South Africa Files 750-Page Evidence Against Israel at ICJ

Date: 29 October 2024 - 21:53

News ID: ۱۳۲۹۷۱

JOHANNESBURG (Dispatches) – South Africa has filed a detailed submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) outlining evidence of the Zionist regime’s violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention in its ongoing war on Gaza.
According to the South African presidency, the submission, also called a memorial, includes 750 pages of evidence of acts of genocide and genocidal intent.
“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” a statement by the presidency said.
It added that the evidence is presented in more than 750 pages of text, in addition to over 4,000 pages of annexes.
“South Africa’s Memorial is a reminder to the global community to remember the people of Palestine, to stand in solidarity with them and to stop the catastrophe. The devastation and suffering has been possible only because despite the ICJ and numerous UN bodies’ actions and interventions, Israel has failed to comply with its international obligations,” it said.
The submission may not be made public, in accordance with the rules of the court, said the presidency.
The Zionist regime will have a deadline of July 28, 2025 to file a response, known as counter-memorial.
South Africa brought its case before the ICJ in December 2023, accusing the regime of violating the Genocide Convention, to which Israel is a party, during the Gaza onslaught since October 7.
The 84-page application, which included reporting by MEE, alleged that the occupying regime has committed acts intended to destroy Palestinians, who are defined as a national, racial and ethnic group, in whole or in part. It also alleged that Israel has failed to prevent or punish such acts.
The evidence included statements by Israeli officials expressing “genocidal intent”, and a list of how Israel’s alleged actions had met the definition of genocide, as listed in the treaty.
The acts include killings; causing serious bodily and mental harm; mass expulsion and displacement; and deprivation of access to adequate food, water, shelter, clothes, hygiene, and medical assistance.
On January 26, the ICJ said that it was plausible that the Zionist regime had breached the Genocide Convention. As an emergency measure, it ordered Israel ensure that its army refrained from genocidal acts against Palestinians.
It may take several years before the ICJ makes a full judgment on the case. Its deliberations often involve a protracted process of written submissions and oral arguments by all parties to the case.
For example, ICJ’s judgment in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro, which involved allegations of genocide, was delivered in February 2007, more than a decade after the case began in March 1993.