What is genocide and why has South Africa taken Israel to court for it?

Published

1 year ago

January 26, 2024

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will today deliver an interim ruling on claims Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

South Africa filed the case, arguing that Israel is breaching the UN convention on genocide by “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.

Israel has described the lawsuit as a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the court.

What does genocide mean?

The term genocide was adopted by the UN soon after it was established in 1945, with a specific convention adopted on it in 1948.

According to the charter, genocide “means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Examples include:

• Killing members of a group;

• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

It was set up in wake of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed approximately six million Jewish people between 1941 and 1945, as part of the international community’s commitment to “never again”.

Since its inception there have only been three proven cases of genocide under the UN definition: the Khmer Rouge killing of Cambodian minority groups in the 1970s; the Srebrenica Massacre of Muslims in Bosnia in 1995; and the killing of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.

What is South Africa claiming – and why?

An 84-page court document set out South Africa’s case, which states that Israel’s “acts… in the wake of the attacks on 7 October 2023… are genocidal in character”.

It claims this is because they are “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group, that being the part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip”.

South Africa says Israel is “failing to prevent genocide and is committing genocide” in its war with Hamas.

In the court documents, lodged on 29 December, it also acknowledged “direct targeting of Israeli civilians and other nationals and hostage-taking by Hamas” on and after 7 October, which may breach international law.

As both South Africa and Israel are signatories to the 1948 convention, it argues the court has jurisdiction to stop Israel’s military offensive killing Palestinians in Gaza.

It also compares Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories to its own Apartheid period.

South Africa has a longstanding affinity with the Palestinian people.

After Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and became South African president, he said: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”, and later wore a traditional keffiyeh to a pan-African event in Algeria in 1990.

Current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza from the start.

How has Israel responded?

Historically, Israel has refused to engage with international tribunals, but sent a legal team to defend itself at The Hague this time.

It described South Africa as “hypocritical” and the lawsuit as a “blood libel” – a term used for antisemitic false allegations against Jewish people that originates from the Middle Ages.

What have Israel and Hamas said about the war?

Hamas fighters and other militant Palestinian groups killed 1,200 Israelis on 7 October, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) say. Some 240 were abducted and taken into Gaza, with 132 still missing.

The Israeli military military says more than 200 of its soldiers have died fighting in Gaza so far.

According to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the conflict started.

Nearly all of the 2.3 million population of Gaza have been displaced by heavy bombing.

In its founding charter in 1988, Hamas declared there is “no solution for the Palestine question except through Jihad”, adding: “The day of judgement will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them”.

But in 2017 it changed the charter to reflect that “its conflict is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion”.

Individual Hamas leaders however, such as Mahmoud Zahar, have claimed the killing of Israeli children has been “legitimised” by the killing of Palestinian infants by Israel.

At the beginning of the conflict, an Israeli military official declared: “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “Hamas must be destroyed” – but has not referenced Palestinians or the people of Gaza.

What could happen next?

The ICJ has the power to issue “provisional measures” – legally-binding court orders – that would last for the duration of the case.

South Africa wants it to use them to “immediately suspend military operations in and against Gaza”.

Although they are legally binding, they are not always adhered to.

For example, a joint case against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 resulted in provisional measures for Moscow to withdraw troops, but these were ignored by the Kremlin.

Like others before it, the case is likely to last for years, as proving “intent” to commit genocidal acts is a difficult and lengthy process.

Alexander Horne, a barrister and visiting law professor at Durham University, who is also a dual British-Israeli national, said Israel will be “determined to demonstrate its armed forces have acted both morally and proportionately following the horrendous events of 7 October”.

He added that its choice of supreme court judge Aharon Barak as its representative suggests it is taking the case “very seriously”.

If the court does impose provisional measures it would be “hugely problematic” for the Israeli offensive, which it has vowed will continue until all hostages are returned, he said.

World

Ukraine’s drone attack in Russia shows Kyiv felt it had nothing to lose

Published

4 hours ago

June 1, 2025

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Ukraine's drone attack in Russia shows Kyiv felt it had nothing to lose

An audacious Ukrainian drone attack against multiple airbases across Russia is a humiliating security breach for Vladimir Putin that will doubtless trigger a furious response.

Pro-Kremlin bloggers have described the drone assault – which Ukrainian security sources said hit more than 40 Russian warplanes – as “Russia’s Pearl Harbor” in reference to the Japanese attack against the US in 1941 that prompted Washington to enter the Second World War.

Ukraine war latest: Russia accuses Kyiv of ‘terrorist attack’

The Ukrainian operation – which used small drones smuggled into Russia, hidden in mobile sheds and launched off the back of trucks – also demonstrated how technology and imagination have transformed the battlefield, enabling Ukraine to seriously hurt its far more powerful opponent.

Moscow will have to retaliate, with speculation already appearing online about whether President Putin will again threaten the use of nuclear weapons.

