ICJ Public Hearings re: South Africa v. Israel January 11 and 12, 2024
"Israeli Foreign Ministry is instructing its embassies to press diplomats and politicians in their host countries to issue statements against South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice"
As you are aware, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Public Hearings regarding Israel’s alleged violations of the Genocide Code as detailed in South Africa’s extremely thorough Application Instituting Proceedings are scheduled to be heard this week on Thursday and Friday, the 11th and 12 of January respectively, at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). These proceedings can be watched live here:
The hearings will be devoted to the Request for the indication of provisional measures contained in South Africa’s Application. In its Request, South Africa asks the Court to indicate provisional measures in order to “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention” and “to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide”.
• Thursday 11 January 2024 10 a.m.-12 noon.: Oral argument (South Africa)
The hearings will be streamed live and on demand (VOD) in the two official languages of the Court, English and French, on the Court’s website and on UN Web TV. High-resolution video clips and still photos produced by the Registry during the hearings will be available free of charge and free of copyright for editorial, non-commercial use, on the Court’s website (to download, click on Multimedia) and X (formerly Twitter) feed (@CIJ_ICJ).
Note: 10am CET in Thje Hague, Amsterdam is 9am GMT, 4am EST
The following is a relatively brief but important article published by Axios which outlines Israel’s plans to lobby its international allies before and during the proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). They are doing so by what appears to be in my lay opinion, parroting false statements such as that Israel is allegedly working hard with its international partners “to increase humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza and to decrease the number of civilians who are killed.” From what we have been seeing and hearing, the horrific reality on the ground in Gaza is that Israel is doing the exact opposite with a vengeance.
Please note that this post is too long to be read in full by email. Please click on the title to see the entirety of this post including Krystal’s excellent video analysis of South Africa’s application. Thank you.
Palestinians walk past the rubble of buildings destroyed following Israeli bombardment on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
The Israeli Foreign Ministry is instructing its embassies to pressdiplomats and politicians in their host countries to issue statements against South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, according to a copy of an urgent cable obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The cable, sent by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Thursday, illustrates Israel's diplomatic action plan ahead of next week's ICJ hearing: to create international pressure on the court to not issue an injunction that orders Israel to suspend its military campaign in Gaza.
Catch up quick: South Africa filed the case last week. In its 84-page brief, it argues Israel's military campaign in Gaza breaches its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
South Africa alleges Israel's actions in Gaza "are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part" of the Palestinian population in the enclave.
Israel immediately rejected the case as "baseless," but — unlike in previous cases at international tribunals — it decided to appear in front of the court because it's a signatory to the Genocide Convention. Israel will be represented at the ICJ by the British barrister Malcolm Shaw.
Pretoria has asked the court to file urgent provisional measures, including ordering Israel to suspend its military campaign in Gaza, while the case proceeds.
Behind the scenes: The Israeli Foreign Ministry cable states that Israel's "strategic goal" is for the court to reject the request for an injunction, refrain from determining that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and recognize that the Israeli military is operating in the Strip according to international law.
"A ruling by the court could have significant potential implications that are not only in the legal world but have practical bilateral, multilateral, economic, security ramifications," reads the cable, a copy of which was obtained by Axios from three different Israeli officials.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
"We ask for an immediate and unequivocal public statement along the following lines: To publicly and clearly state that YOUR COUNTRY rejects the outragest, absurd and baseless allegations made against Israel," the cable also says.
The cable argues that under the 1948 convention, genocide is defined as creating conditions that don't allow the survival of the population together with the intent to annihilate it.
Therefore, stressing Israel's efforts to increase humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza and to decrease the number of civilians who are killed "is critical," the cable reads.
In the cable, the Israeli embassies were instructed to ask diplomats and politicians at the highest level "to publicly acknowledge that Israel is working [together with international actors] to increase the humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as to minimize damage to civilians, while acting in self defense after the horrible October 7th attack by a genocidal terrorist organization."
The Israeli ambassadors were also instructed to urgently work on obtaining such statements before the hearing, which begins on Jan. 11.
They were told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will send letters to dozens of world leaders along the same lines.
The big picture: The Biden administration has already rejected South Africa's appeal.
"We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever," the White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday.
But countries that support Palestinians, including Turkey and Jordan, have backed the case.
Between the lines: While ICJ orders are binding, they are hard to enforce. Russia rebuffed the court's order last year to halt its invasion of Ukraine.
Zoom in: Israel began its relentless military campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. About 240 people were also abducted and taken to Gaza.
Since then, more than 22,600 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza. Limited humanitarian aid has been allowed in Gaza, but the UN and other aid groups have said it's only a small fraction of what is needed.
They've also warned that without more assistance, Palestinians will begin to also die from dehydration, malnutrition and diseases.
