Israel on Friday (Jan 12) rebuffed the genocide claims towards it saying that it doesn’t search to destroy the Palestinians in its battle towards Hamas within the Gaza Strip additional calling South Africa’s allegations “baseless”.
“What Israel seeks by working in Gaza is to not destroy a individuals however to guard a individuals, its individuals, who’re below assault on a number of fronts,” high lawyer Tal Becker advised the International Court of Justice.
South Africa launched an emergency case on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging that Israel violated the UN Genocide Convention which was signed in 1948 within the wake of the Holocaust.
Pretoria seeks a judgment the place Tel Aviv is pushed to “instantly” cease its counter-offensive in Gaza which has claimed the lives of 1,140 individuals, as per a tally primarily based on Israeli figures by information company AFP.
At least 23,469 individuals, largely girls and kids, have misplaced their lives in Israel’s offensive, in accordance with Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry.
Becker mentioned that South Africa had “regrettably put earlier than the courtroom a profoundly distorted factual and authorized image.”
Watch | Israel hits again at fees at ICJ, says intention is to destroy Hamas not Palestinian individuals
He then, by making use of images and movies, painted a graphic picture of the horrors of the October 7 assaults by the militant group Hamas.
Hamas militants “tortured kids in entrance of fogeys, mother and father in entrance of kids, burned individuals… systematically raped and mutilated,” he mentioned.
He then highlighted that Israel’s response was in self-defense and under no circumstances was focused on the residents of the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“Israel is in a battle of protection towards Hamas, not towards the Palestinian individuals,” mentioned Becker.
“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a cost extra false and extra malevolent than the allegation towards Israel of genocide,” he mentioned.
“If there have been acts that could be characterised as genocidal then they’ve been perpetrated towards Israel,” he added, referring to what he referred to as a “proudly declared agenda of annihilation” on the a part of Hamas.
“Israel is preventing genocide”, says Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within the run-up to the hearings mentioned that “the State of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it’s preventing genocide”.
“A terrorist group carried out the worst crime towards the Jewish individuals because the Holocaust, and now somebody involves defend it within the title of the Holocaust? What brazen gall. The world is the other way up,” he added.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned the South African case was “unfounded”.
(With inputs from companies)