Israel defended the military necessity of its Gaza offensive on Friday at the International Court of Justice
\n THE HAGUE
\nIsrael defended the military necessity of its Gaza offensive on Friday at the International Court of Justice and asked judges to throw out a request by South Africa to order it to halt operations in Rafah and withdraw from the Palestinian territory.
\nIsraeli Justice Ministry official Gilad Noam called South Africa\u2019s case, which accuses Israel of violating the Genocide Convention, \u201ccompletely divorced from facts and circumstances\u201d.
\n\u201c(The case) makes a mockery of the heinous charge of genocide,\u201d Noam said. He called it \u201can obscene exploitation of the most sacred convention,\u201d referring to the international treaty banning genocide, agreed after the Holocaust of European Jews in World War Two.
\nThe convention requires all countries to act to prevent genocide, and the ICJ, also known as the World Court, which hears disputes between states, has concluded that this gives South Africa a right to make the case.
\nA woman who yelled \u201cliars!\u201d during Israel\u2019s presentation was removed by security guards, a rare protest in the \u201cGreat Hall of Justice\u201d courtroom in The Hague.
\n\u201cThere is a tragic war going on, but there is no genocide\u201d in Gaza, Noam said.
\nIn past rulings, the court has rejected Israel\u2019s demands to dismiss the case and ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians, while stopping short of ordering it to halt the assault.
\nI ask you to stand on the right side of history and vote now. The suffering of millions, including thousands of footballers, deserve as much.
\nAhead of Israel\u2019s presentation, several dozen pro-Israeli protesters gathered outside, displaying photographs of hostages taken by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7 and demanding their release.
\nThe South African legal team, which set out its case for fresh emergency measures the previous day, framed the Israeli military operation as part of a genocidal plan aimed at bringing about the destruction of the Palestinian people.
\nSouth Africa\u2019s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, requested the court to order Israel to \u201cimmediately, totally and unconditionally, withdraw the Israeli army from the entirety of the Gaza Strip\u201d.
\nSouth Africa brought its latest request for emergency action in response to an Israeli military assault on Rafah at the southern edge of Gaza, refuge for half the territory\u2019s 2.3 million people who fled Israel\u2019s offensive further north.
\nIsrael\u2019s Noam said that Israel\u2019s military operations were not aimed at civilians, but at Hamas terrorists using Rafah as a stronghold, who have tunnel systems which could be used to smuggle hostages and militants out of Gaza.
\nExamples of alleged violations by Israel raised by South Africa were \u201cnot evidence a policy of illegal behaviour, let alone a policy of genocide\u201d, he said. Ordering Israel to withdraw its troops would sentence remaining hostages in Gaza to death, Noam said.
\nMore than 35,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, health officials in the enclave said on Thursday. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 others.
\nThis week\u2019s hearings focus only on issuing emergency measures and it will likely take years before the court can rule on the underlying genocide charge. A decision on the request for emergency measures is expected next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel defended the military necessity of its Gaza offensive on Friday at the International Court of Justice THE HAGUE Israel defended the military necessity of its Gaza offensive on Friday at the International Court of Justice and asked judges to throw out a request by South Africa to order it to halt operations in Rafah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-407728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n