As I have mentioned previously, Aaron Maté recommended in his analysis of the proceedings filed with the ICJ, In Gaza genocide, US defends Israel’s ‘aura of power’, that everyone at least read pages 59-67 of South Africa’s Application filed with the ICJ “which collects Israeli leaders’ genocidal rhetoric in nine pages of chilling detail.”
In order to hopefully encourage you to read these important pages I am reposting below an excerpt from Section D of South Africa’s Application Instituting Proceedings which begins as follows. Please note that the numbering within the text i.e. 439, 440 etc. are footnotes which unfortunately do not replicate properly on this platform.
D. Expressions of Genocidal Intent against the Palestinian People by Israeli State Officials and Others
101. Evidence of Israeli State officials’ specific intent (‘dolus specialis’) to commit and persist in committing genocidal acts or to fail to prevent them has been significant and overt since October 2023. Those statements of intent — when combined with the level of killing, maiming, displacement and destruction on the ground, together with the siege — evidence an unfolding and continuing genocide. They include statements by the following individuals in the positions of the highest responsibility:
— Prime Minister of Israel: On 7 October 2023, in a televised address by the Government Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “operate forcefully everywhere”.439 On 13 October 2023, he confirmed that “[w]e are striking our enemies with unprecedented might . . .”.440 On 15 October 2023, when Israeli airstrikes had already killed over 2,670 Palestinians, including 724 children,441 the Prime Minister stated that Israeli soldiers “understand the scope of the mission” and stand ready “to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against [Israel] to destroy us”.442 On 16 October 2023, in a formal address to the Israeli Knesset, he described situation as “a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle”, 443 a dehumanising theme to which he returned on various occasions, including: on 3 November 2023, in a letter to Israeli soldiers and officers also published on the platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter); the letter asserted that: “[t]his is the war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. We will not let up on our mission until the light overcomes the darkness — the good will defeat the extreme evil that threatens us and the entire world.”444 The Israeli Prime Minister also returned to the theme in his ‘Christmas message’, stating: “we’re facing monsters, monsters who murdered children in front of their parents . . . This is a battle not only of Israel against these barbarians, it’s a battle of civilization against barbarism”.445 On 28 October 2023, as Israeli forces prepared their land invasion of Gaza, the Prime Minister invoked the Biblical story of the total destruction of Amalek by the Israelites, stating: “you must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember”.446 The Prime Minister referred again to Amalek in the letter sent on 3 November 2023 to Israeli soldiers and officers.447 The relevant biblical passage reads as follows: “Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses”.448
— President of Israel: On 12 October 2023, President Isaac Herzog made clear that Israel was not distinguishing between militants and civilians in Gaza, stating in a press conference to foreign media — in relation Palestinians in Gaza, over one million of whom are children: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved. It’s absolutely not true. … and we will fight until we break their backbone.”449 On 15 October 2023, echoing the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the President told foreign media that “we will uproot evil so that there will be good for the entire region and the world.”450 The Israeli President is one of many Israelis to have handwritten ‘messages’ on bombs to be dropped on Gaza.451
— Israeli Minister of Defence: On 9 October 2023, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in an Israeli Army ‘situation update’ advised that Israel was “imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”452 He also informed troops on the Gaza border that he had “released all the restraints”,453 stating in terms that: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything. If it doesn’t take one day, it will take a week. It will take weeks or even months, we will reach all places.”454 He further announced that Israel was moving to “a fullscale response” and that he had “removed every restriction” on Israeli forces.455
— Israeli Minister for National Security: On 10 November 2023, Itamar Ben-Gvir clarified the government’s position in a televised address, stating: “[t]o be clear, when we say that Hamas should be destroyed, it also means those who celebrate, those who support, and those who hand out candy — they’re all terrorists, and they should also be destroyed.”456
— Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure: ‘Tweeting’ on 13 October 2023, Israel Katz stated: “All the civilian population in Gaza is ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world.”457 On 12 October 2023, he ‘tweeted’: “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarianism for humanitarianism. And no one will preach us morality.”458
— Israeli Minister of Finance: On 8 October 2023, Bezalel Smotrich stated at a meeting of the Israeli Cabinet that “[w]e need to deal a blow that hasn’t been seen in 50 years and take down Gaza.”459
— Israeli Minister of Heritage: On 1 November 2023, Amichai Eliyahu posted on Facebook: “The north of the Gaza Strip, more beautiful than ever. Everything is blown up and flattened, simply a pleasure for the eyes … We must talk about the day after. In my mind, we will hand over lots to all those who fought for Gaza over the years and to those evicted from Gush Katif” [a former Israeli settlement].460 He later argued against humanitarian aid as “[w]e wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid”, and “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza”.461 He also posited a nuclear attack on the Gaza Strip.462
