Israel pans Gaza ‘distortions’ at World Court, says Pretoria aims to keep Hamas in power

Israel lambasted South Africa at the International Court of Justice on Friday over what it said was Pretoria’s “outrageous distortions” of the truth and “abuse” of the court’s procedures, during the latest hearings in The Hague over South African allegations of genocide against Jerusalem.

South Africa alleged in court on Thursday that Israel’s current limited offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is Jerusalem’s “end game” in its effort to commit genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, by destroying what the South African team described as the last habitable area of the coastal enclave. It has asked the court to order Israel to halt its military operation.

Responding on Friday, the Israeli legal team accused South Africa of ignoring the fact that it is continuing to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and said Pretoria was trying to contort international law through the Genocide Convention in order to have the ICJ “micromanage” the war with Hamas, which Israel’s representatives insisted was far beyond the remit of the court.

The Israeli attorneys also pointed out that South Africa recently hosted Hamas officials in Johannesburg and alleged that Pretoria was allied with Hamas. They said the country’s repeated requests for the court to order Israel to halt its military operations against the terror group demonstrated South Africa’s desire to preserve Hamas rule in Gaza.

Israel’s team informed the court that both the Israel Defense Forces’ legal department and an independent Israeli commission were investigating dozens of incidents of alleged criminal misconduct by Israeli forces during the current conflict, while Israel’s civilian law enforcement agencies have decided to conduct legal proceedings over some expressions of incitement by citizens. This, they said, proved that Israel’s justice system was capable and willing to tackle any wrongdoing amid the war.

“South Africa presents the court for the fourth time with a picture that is completely divorced from the facts and circumstances,” Israel’s Deputy Attorney General for International Law Gilad Noam told the court.

Noam accused Hamas of deliberately putting Palestinian civilians in harm’s way as a tactic in its war against Israel, noting that “rocket sites, tunnel shafts, command and control sites are all embedded among the civilian population in Rafah.”

He said Israel had long held off on a wide-scale operation in Rafah due to its desire to avoid harming civilians, and its ongoing preparations to deal with the challenges it will face in such an assault.

“By exploiting the genocide convention, South Africa is suggesting a convoluted reading of international law, under which any conflict can be brought to this court,” said Noam.

“The absurd result is that Israel would be denied its inherent right to defense and Hamas for its part would remain free to continue committing its horrific crimes.”

Noam told the judges that the purpose of the Genocide Convention was “not to have the court supervise the conduct of armed hostilities” by claims of genocide, and that even though there was a “tragic war going on… there is no genocide.”

He warned the court that if it acceded to South Africa’s request, it may find itself “engaged in the micromanagement of operational aspects of an armed conflict.”

Noam also drew attention to Pretoria’s close ties to Hamas, stating that South Africa had hosted Hamas officials in Johannesburg at an anti-apartheid conference on May 9, and alleged that South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, met with some of those officials.

“They did not use the meeting to urge Hamas to release hostages, stop targeting Israeli civilians, cease using human shields, cease operating in United Nations facilities, hospitals and other protected sites. They apparently met to discuss their continuing campaign against Israel in court and on the ground,” accused Noam.

South Africa, Noam said, “is not interested in truth, law or justice.”

Addressing specific allegations made by South Africa about Israel’s supposed genocidal actions, Foreign Ministry legal adviser Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman said South Africa had falsely accused Israel of “cutting off” Gaza from the outside world and humanitarian aid in recent days, citing in particular a temporary closure of the Kerem Shalom Crossing in its application to the court and its oral arguments yesterday.

That crossing was closed after rocket attacks by terror groups in recent days, but is now operating again.

In contradiction of Pretoria’s claims, she noted that humanitarian aid and fuel have continued to enter Gaza through Israel, including 365 trucks of aid that entered Thursday, 330 of them through Kerem Shalom itself.

Kaplan Tourgeman also noted that Israel had opened three new land crossings into Gaza from Israeli territory in recent weeks, expanded capacity of the existing crossings, and spent $52 million on expanding infrastructure and road capacity to all crossings.

“Is this what a hermetic closure looks like?” she demanded, while glaring at the South African legal team.

“It is not difficult to see that Israel has been making additional efforts to increase the provision of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza. South Africa’s complete disregard of this reality and truth is as telling as it is alarming,” Kaplan Tourgeman said.

Addressing South Africa’s claims that Israel has genocidal intent, Noam accused it of having “consistently cherry-picked” statements by Israeli officials to attribute genocidal intent to Israel. Such statements, he said, were either taken out of context or clearly referring to a desire to destroy Hamas specifically, and not Palestinians in general.

South Africa on Thursday cited recent inflammatory comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich about destroying Rafah and other Gazan cities, and played a video in court showing IDF soldiers singing that they will “dismantle Rafah,” as evidence of supposed genocidal intent by Israel towards Palestinians.

Noam said that Israel has “made repeatedly clear” that war policy and “instructions for conducting hostilities” emanated from the security cabinet and war cabinet only “and not from various social media accounts or interviews.”

And Kaplan Tourgeman pointed to a decision by the security cabinet on April 4 which stated that Israel would increase efforts to “allow and facilitate transfer of humanitarian aid for the civilian population in the Gaza strip,” and establish a ministerial team to “implement the policy of the government regarding the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip.”

“The decisions of the Israeli cabinet and their implementation on the ground leave no doubt that South Africa’s allegations about genocide are completely and utterly baseless,” said Kaplan Tourgeman.

“South Africa is trying once more to drag this court down a very dangerous path. It will have you say that a sovereign state under consistent attack, whose citizens are held hostage in brutal conditions, cannot defend its citizens,” concluded Kaplan Tourgeman.

“There is no international law to this effect. Acceding to South Africa’s request would be an affront to the very protection afforded by the law. It would enable Hamas battalions to continue to target Israel, attack humanitarian crossings, condemn Palestinians in Gaza to eternal war and condemn the hostages to almost certain death.”

South Africa on Thursday demanded that the court order Israel to cease not only its military operation in Rafah but its entire campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A ruling is expected next week.