measures that could amount to genocide” in the wake of the incident.
Other countries have also not reached agreements with South Africa. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he hoped the court would order a ceasefire in Gaza, although he said the case for genocide was “far from clear”.
It is unclear whether Israel will comply with the order to halt military action. When the same court ordered it to halt its invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, Russia did not respond.
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AP reporters from around the world contributed to this story.
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More AP coverage of the Israel-Hamas war: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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