Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel defended its war in Gaza at the United Nations’ highest court Friday.
Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel defended its war in Gaza at the United Nations’ highest court Friday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the allegations as hypocrisy that “screams to the heavens.”
Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has vehemently denied the accusations brought by South Africa in one of the biggest cases ever to come before an international court, one that has drawn international attention and protesters from both sides to the courthouse.
South African lawyers asked the court Thursday to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in the besieged coastal territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. A decision on that request will probably take weeks, though the full case is likely to last years.
“We live at a time when words are cheap in an age of social media and identity politics. The temptation to reach for the most outrageous term to vilify and demonize has become, for many, irresistible,” Israeli legal advisor Tal Becker told a packed auditorium at the ornate Palace of Peace in The Hague.
He added that South Africa “has regrettably put before the court a profoundly distorted, factual and legal picture. The entirety of its case hinges on a deliberately curated, decontextualized and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities.”
Israel often boycotts international tribunals and U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But, in a sign of how seriously they regard the case, Israeli leaders have taken the rare step of sending a high-level legal team.
At the heart of the case are Israel’s actions in Gaza, where it launched a massive air and ground assault after Hamas militants crossed into Israel on Oct. 7, storming through communities and killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. The assailants also abducted around 250 people, over half of whom are still held captive.
More than 23,000 people in Gaza have been killed during the military campaign, according to the the Health Ministry in the territory, which is run by Hamas.
