Johannesburg, South Africa – Whereas South African authorized researchers have been in an undisclosed location final week, racing in opposition to time to finalise a whole lot of pages of proof proving Israel’s intent to commit genocide in Gaza, in Israel, leaders gathering close to the Gaza border have been calling for the besieged and bombarded Strip to be emptied of Palestinians.
Through the “getting ready to settle Gaza” convention, held at a restricted army zone in Be’eri final Monday, Israeli Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was recorded calling for the “migration” of Gaza’s present inhabitants, and the opportunity of future Israeli settlement growth there – one thing thought-about unlawful below worldwide regulation.
“[We will] inform them, ‘we’re supplying you with the prospect, go away from right here to different nations’,” Ben-Gvir mentioned, whereas Israeli forces continued their greater than yearlong bombardment of Gaza. “The Land of Israel is ours.”
South African diplomats assert that statements like these provide simple proof of Israel’s genocidal intent – one thing they have to show earlier than the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) in an ongoing case.
Monday (October 28) is the deadline for South Africa to submit an in depth memorial in opposition to Israel to the ICJ, attorneys and diplomats informed Al Jazeera. Its authorized submission goals to definitively set up that Israel’s army actions in Gaza quantity to genocide.
Regardless of new proof rising every day, senior South African officers instructed the authorized staff to stay to what they’d already collected to satisfy the approaching deadline.
The authorized staff is nonetheless assured that the a whole lot of pages of proof are greater than sufficient to maintain their case.
“The issue now we have is that now we have an excessive amount of proof,” Ambassador Vusi Madonsela, South Africa’s consultant to The Hague, defined to Al Jazeera.
Zane Dangor, the director-general of South Africa’s Division of Worldwide Relations and Cooperation, mentioned: “The authorized staff will all the time say we want extra time, there’s extra information coming. However now we have to say you must cease now. You [have] obtained to deal with what you will have.”
The five hundred-page South African authorized submission goals to reveal a sample of mass casualties in Gaza, the place virtually 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, which South African officers argue exceeds any proportional army response to Hamas’s assaults on October 7 final yr.
South Africa has maintained since its interim utility in December final yr that Israel’s intent goes past army aims, aiming as an alternative on the wholesale depopulation of Gaza by way of excessive violence and compelled displacement.
In its preliminary utility, South Africa submitted 84 pages pleading with the court docket to seek out Israel responsible of suspected genocide and order it to, amongst different issues, halt its invasion in Gaza.
Throughout oral arguments in The Hague, the South African authorized staff relied on statements made by Israeli politicians on the time, video clips of the destruction in Gaza and maps that confirmed how Palestinian land had been encroached on.
‘Unprovable’?
The ICJ set agency its Monday deadline for South Africa to show, on paper, that Israel is responsible of genocide.
Nevertheless, this can be a feat described by worldwide regulation consultants as “practically unprovable”.
Professor of worldwide regulation on the College of Cape City, Cathleen Powell, mentioned South Africa’s problem is to show genocidal intent on behalf of the state of Israel and to indicate a hyperlink between feedback made by officers and the programmatic nature of the destruction of Gaza.
“If they’ll discover genocidal statements from state officers and present that that instantly led to a specific programme that led to destruction on the bottom, then that’s most likely a really robust case, however it’s a very troublesome hyperlink to show.”
She mentioned there was little question battle crimes have been being dedicated in Gaza, however invoking the genocide conference meant that South Africa needed to show that the state was accountable.
“It’s troublesome to attribute the intent of officers to the state. You need to discover one thing completely different on behalf of the state [of Israel] to indicate genocidal intent,” Powell defined.
Authorized insiders mentioned if South Africa fails to show dolus specialis – the precise intent to destroy a gaggle, both in entire or partially – its case would fall flat.
South Africa’s Dangor mentioned his nation’s case was rock strong.
“It’s a textbook case of genocide,” Dangor mentioned, including that the “intent is obvious”.
“Genocidal acts with out intent might be crimes in opposition to humanity. However right here, the intent is simply entrance and centre.
“You might be seeing statements from leaders, but additionally extraordinary Israelis saying ‘kill all Gazans, even the infants’,” he mentioned.
‘Working flat out’
Working inside tight deadlines, South Africa assembled an elite staff of authorized minds, together with three high senior counsels from South Africa, a global regulation professor, a British barrister, and quite a few junior counsel and researchers.
Near 100 individuals have been engaged on completely different components of the case for the final 9 months, insiders detailed.
Whereas high authorities officers supplied oversight, groups labored individually in drafting the doc, which has been marked “High Secret” till it’s filed earlier than the court docket.
“We’ve got been working flat out to place collectively the submission,” Ambassador Madonsela famous.
