{"id":13078,"date":"2024-06-19T22:53:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T02:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/?p=13078"},"modified":"2024-07-01T00:56:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T04:56:20","slug":"south-africas-case-against-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2024\/06\/south-africas-case-against-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s case against Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t feels like we are living at a turning point for humanity. 1

At the end of last year, South Africa\u2019s application<\/a> to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) broke through the prevailing denial and silence with a loud voice, charging Israel with genocide.<\/p>\n

The case connects this current moment with the history of apartheid in South Africa. For decades that regime appeared to the world as permanent and all powerful. But 30 years ago, Black South Africans, at the forefront of a global solidarity movement and after a long and hard struggle, defeated it.<\/p>\n

The Palestine solidarity movement today also faces a long and hard struggle. As the South African application to the ICJ argues, the desperate ferocity of Israel\u2019s attack reveals its desire to eliminate the entire Palestinian people. Israel is attempting to obliterate the people\u2019s culture, its stories, its narratives of self-determination and resistance.<\/p>\n

But the movement for Palestinian liberation continues to grow. Important recent developments, including the case at the ICJ, the International Criminal Court\u2019s announcement that it would seek an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, and three European nations\u2019 recognition of Palestine (Ireland, Norway, and Spain) all indicate a shift in Israel\u2019s standing on the global stage.<\/p>\n

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South Africa\u2019s application to the International Court of Justice argues that Israel\u2019s behavior is in \u201cmanifest violation\u201d of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Created by a team of lawyers and scholars with deep expertise in human rights and international law, the case is a dense and devastating 84 pages long, with 574 footnotes.<\/p>\n

The team does not simply assert their charge. Rather, they substantiate, in harrowing detail, the scale and nature of Israel\u2019s deeds. Drawing on a dizzying range of reliable sources including eyewitness reports from United Nations representatives, they expose the dystopic horrors that Israel had tried to keep out of the public view by tightly controlling media access, shutting down communications, and killing Palestinian journalists.<\/p>\n