{"id":72469,"date":"2024-01-26T09:43:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T06:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kfm.co.ug\/?p=72469"},"modified":"2024-01-26T09:43:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T06:43:46","slug":"south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s genocide case against Israel explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AFP<\/strong><\/p>\n

The International Court of Justice will hand down a landmark ruling Friday in South Africa’s case against Israel over alleged genocidal acts in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Here are some key questions about a case that has drawn global interest:<\/p>\n

No. At this stage, the ICJ is only deciding whether to impose emergency orders on Israel (“provisional measures” in the court’s jargon).<\/p>\n

\n

A ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza will be for a second stage of the procedure and will likely take years.<\/p>\n

The war started on October 7 when Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on Israel that left about 1,140 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.<\/p>\n

Israel’s relentless military campaign on Gaza since has left at least 25,900 dead, about 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry.<\/p>\n

“At this stage, South Africa does not need to prove that Israel is committing genocide,” Juliette McIntyre, a lecturer in international law at the University of South Australia, told AFP.<\/p>\n

“They simply need to establish that there is a plausible risk of genocide occurring.”<\/p>\n

Even if the court rules against Israel, “it means that there is a plausible risk of genocide. Not that there is genocide”, she said.<\/p>\n

South Africa has asked the ICJ to impose nine orders on Israel, including to immediately suspend military activity and to enable more humanitarian access.<\/p>\n

The court could order all nine of the orders, none of them, or even make up its own completely different orders.<\/p>\n

“It seems likely that the Court will grant some of the requests made by South Africa,” said Cecily Rose, an assistant professor of public international law at Leiden University.<\/p>\n

Israel argued during the hearings that a ceasefire was unrealistic as the court could only order that on one party — since Hamas is not part of the proceedings.<\/p>\n

“The court may order a ceasefire, but more likely in my opinion is an order that Israel take all measures within its power to ensure access to adequate food, water and humanitarian assistance,” McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

From the court’s viewpoint, the case moves onto the “merits” stage, where it will determine whether Israel is actually committing genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The key is whether Israel will abide by any potential ICJ ruling. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already hinted he does not feel bound by the court.<\/p>\n

Regardless of Israel’s reaction, the ruling will have important “ripple effects”, McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

If the court rules there is a “risk” of genocide, “it makes it much harder for other states to continue to support Israel… states may withdraw military or other support”.<\/p>\n

ICJ rulings are binding, but it has little way of enforcing them and some states ignore them completely — Russia was ordered to stop its invasion of Ukraine, for example.<\/p>\n

However, “it creates an important historical record which may not change things on the ground right this moment but can be essential in future negotiations under new governments”, McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

“Finally, there is the symbolic aspect which given Israel’s context is huge.”<\/p>\n

South Africa brought the case against Israel because both countries have signed the UN Genocide Convention, drawn up in 1948 as the world vowed “never again” after the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Its filing states that Pretoria is “acutely aware” of the “particular weight of responsibility” in accusing Israel of all countries of breaking the Genocide Convention.<\/p>\n

But it also says that no attack can justify alleged breaches of the Convention and that Israel has “its own obligation” as a signatory to prevent genocide.<\/p>\n

South Africa has long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, with the governing African National Congress (ANC) often linking it to its own struggle against apartheid.<\/p>\n

The two countries have in the past cut off diplomatic ties over the issue.<\/p>\n

The ICJ rules on disputes between countries and is often confused with the International Criminal Court (ICC), also based in The Hague, which prosecutes war crimes by individuals.<\/p>\n

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan has started an investigation into events in Gaza and vowed to “step up” his probe.<\/p>\n

Five countries including South Africa called in November for an ICC investigation into the Gaza war, and Khan says his team has gathered a “significant volume” of evidence.<\/p>\n

International legal experts have told AFP that war crimes have probably been committed by both sides.<\/p>\n

Finally, the United Nations has asked the ICJ to look into the legal consequences of Israel’s actions in the Palestinian Territories.<\/p>\n

This will be an advisory opinion and will not focus on the military operation after October 7 when Hamas militants crossed into Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By AFP The International Court of Justice will hand down a landmark ruling Friday in South Africa’s case against Israel over alleged genocidal acts in Gaza. Here are some key questions about a case that has drawn global interest: No. At this stage, the ICJ is only deciding whether to impose emergency orders on Israel (“provisional measures” in the court’s jargon). A ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza will be for a second stage of the procedure and will likely take years. The war started on October 7 when Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on Israel that left about 1,140 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s relentless military […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":72470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[232],"class_list":["post-72469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}