Tasked with mission administration, a revered Johannesburg regulation agency dealt with the intricate logistical parts, chapter by chapter, together with translations and quotation verification.
Junior counsel targeting drawing a transparent hyperlink between Israeli officers’ rhetoric and the army actions in Gaza, whereas senior attorneys crafted the case’s authorized arguments to indicate a scientific marketing campaign.
They needed to condense 1000’s of pages of proof of “unthinkable brutality” into thematic authorized arguments, Dangor defined.
Over 9 months, authorized researchers have been instructed not solely to record examples of Israel’s horrible killings and destruction in Gaza however to focus the proof on what would clearly depict what South Africa argues is “Israel’s final goal” to obliterate Gaza and power out the Palestinians dwelling there.
Within the a whole lot of pages because of be submitted, South Africa listed a litany of examples the place Israeli politicians and senior authorities officers spoke about “wiping out Gaza” and “forcing Palestinians out”.
South Africa interprets these statements as clearly articulating genocidal intent.
As an illustration, remarks by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2023, through which he referenced plans for Gaza whereas alluding to attainable actions in opposition to Lebanon, are positioned as proof of a broader Israeli agenda.
“I’m saying right here to the residents of Lebanon, I already see the residents in Gaza strolling with white flags alongside the coast … If Hezbollah makes errors of this type, those who can pay the worth are, initially, the residents of Lebanon. What we’re doing in Gaza, we all know how you can do in Beirut,” Gallant mentioned on the time.
Whereas the minister’s feedback have been cited as examples of genocidal intent, the authorized staff opted to not argue that Israel’s now invasion of Lebanon was additional proof that “it was Israel’s intention all alongside”.
“That can are available in oral hearings,” Dangor mentioned when requested about it.
Excessive-stakes case
Dangor defined that the case has grow to be a landmark in worldwide regulation for a number of causes.
First, it’s unprecedented that genocide allegations are being introduced to a global tribunal whereas the atrocities proceed to unfold – slightly than retrospectively, as seen in circumstances just like the Srebrenica or Rwanda genocides.
Secondly, the case advantages from the real-time documentation of alleged genocidal acts, which captures intent and execution with speedy readability.
Dangor mentioned that is markedly completely different from historic circumstances the place proof emerged a lot later and in fragments.
Moreover, he emphasised that South Africa’s case uniquely implicates a Western-backed state.
This issue raises the stakes significantly and challenges longstanding assumptions in worldwide authorized responses to genocide.
In accordance with Dangor, genocidal acts with out intent might fall below crimes in opposition to humanity, however on this case, the intent is unambiguously distinguished.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed confidence within the submission, stating earlier than Parliament in August that he believed the case was strong and was hopeful about its end result. “We’re assured that now we have a robust case to show that genocide is occurring in Palestine,” he mentioned on the time.
As soon as submitted, Israel has till July 2025 to submit its counter-arguments. After that, oral hearings on the ICJ are anticipated in 2026 – which suggests the authorized course of might lengthen for years.
If accepted, the case would mark a historic first, as no state has efficiently prosecuted one other for genocide below the Genocide Conference of 1948.
The potential verdict might resonate far past Israel and Palestine, setting a brand new customary in how worldwide regulation addresses state-sanctioned violence, consultants say.
“What now we have been saying is that genocide is a criminal offense of crimes,” mentioned Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Minister of Worldwide Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola.
Head of the Worldwide Affiliation of Genocide Students, Melani O’Brien, mentioned South Africa’s submission was the beginning of an “vital and prolonged” course of.
“It’s a part of the method of the prevention of genocide. It serves as a deterrent,” she mentioned of the case, which is among the 4 presently earlier than the ICJ invoking the genocide conference.
O’Brien mentioned whereas a responsible verdict might not cease Israel, it might stress different nations to rethink their relationship with it.
Dangor acknowledged {that a} responsible verdict may not change Israel’s actions however might power an arms embargo.
“With this degree of depravity, wilful killing and immunity, the place Israel says, ‘We’ll commit genocide and get away with it, how dare you name it a genocide’, we’re duty-bound to cease it,” he mentioned.
“We don’t have the flexibility to cease it with army means or financial sanctions. We hope that the actions we take can result in others having to take motion. It’s because the authorized penalties that emerge from a discovering of genocide imply that third-party states can not discover excuses to supply arms [to Israel].”
Talking on the BRICS summit in Russia final week, Ramaphosa informed world leaders that alongside its authorized motion on the ICJ, South Africa remained “unwavering” in its help of the institution of a Palestinian state.
“We do imagine the world can not stand by and watch the slaughtering of harmless individuals persevering with,” the president mentioned.
