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‘Double-Speak and Double-Standards’: South African Jews Excoriate Government Over ICJ Case Charging Israel With ‘Genocide’
Supporters of Hamas demonstrating outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: Reuters/Jehad Shelbak
South Africa’s Jewish community on Thursday accused the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of “double-speak and double-standards” on the opening day of the government’s case at the International Court of Justice charging Israel with committing genocide in Gaza.
In a statement shared with The Algemeiner, South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) president Prof. Karen Milner observed that only a week after the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel — in which more than 1,200 people were murdered and over 200 kidnapped alongside multiple reports of rape, mutilation, and other atrocities — the South African government had already decided that Israel was guilty of “genocide.” It noted as well that during the same week, President Cyril Ramaphosa “failed to condemn Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel. To absolve Hamas of any complicity in the tragic loss of lives in Israel and in Gaza shows a thorough lack of understanding of the conflict.”
The statement highlighted that despite its legal campaign targeting Israel, the South African government had hosted international leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity, including former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Mohamed Dagalo, the commander of the RSF militia in Sudan that has carried out numerous atrocities against non-Arab minorities in the Darfur region.
“South Africa’s double-speak and double-standards is also evident with dogged determination to remain neutral and ‘talk to both sides’ in the Russian-Ukraine war,” Milner’s statement continued. “Yet, with Israel it has taken constant punitive action, including refusing to offer condolences to Israel after the Oct. 7 massacre, closing the SA Embassy, issuing a demarche to the Israeli ambassador. and now taking Israel to the ICJ.”
In its evidence submitted to the ICJ in The Hague, South Africa invoked the 1948 Genocide Convention, claiming that Israel’s military response to the Hamas pogrom was “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial, and ethnical group.”
That point was emphasized in speeches to the court on Thursday by prosecuting lawyers. “The intent to destroy Gaza has been nurtured at the highest level of state,” Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer for the High Court of South Africa, declared, while his colleague Adila Hassim said that “every day there is mounting, irreparable loss of life, property, dignity, and humanity for the Palestinian people.”
Israel will formally deliver its response to the charges on Friday. However, several Israeli politicians weighed in on Thursday with strong condemnation of the proceedings.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett described the ICJ case as “the Dreyfus Affair of the 21st century” — a reference to the late 19th century trial of French Army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, on false charges of espionage that triggered a wave of antisemitic violence across France. Separately, Economy Minister Nir Barkat asserted that “instead of starting proceedings against Hamas, the hypocritical court in The Hague charges Israel with false allegations, fabrications, and antisemitic blood libel plots.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a post on social media that it was “not Israel that is on trial today, but the integrity of the international community.”
Said Lapid: “If a country that protects itself from a brutal murderous terrorist attack can find itself in court for genocide, then the genocide convention has become a reward for terrorism and antisemitism.”
Within South Africa, most opposition parties lined up behind the government in supporting the ICJ case.
“We welcome the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) hearing later this week for provisional measures relating to Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention,” Roger Jardine — the founder of Change Starts Now, a new party launched only last month — said in a statement.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), which has often been a thorn in the side of the ANC, offered only muted criticism, arguing that it was “a great pity that the South African government has consistently ignored gross human rights violations on our own doorstep,” Emma Powell, a spokesperson for the party, told local media outlets, before clarifying that “the DA will await the ICJ’s findings.”
More forthright opposition was expressed by the far right Patriotic Alliance, which dismissed the ICJ proceedings as “a joke.” However, party spokesperson Steve Motale later clarified that “we have never taken a side, except to push for a genuine two-state solution, which would bring the violence to an end. We have also been clear from the start that we condemn Hamas, who themselves preach and pursue policies and actions of clearly stated and performed genocide … We support a free Palestine too.”
Rev. Kenneth Meshoe — the leader of the pro-Israel African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) — bemoaned that “the South African government could have played a far more constructive role in influencing Hamas to release hostages after the deadly attack on Oct. 7, and even to surrender, to avoid the loss of civilian lives, and to seek to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East.” He also expressed skepticism that South African government lawyers would succeed in proving that Israel has demonstrated “the necessary genocidal intent against the Palestinian people as required by the Genocide Convention.”
