Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The South African government lodged an urgent complaint on Monday at the International Court of Justice against the plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to attack Rafah in southern Gaza, where 1.4 million people, most of them refugees from elsewhere, have been pushed by the Israeli military. So reports Siyabonga Mkhwanazi at Pretoria’s
Independent On Line (IOL) (a consortium of South Africa newspapers).
The IOL says that President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed Tuesday that South Africa has inquired with the ICJ whether it needs to issue another preliminary judgment to stop Israel’s planned offensive against Rafah. The Court is permitted to issue provisional orders at any time without having to convene to decide the case finally...
Vincent Magwenya, the spokesman for South African’s president, posted this statement to the
presidency web site:
www.gov.za
Zane Dangor, Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said that Israel is already in violation...
On January 26, the International Court of Justice
instructed Israel to cease actions in Gaza that meet the definition of genocide in international law:
Israel's Reputation forever Besmirched by UN Court Injunction to Cease Genociding Palestinians
Not only has the Israeli government thumbed its nose at the court’s preliminary injunction, continuing to kill dozens of non-combatants daily and continuing to bomb dense population centers, including refugee camps, but now is planning an operation that human rights organizations are warning would be catastrophic.
...The court has found that South Africa has standing to bring this action, which complains that Israel is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention to which both it and South Africa are signatories...it may take time for the court to rule on whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide, the court has already issued the equivalent of a preliminary injunction, recognizing the plausibility of the South African allegations.
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