THE HAGUE — South Africa presented its complaint against Israel Thursday, accusing it of genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. At this first stage, South Africa is asking the court to issue a provisional order for Israel to halt all military activities in the Gaza Strip, stop any action that could be considered genocidal by Israeli troops or any individual or groups working with Israel, allow external bodies and journalists access to the region, submit a report to the court on the situation on the ground and enable free access to humanitarian aid. A decision by the court is expected within days.
A second phase of the case will see the judges deliberating on whether Israel is guilty of genocide. That phase could take several months, perhaps even years.
The ICJ granted South Africa three hours to present its arguments Thursday. Israel will have three hours on Friday to counter these arguments. As neither Israel nor South Africa have representatives on the 15-member court, both countries were entitled to appoint an ad-hoc judge for the case. South Africa picked Dikgang Moseneke, former deputy chief justice of South Africa, and Israel picked Aharon Barak, the former president of Israel’s High Court.
The South African team was composed of eight officials and law experts. A significant portion of the South African presentation focused on the question of intent, which is critical to proving that genocidal acts were perpetrated. It is not yet necessary to establish that genocide has been committed, which will be deliberated in the second phase. For the court to issue provisional measures, it must find that there is a plausible risk of genocidal actions and that the population in Gaza should be protected from it.
