Solidarity rally held in Mandela Square, Ramallah, ahead of the ICJ hearing set for January 11 and 12 at The Hague, The Netherlands - Pic (Laith Jada)
The Pan Afrikanist Watchman
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case South Africa v. Israel on the 11th and 12th January 2024, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court.
The session is being held under presidency of Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court.
South Africa’s 84-page application filed on 29th December 2023 with the ICJ contends that Israel’s actions since 7th October 2023 when Hamas fired rockets into Israel, “are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the national, racial and ethnic group in the Gaza Strip” – a charge that accords well with the definition of genocide as per the Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.
The application argues that Israel’s actions in Gaza, combined with its leaders’ statements of intent, make it clear that Israel policy is “calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza”.
Lauding South Africa’s move, Emad Saber, the International Relations Director for East, Central and Southern Africa for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said the action is a significant step towards holding the leaders of the Zionist entity accountable for some of the worst atrocities in contemporary history.
“We call on all countries to submit similar files and requests to competent national and international courts against the Nazi entity, considering it a threat to international peace and security. This is to ensure it does not escape punishment for the heinous crimes against children and innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip”, Saber said in a statement to press.
South Africa has already assembled its best legal brains in this high stakes case in which South Africa wants the ICJ to initiate proceedings to investigate Israel’s criminal act of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Adv. Adila Hassim SC:
Adila holds BA LLB, LLM and JSD qualifications and was admitted to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates in June 2003. Her preferred areas of practice include constitutional, administrative, health and competition law. Adila has appeared in various divisions of the High Courts and the Constitutional Court.
She has been an acting judge and edited Health & Democracy: A Guide to Human Rights and Health Law and Policy in Post-apartheid South Africa. In simple terms, Adila is a well experienced legal giant
Adv. John Dugard SC:
A professor of international law. His main academic specializations are in Roman-Dutch law, public international law, jurisprudence, human rights, criminal procedure and international criminal law. He has served on the International Law Commission, the primary UN institution for the development of international law, and has been active in reporting on human-rights violations. In simple terms a LEGAL HEAVYWEIGHT
Adv. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC
An advocate of the Johannesburg Bar since August 2010, He is currently a member of the Judicial Service Commission and a part-time member of the Competition Commission’s Competition Tribunal. He is a specialist when it comes to constitutional law. He regularly appears in high profile cases at the High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court and is almost always victorious. He has acted as a judge in the Labour Court, the Land Claims Court, and the High Court of South Africa. In simple terms one of South Africa’s greatest legal minds.
Adv. Max du Plessis SC
Max has been an advocate since 2000. In addition to his practice in Durban, he is an associate tenant in Thulamela Chambers, Sandton, and associate tenant in Doughty Street Chambers, London, and for many years was associate fellow in international law at Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, London. He combines practice and academic work and writing, and is currently an adjunct professor at both the University of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth. He is an honorary research fellow University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) and a senior research associate at the Institute for Security Studies (Pretoria). In South Africa, Max practises in public law, human rights, international law, and competition law, appearing regularly before the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeal, High Courts, and the Competition Tribunal and Competition Appeal Court. As an international lawyer, he advises governments, international organizations and NGOs, and has appeared or advised on cases inter alia before the International Criminal Court, in simple terms, Max is one of the best in the game.
The juniors are: Sarah Pudifin-Jones, Lerato Zikalala, Tshidiso Ramogale. Two external counsels -Vaughan Lowe KC and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – boast International Law experience and have appeared at the ICJ.
Meanwhile on January 8, 2024 the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) declared its full support in a public statement for the SA legal team in the case of genocide against the apartheid State of Israel. The moment of truth has come, wrote COSATU General Secretary, Solly Phetoe.
For more than 75 years, the people of Palestine have been subjected to the most excruciating pain of colonial occupation, land dispossession, racist barbarism and genocide by the apartheid state of Israel. Towards that end, the years of tireless resistance and cries of the Palestinian people have fallen on deaf ears, but their perseverance and bravery led to the growth of the international solidarity movement, which is now in hundreds of thousands the world over.
The cause of the struggle against apartheid in Israel is tied to the cause of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the overall struggle against racism, Zionism and colonial occupation wherever it happens. Therefore, it is our cause, too. This historic moment has been a result of the unwavering and principled stance by the ANC-led government and the mass of the people of South Africa in standing firmly behind the Palestinian people following the barbaric bombings, massacres and wholesale genocide in Gaza and the whole of Palestine. COSATU is vindicated by this historic step following the 11th National Congress held in September 2012, which took a resolution to call for the criminal prosecution of Israeli state leaders, after Operation Cast lead massacres in 2009/ 2010.
The developed world has been loud in its silence, with the US, UK and the EU openly endorsing the full scale occupation and slaughter of Palestinians in line with their racial supremacist beliefs. This has also seen most mainstream trade unionists from these countries, tacitly endorsing the savage acts carried out by their ruling classes against the people of Palestine. This is a tragedy for the cause of democracy, social justice and human rights for all in the world. Africans and all who went through colonial domination, suffered brutal racism and land dispossession would never keep quiet or be cowed when these evils show their ugly head anywhere in the world. South Africans, like all other Africans waged determined struggles for freedom and right to dignity and self-rule.
Therefore, this matter is a life and death issue for all who suffered and still suffer racism, dispossession and oppression of whatever form. COSATU calls for the intensification of the efforts for the renewal and strengthening of the global solidarity movement against apartheid and all who suffer from racism, Zionism and colonial occupation, as well as other forms of oppression and injustice.
COSATU shall continue working with the ANC led alliance and all solidarity forces involved in supporting the struggle of the people of Palestine, this is at the same time as we shall intensify our work with the international progressive trade union movement, which is clear and firmly on the side of justice in Africa, the global south and throughout the whole world.
More interestingly for The Pan Afrikanist (TPA) is that South Africa’s application has also been endorsed by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – a body of 57 predominantly Muslim nations, which styles itself as the collective ‘Voice of the Muslim world’. It endeavours to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world, according to its website.
