South Africa Takes Israel to the International Court of Justice

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The International Court of Justice convened January 11 for a two-day public hearing brought by South Africa against Israel on charges of genocide.

South Africa is claiming Israel is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention in its war with Hamas. South Africa’s main claims rest on Israel’s conduct during the war, such as attacking civilian infrastructure. It failed to mention that Hamas uses nominally civilian infrastructure for military purposes.

South Africa claimed that Hamas’s October 7 massacre did not justify an Israeli counterattack, and that since Hamas is not a state, it could not be accused of violating the Genocide Convention itself.

The world agreed to measures like the Genocide Convention so that atrocities like the Holocaust couldn’t happen again. Yet while Israel is in an existential war, actors like South Africa and the International Court of Justice are weaponizing these measures against Israel.

This is far from an isolated example. The international community, including Israel’s allies, is pushing for Israel to stand down and let the terror regime live.

The closer Israel gets to finishing the war, the spirit of anti-Semitism surcharging the global community gets more active. South Africa’s actions show this spirit won’t disappear anytime soon. More and more, Israel is finding itself alone.