— Israeli Minister of Agriculture: On 11 November 2023, Avi Dichter in a television interview recalled the Nakba of 1948, in which over 80 percent of the Palestinian population of the new Israeli State was forced from or fled their homes, stating that “[w]e are now actually rolling out the Gaza Nakba”.463
— Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and Member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee: On 7 October 2023, Nissim Vaturi ‘tweeted’ that: “[n]ow we all have one common goal — erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth. Those who are unable will be replaced.”464
102. Similar statements have been made by Israeli army officials, advisers and spokespersons, and others engaging with Israeli troops being deployed in Gaza:
— Israeli Army Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (‘COGAT’): On 9 October 2023, in a video statement addressed to Hamas and Gaza residents, published by COGAT’s official channel, Major General Ghassan Alian warned: “Hamas became ISIS and the citizens of Gaza are celebrating instead of being horrified. Human animals are dealt with accordingly. Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza, no electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”465
— Israeli Army Reservist Major General, former Head of the Israeli National Security Council, and adviser to the Defence Minister: 466 On 7 October 2023, Giora Eiland, describing the Israeli order to cut off water and electricity to Gaza, wrote in an online journal: “This is what Israel has begun to do — we cut the supply of energy, water and diesel to the Strip . . . But it’s not enough. In order to make the siege effective, we have to prevent others from giving assistance to Gaza . . . The people should be told that they have two choices; to stay and to starve, or to leave. If Egypt and other countries prefer that these people will perish in Gaza, this is their choice.”467 On the same day, he asserted in a national newspaper that “[w]hen you are at war with another country you don't feed them, you don't provide them electricity or gas or water or anything else . . . A country can be attacked in a much broader way, to bring the country to the brink of dysfunction. This is the necessary outcome of events” in Gaza.468 He has repeatedly asserted the benefits for Israel of the creation of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, stating that “Israel has no interest in the Gaza Strip being rehabilitated and this is an important point that needs to be made clear to the Americans”,469 and that “[i]f we ever want to see the hostages alive, the only way is to create a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.470 He has indicated that water should be targeted, noting that water in Gaza “comes from wells with salt water unfit for consumption. They have water treatment plants, Israel should hit those plants. When the entire world says we have gone insane and this is a humanitarian disaster — we will say, it’s not an end, it’s a means.”471 In a Times radio interview on 12 October 2023, he reiterated the army should:
“[C]reate such a huge pressure on Gaza, that Gaza will become an area where people cannot live. People cannot live, until Hamas is destroyed, which means that Israel not only stops to supply energy, diesel, water, food … as we did in the last twenty years … but we should prevent any possible assistance by others, and to create in Gaza such a terrible, unbearable situation, that can last weeks and months”.472
Giora Eiland has repeatedly been given a media platform to call for Gaza to be made uninhabitable, declaring “the State of Israel has no choice but to make Gaza a place that is temporarily, or permanently, impossible to live in.”473 In an interview on 6 November 2023, he suggested that, “if there is an intention for a military action at Shifa [Hospital], which I think is inescapable, I hope that the head of the CIA got an explanation of why this is necessary, and why the US must ultimately back even an operation like this, even if there are thousands of bodies of civilians in the streets afterward.”474 Further he proposed that “Israel needs to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, compelling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Egypt or the Gulf . . . Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.”475 Echoing the words of President Herzog, he has repeatedly underscored that there should be no distinction between Hamas combatants and Palestinian civilians, saying:
“Who are the ‘poor’ women of Gaza? They are all the mothers, sisters or wives of Hamas murderers. On the one hand, they are part of the infrastructure that supports the organization, and on the other hand, if they experience a humanitarian disaster, then it can be assumed that some of the Hamas fighters and the more junior commanders will begin to understand that the war is futile . . . The international community warns us of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza and of severe epidemics. We must not shy away from this, as difficult as that may be. After all, severe epidemics in the south of the Gaza Strip will bring victory closer . . . It is precisely its civil collapse that will bring the end of the war closer. When senior Israeli figures say in the media ‘It's either us or them’ we should clarify the question of who is ‘them’. ‘They’ are not only Hamas fighters with weapons, but also all the ‘civilian’ officials, including hospital administrators and school administrators, and also the entire Gaza population who enthusiastically supported Hamas and cheered on its atrocities on October 7th.”476
I cannot recommend highly enough watching and listening to Kyrstal’s very helpful analysis of the charges of genocide against Israel as set forth in South Africa’s application to the ICJ.
Thanks to our highly connected world, it is truly unprecedented that we are witnessing real-time updates with graphic videos and photos being shared on social media which depict evidence of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and elsewhere against Palestinians.
I hope that you will join me and millions of people around the world who will be watching the ICJ proceedings at the Palace of Peace in the Hague.
The truth must prevail so that there will finally be peace for Palestinians in their homeland. 🙏
thank you