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Amid international criticism of Israel for its continued bombing of Gaza, South Africa on Friday (December 29) moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ), for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The ICJ is a United Nations platform for resolving disputes between states.
Why is South Africa sympathetic to Gaza, to the extent of approaching the ICJ against Israel and accusing it of genocide? What is the 1948 Genocide Convention? We explain.
What is the Genocide Convention?
While the term ‘genocide’ is often loosely used when speaking of attacks against various communities across the world, it has been defined using set criteria in the UN’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, moved in the General Assembly in 1948.
The convention says, “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
The Convention also says that, “Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide…”
Following its application to the ICJ, South Africa’s presidency said in a statement that the country was obliged “to prevent genocide from occurring”, BBC reported. The application urges the ICJ for a hearing next week, and to issue “provisional measures” to prevent the violence in Gaza.
Israel has reacted strongly, with its foreign ministry saying, “Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa.”
Even if the hearing as requested by South Africa does take place and the ICJ issues “provisional measures”, Israel can choose to ignore them. In March 2022, the court had ordered Russia to halt its military campaign in Ukraine, which is still going on. However, the move by South Africa has added to the criticism Israel has been facing from various non-West quarters.
Why did South Africa act against Israel?
This is not the first time South Africa has criticised Israel. Back in October, when the violence had just begun to spiral, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his African National Congress had addressed the press draped in traditional Palestinian scarves, speaking “about the atrocities that are unfolding in the Middle East”.
The country later suspended diplomatic relations with Israel. All this, when South Africa is Israel’s biggest trading partner in the African continent and stands to gain from a good relationship with the Jewish state.
However, there are deep-rooted reasons for South Africa’s solidarity with Gaza.
Like many countries that bore the brunt of colonialism and occupation — such as India — South Africa has traditionally been sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. It formed diplomatic relations with Palestine soon after its own Apartheid government was thrown off in 1990.
South Africa’s solidarity for Palestine came from many reasons. First, of course, was its own experience of discrimination and disempowerment, which made it sensitive to what was happening to Palestinians dominated by the Israelis. Like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela spoke up strongly for the rights of the Palestinians. Also, Israel was widely seen as a state propped up by the West’s support, and South Africa had not forgotten the West’s role in perpetuating apartheid. It had reasons to align positions with Russia, which had provided military training to those resisting the Apartheid regime.
For many years after the creation of Israel, South Africa’s position was largely the same as many other African countries.
However, over time, many African nations, including South Africa, softened their stand towards Israel. As more Arab countries recognised the Jewish state, Africans saw little reasons to continue with their opposition. Another crucial factor was what the prosperous and technologically advanced Israel had to offer — new technologies, including in agriculture, aid money, and military training.
According to Al Jazeera, “In 2021, trade between Israel and Sub-Saharan African countries reached over $750m. Israel exports machinery, electronics, and chemicals to the continent. Of that, nearly two-thirds were traded with South Africa…”
But another reason South Africa has stayed steadfast in its support of Palestine is the ruling ANC’s deep links with anti-discrimination activism. In fact, ANC leaders and other opponents of apartheid have long compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to what the White government did to Black South Africans.
Another has been to resist a world view governed by the West’s stand on important matters. This was also clear when the African nations were being pressured to align against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, and South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, had questioned why the Western powers would not condemn Israel.
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