The landmark application by the South African government to the ICJ to institute proceedings against Israel sets a precedent as the first at the ICJ relating to the siege on the Gaza Strip. South Africa has experienced the worst kind of racist oppression that humanity has ever witnessed, which adds to the document’s symbolic impact.
International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case South Africa v. Israel on 11 and 12 January 2024, at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
The landmark application by the South African government to the ICJ to institute proceedings against Israel sets a precedent as the first at the ICJ relating to the siege on the Gaza Strip. where more than 23,000 people have been killed since October 7, nearly 10,000 of them children.
In an interview with Jeremy Corbyn on Project for Peace and Justice, Andrew Feinstein, a former African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament in South Africa, discussed the upcoming hearings of South Africa’s submission.
In reference to the legal document’s significance, Feinstein said that it is important to remember that the nation bringing Israel before the International Court of Justice has also experienced the worst kind of racist oppression that humanity has ever witnessed, which adds to the document’s symbolic impact. He highlighted the outspoken condemnation of Israel expressed by Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for example. “Of course, I will be critical of that entity that supported, armed, and aided my oppressor,” declared Nelson Mandela.
“As someone who lived through apartheid in South Africa and participated in the movement to end it, I have witnessed the most horrific suffering inflicted upon ordinary people by the apartheid state. I never in my life would have imagined witnessing the kind of day-in, day-out suffering that we have been experiencing for the past two months. This kind of human misery is beyond anything I could have ever imagined seeing in my lifetime, much less one that is supported, aided, abetted, and enabled by governments in the US, UK, Germany, and other countries,” added Feinstein.
He responded to a question about the consequences for Israel by saying that if the court rules in favour of the South African motion, it would imply that the worst of all crimes—genocide—has been defined by one of the highest courts in the world. It will be evident if South Africa succeeds that nobody is above the law and that nobody has the right to massacre innocent people in the horrifying ways that we have witnessed.
He urged everyone to come out on the streets in the name of humanity on the 13th of January and join them in the march for Palestine and march for an immediate ceasefire.
