Leaders of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress condemn South Africa’s false and baseless allegations in a lawsuit against Israel in the UN International Court of Justice.
On 29 December, South Africa filed a lawsuit accusing Israel of intending and actually committing genocide in the fighting in the Gaza Strip. The arguments presented by the prosecution in court are nothing more than a superficial, one-sided, misleading and politically motivated slur against the Jewish State.
As the Israel Defence Team correctly states, military conflicts are always, unfortunately, accompanied by casualties, destruction and humanitarian crises. To position Israel’s actions in defence of its citizens as genocide is a dilution of the essence and nothing more than a slogan based on no laws of international humanitarian law. The prosecution hardly mentions the barbaric attack by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, which, according to all norms of international law, should be interpreted as a declaration of war, and therefore justifies and gives Israel every right to engage in hostilities to protect civilians.
The international laws of war regulate the balance between humanitarian considerations and military necessity, calling on the parties to minimize humanitarian harm to the extent possible, while allowing military advantage to be gained and objectives to be achieved. The prosecution completely ignores the Israeli army’s world-unprecedented efforts to protect civilians, often to the detriment of military interests, to provide humanitarian assistance and to legally assess military action. The evidence for all of this has been exhaustively presented by the Israeli defence. The inevitable dire consequences of any military conflict, however tragic they may be, often do not even amount to a violation of the laws of warfare, let alone such heavy charges as genocide.
Moreover, the charge completely ignores the methods of warfare of Hamas terrorists, which in turn violate virtually all laws of international humanitarian law, as also evidenced by the defence.
The portrayal of statements by Israeli politicians as genocidal intentions is nothing more than a misleading selection of quotations, often taken out of context and interpreted in an exaggerated manner. Moreover, the prosecution has provided no evidence that individual statements in any way shape policy and are expressed on the battlefield. Completely ignored are the numerous statements by members of the narrow war cabinet and the highest levels of the war leadership actually directing military operations about the clear objectives of the war, the distinction between enemy forces and civilians, and Israel’s full adherence to the laws of international humanitarian law.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the statements of the prosecution are misleading, backed by an extremely weak evidentiary basis, one-sided and politically motivated, and therefore not worthy to be presented before an international court.
The EAJC leaders condemn the cynical use and dilution of the important term of genocide, the definition of which in international law was largely shaped by the terrible events of the Holocaust, and call on the court to unequivocally dismiss the lawsuit and halt this shameful process, preserving the court’s reputation as a respected body of justice.
EAJC leaders also express their deep appreciation to the Israeli legal team for their responsible approach, which left no stone unturned on South Africa’s false and baseless allegations.