The post ‘Double-Speak and Double-Standards’: South African Jews Excoriate Government Over ICJ Case Charging Israel With ‘Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – The IDF released a statement after an incident during which Israeli soldiers opened fire on Israeli civilians in the West Bank on Saturday night, denying that the trooped fired live ammunition.
This comes at the heels of arson incidents by settlers against Palestinian villages, with clashes breaking out. The IDF said that its soldiers had come under attack on Friday as they entered the area of Kafr Malik, the site of the disturbances, by Israeli civilians. “The undermining of the rule of law and the use of violence by a radical minority harm security and stability in the area.”
The IDF later said that “an initial investigation indicates that IDF forces did not fire live ammunition at Israeli civilians in the area. It should be clarified that the battalion commander’s force operating in the Baal Hatzor area of the Binyamin brigade did not fire live ammunition at all.” On the other hand, the civilians claimed this was false, posting a video that showed shell casings on the ground right next to where the troops were deployed.
Meanwhile, the police requested the remand of six individuals, two of whom are minors, to be extended in connection with the incident.
The IDF later said that, “in another area within the sector, stones were thrown at a military vehicle near the site of the clash by masked individuals from an ambush. The force responded with a warning shot of three bullets.” A possible connection “between this incident and the claim that an Israeli civilian was injured by live fire” is being investigated.
After the incidents late last week, the IDF issued an unusual directive for soldiers to exercise special vigilance and also prepare for scenarios involving nationalist incidents perpetrated by Israeli citizens. The directive was issued after a military vehicle was set on fire inside a Jewish settlement, the tires of an armored David vehicle were punctured, and a community policing caravan near the community of Beit El was also set on fire.
“The security establishment system is highly alert,” a security official told i24NEWS. “We are seeing an escalation on the ground – and if you cannot leave a military vehicle in a Jewish community without it being burned in the sector, it is a sign that the situation is dangerous.”
The post IDF Denies Troops Fired on Civilians After Incidents of Settler Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End
US President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, May 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
“Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel’s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.
But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and U.N. officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
“The (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations,” the military said.
The evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts. Medics and residents said the Israeli army’s bombardments escalated in the early hours in Jabalia, destroying several houses and killing at least six people.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives arrived to pay their respects to white-shrouded bodies before they are buried.
“A month ago, they (Israel) told us to go to Al-Mawasi (in Khan Younis) and we stayed there for a month, it is a safe zone,” said Zeyad Abu Marouf. He said three of his children were killed and a fourth was wounded in the Israeli airstrike.
“We ask God and the Arabs to move and end this occupation and the injustice taking place against us,” Abu Marouf told Reuters.
NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH
The military escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.
Interest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened following US and Israeli bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
There has also been rising concern over how aid is being distributed to Gazans in the ruined enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month in the vicinity of areas where food was being handed out, local hospitals and officials have said.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group’s outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.
Hamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war. Israel says it can only end the war if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
The post Israel Orders Evacuations in Northern Gaza as Trump Calls for War to End first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack Yet Against Ukraine, Kills F-16 Pilot
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
i24 News – Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 537 drones and missiles against targets throughout Ukraine overnight between Saturday and Sunday, in what what described as the largest attack of the war.
Poland activated aerial defenses and scrambled jets as the six-hour onslaught continued. One Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed as Kyiv attempted to intercept the missiles and drones, with 475 shot down.
“Tragically, while repelling the attack, our F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, died. Today, he destroyed seven aerial targets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Ustymenko did everything possible, but his jet was damaged and started losing altitude,” the air force said, as quoted in Politico. “He died like a hero!”
The cities of Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv were targeted.
The Russia attack came after Ukraine attacked the Kirovske airfield in the Crimean Peninsula, targeting air defenses, drones, and even destroying several helicopters and an air defense system.
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