The International Court of Justice in the Hague on Thursday morning began deliberations regarding the case brought by South Africa that Israel is “committing genocide” in Gaza.

The 15 judges assigned to the case include those from the countries of Lebanon, Somalia, Uganda, Morocco, Russia, China, India, Jamaica, Slovakia, Brazil, Japan, Germany, France, Australia and the US.

“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies as a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges and audience in the packed, ornate room of the Peace Palace in The Hague.

South African Attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said that Israel’s intent to “commit genocide” can be proven by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s statement in a speech of “זכור אשר עשה לך עמלק.” He explained the meaning of the passuk. He also played videos of IDF soldiers dancing and singing in Gaza about wiping out Amalek and “there are no innocent civilians.”

Ngcukaitobi also claimed that Israel committed genocide by design. “The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” he said.

The South African attorneys’ presentations ended after several hours of accusations against Israel without even once mentioning the issue of Hamas using Gazan civilians as human shields and actively preventing them from evacuating to safe areas. Instead, it claimed that Israel is “herding” Gazans into smaller areas “to be killed and harmed.”

Afterward, Israel, which is presenting its case against South Africa’s claim on Friday, issued a statement excoriating Pretoria: “Today we were witness to one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“South Africa, which is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization, utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the October 7 massacre and completely ignored the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens, simply because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide.”

“South Africa seeks to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and sexual crimes they committed repeatedly on October 7, as its leaders have stated.”

“Hamas’ representatives in the Court, the South African lawyers, are also ignoring the fact that Hamas uses the civilian population in Gaza as human shields and operates from within hospitals, schools, UN shelters, mosques, and churches with the intention of endangering the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip.”

“136 hostages are being held in Hamas captivity, denied access to Red Cross representatives and medical care.”

“The State of Israel will continue to protect its citizens in accordance with international law while distinguishing between Hamas terrorists and the civilian population, and will do anything in its power to release all hostages and eliminate the Hamas terrorist organization, a racist and antisemitic terrorist organization that calls in its Convention for the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of Jews.”

Ahead of the proceedings, hundreds of pro-Israeli protesters marched close to the courthouse with banners saying “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages held by Hamas since it attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Among the crowds, people held Israeli and Dutch flags.

At a separate demonstration nearby, pro-Palestinian protesters waved flags saying: “End Israeli Apartheid Free Palestine” and chanting “Netanyahu criminal” and “Ceasefire now!”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)