South Africa urges countries to testify at ICJ against Israel

South Africa has called on all countries to testify in a case it has filed against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in order to punish the occupying regime for its crimes against the besieged Gaza Strip.

South Africa’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela made the appeal on Saturday.

What Israel is doing against the Palestinians in the occupied territories, he said, is the worst form of apartheid.

“As South Africans, we see, hear, and feel deep within ourselves the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime, which constitute an even more extreme form of institutionalized apartheid against black people in my country,” Madonsela said.

He said as a country that was directly oppressed and suffered under the apartheid regime, it was very important for South Africans to try to prevent the suffering of others under the same regime.

The South African diplomat said his country considers filing this lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ as its duty to its people and the international community to ensure that the occupying regime is held accountable for its actions.

ICJ begins week-long hearings on Israel’s occupation of Palestine

The hearing comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel over its savage campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

He also stated that South Africa has enough evidence to prove the regime has committed “genocide” in Gaza. 

Madonsela said his country expects the ICJ to declare that the continued occupation of the Palestinian land by Israel is illegal and must end.

If, he said, the ICJ reaches this conclusion, South Africa is waiting for the appropriate punishment of the regime.

South Africa brought the genocide case before the ICJ, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, in January. Later in the month, the top UN court ordered the occupying regime to stop its genocide in Gaza, among several other measures.

The top UN court is holding a fourth day of hearings on Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories. Representatives from several countries have addressed the Hague-based court.

The tribunal is holding a week of public hearings following a request from the UN, with 52 countries presenting their arguments on the issue of a nonbinding opinion on the legal consequences of the occupation.

The ongoing hearings are related to a case brought by the UN General Assembly following a resolution in December 2022.

Since the Israeli occupation of Palestine in June 1967, the regime has perpetrated a raft of crimes, including killing, displacement, kidnapping and torture of the Palestinians and demolition of their homes.

Only since early October 2023, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 people, mostly women and children, in Gaza.

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