KUALA LUMPUR – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu has labelled South Africa’s move to trial his country for genocide as “hypocrisy” and said that the case has been built on “false and baseless claims”.
“The hypocrisy of South Africa screams to the heavens. We are fighting terrorists, we are fighting lies. Today, we saw an upside-down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide.
“No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas. We will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which are without peer,” said Netanyahu in response to the case that would be heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry also accused South Africa of “functioning as the legal arm of Hamas”.
The Zionist regime is accused of violating the 1948 genocide convention that was enacted after the Holocaust.
South Africa has launched an emergency case at the ICJ in hopes of forcing Israel to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel’s relentless military campaign has wiped out at least 23,469 people, mostly women and children, since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
Israel’s strongest ally, the United States, also condemned the ICJ case, saying it is groundless and would present a robust defence in court.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “It is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.”
The ICJ is expected to rule in a few weeks but has little power to enforce its ruling.
South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, has been a supporter of the Palestinian cause, often linking it to its own struggle against apartheid.
Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela famously said South Africa’s freedom would be “incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. – January 12, 2024