SA confronts Israel's impunity at the ICJ

THIS week, the international community once again stood still and listened to harrowing evidence of Israeli brutality amid its genocidal mission in Gaza and the occupied territories of Palestine, where more than 50 000 people have been killed since October 2023 and more continue to die every hour, week and month.

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) held the hearings pursuant to UN General Assembly Resolution 79/232, which requested an Advisory Opinion on the “obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations and other international organisations and third states”. The resolution was initiated by Norway and supported overwhelmingly by the UN member states.

Simplified, the UN is keen to hear what legal opinion the highest court in the world can give over what is clearly Israel’s transgression of international law, as an occupying power, in the manner it is annihilating the Palestinians on a daily basis.

Already last year, South Africa led the international community when it took Israel to the same court on charges of genocide against Gaza.

There was a ceasefire subsequently between Israel and Hamas, which resulted in the release of Israeli captives and hordes of Palestinian prisoners, including women and minors.

Israel unilaterally pulled out of the ceasefire deal and resumed its intensified bombardment of any and everything that moves in the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza Strip.

Within only weeks of breaching the ceasefire that was brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, Israel managed to displace more than 500 000 Palestinians in Gaza alone, and continues to carry out a brutal campaign of murder, arbitrary detentions, wanton maiming and destruction of infrastructure, including homes.

This week, South Africa led concerned nations before the ICJ in a desperate bid to bring to the attention and perhaps consciousness of the UN member states the unacceptable impunity with which the Jewish state of Israel appears to disregard its obligations as an occupying power in Palestine under international law.