JOHANNESBURG (Dispatches) -- South Africa on Wednesday promised to continue pursuing its legal case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order against the country. 
“Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences, but we remain firm that this is important for the world, and the rule of law,” South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told Financial Times in an interview.
Lamola said there was “no chance” his country would drop the genocide case against the Zionist regime at the ICJ. 
The U.S. president has signed an executive order cutting aid to South Africa over its land reform law, which Trump referred to as “unjust racial discrimination.” The president claims that South Africa is confiscating land from white farmers, and vowed to take steps to provide them with aid and resettle them as refugees. 
South African leadership has denied confiscating land and said the country’s policy was meant to even out racial inequality in the ownership of land. 
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa will “not be bullied.”
Trump also cited the South African case accusing Israel of genocide, referring to it as “aggressive.”
In December 2023, South Africa filed an application filing proceedings against Israel and charging that its actions in Gaza were in violation of the Genocide Convention.
Several countries have since joined the case, including Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Spain, Turkiye, and Ireland. 
Israel has disregarded several orders issued by the court, including calls for the urgent improvement of the strip’s access to humanitarian aid that Tel Aviv has continued to block even after the ceasefire deal that was reached last month. 
Trump has put his full weight behind Israel. Earlier this month, the U.S. president authorized sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued arrest warrants for Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former war minister Yoav Gallant. 
The president threatened this week that “all hell will break loose” if all of the Israeli captives in Gaza were not released by the weekend, igniting fears that the ceasefire will collapse and that Israel will resume its war.