“We hope that the response will be the same as the US response to the attack on their Pearl Harbor or even harsher,” military blogger Roman Alekhin wrote on his Telegram channel.

Codenamed ‘Spider’s Web’, the mission on Sunday was the culmination of one and a half years of planning, according to a security source.

In that time, Ukraine’s secret service smuggled first-person view (FPV) drones into Russia, sources with knowledge of the operation said.

Flat-pack, garden-office style sheds were also secretly transported into the country.

The oblong sheds were then built and drones were hidden inside, before the containers were put on the back of trucks and driven to within range of their respective targets.

At a chosen time, doors on the roofs of the huts were opened remotely and the drones were flown out. Each was armed with a bomb that was flown into the airfields, with videos released by the security service that purportedly showed them blasting into Russian aircraft.

Among the targets were Tu-95 and Tu-22 bomber aircraft that can launch cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian side. An A-50 airborne early warning aircraft was also allegedly hit. This is a valuable platform that is used to command and control operations.

The use of such simple technology to destroy multi-million-pound aircraft will be watched with concern by governments around the world.

Suddenly, every single military base, airfield and warship will appear that little bit more vulnerable if any truck nearby could be loaded with killer drones.

The most immediate focus, though, will be on how Mr Putin responds.

Previous attacks by Ukraine inside Russia have triggered retaliatory strikes and increasingly threatening rhetoric from the Kremlin.

But this latest operation is one of the biggest and most significant, and comes on the eve of a new round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv that are meant to take place in Turkey. It is not clear if that will still happen.

US President Donald Trump has been pushing for the two sides to make peace but Russia has only escalated its war.

Ukraine clearly felt it had nothing to lose but to also go on the attack.

World

Two dead and hundreds of arrests across France after PSG’s Champions League win

Published

10 hours ago

June 1, 2025

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Two dead and hundreds of arrests across France after PSG's Champions League win

Two people are dead and nearly 560 people were arrested after disorder broke out in France following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Champions League final, the French interior ministry has said.

The ministry added 192 people were injured and there were 692 fires, including 264 involving vehicles.

A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the city of Dax during a PSG street party after Saturday night’s final in Munich, the national police service said.

The second person killed was a man who was hit by a car while riding a scooter during PSG celebrations, the interior minister’s office said.

Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez has said the man was in his 20s and although the incident is still being investigated, it appears his death was linked to the disorder.

Meanwhile, French authorities have reported that a police officer is in a coma following the clashes.

The officer had been hit by a firecracker that emerged from a crowd of supporters in Coutances in the Manche department of northwestern France, according to reports in the country.

Initial investigations reportedly suggest the incident was accidental and the police officer was not deliberately targeted.

The perpetrator has not been identified.

The interior ministry earlier said 22 security forces workers were injured during the chaos – including 18 who were injured in Paris, along with seven firefighters.

In a news conference today, Mr Nuñez said only nine of the force’s officers had been injured in the French capital.

He added that fireworks were directed at police and firefighters were attacked while responding to car fires.

There were 559 arrests across the country during the disorder, including 491 in Paris. Of those detained across the country, 320 were taken into police custody – with 254 in the French capital.

Mr Nuñez said although most people wanted to celebrate PSG’s win, some only wanted to get involved in fights with police.

He also said the force is only at “half-time” in its response because the PSG team will be celebrating their Champions League victory on the Champs Élysées later today.

Mr Nuñez said that the police presence and military presence in Paris will be increased on the ground for the parade.

It comes after flares and fireworks were set off in the French capital after PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich – the biggest ever victory in a Champions League final.

Around 5,400 police were deployed across Paris after the game, with officers using tear gas and pepper spray on the Champs Élysées.

At the top of the Champs Élysées, a water cannon was used to protect the Place de l’Etoile, near the landmark Arc de Triomphe.

Police said a large crowd not watching the match tried to push through a barrier to make contact with officers.

Some 131 arrests were made, including 30 who broke into a shoe shop on the Champs Élysées.

Police have said a total of four shops, including a car dealership and a barbers, were targeted during the disorder in Paris.

Two cars were set alight close to Parc des Princes, police said.

PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé appealed for calm in a post-match interview with Canal+, saying: “Let’s celebrate this but not tear everything up in Paris.”

After the final played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, thousands of supporters also tried to rush the field.

Police lined up in front of the PSG end of the stadium at the final whistle, but struggled to contain the fans for several minutes when they came down from the stands following the trophy presentation.

Désiré Doué, the 19-year-old who scored two goals and assisted one in the final, said after the game: “I don’t have words. But what I can say is, ‘Thank you Paris,’ we did it.”

Despite being a supporter of PSG’s rivals Olympique de Marseille, French President Emmanuel Macron also said on social media: “A glorious day for PSG!

“Bravo, we are all proud. Paris, the capital of Europe this evening.”

Mr Macron’s office said the president would receive the players at the Elysee Palace on Sunday.