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Israel: South Africa’s Spurious Charge ‘Cheapens’ the Term ‘Genocide’
The UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Israel’s defense team on Friday marshaled a wealth of evidence and advanced a range of legal and moral arguments rebuffing the charge of “genocide” leveled at it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Rejecting the accusations of genocide as baseless, Israel accused Pretoria of playing “advocate of the devil” for Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group Israel is waging war against in Gaza following the October 7 massacre.
Dr. Gilad Noam told the court that accepting South Africa’s spurious claims would embolden terrorist groups and provide them with cover to commit crimes against humanity.
“Entertaining the applicant’s request would weaken efforts to punish genocide and instead of the court being an instrument to prevent terrorist horrors, would turn it into a weapon in hands of terrorist groups who have no regard for humanity and rule of law,” said Noam.
Accepting South Africa’s politicized misrepresentations “would signal to terrorist groups that they can commit war crimes and crimes against humanity and then seek the protection of this court,” Noam charged.
In conclusion, Israeli legal experts argued against the “cheapening” of the term “genocide,” coined after WWII to refer to the industrialized racist murder of six million Jews by the Nazis.
Galit Raguan, acting director of the international justice division at Israel’s justice ministry, attributed the civilian death toll in Gaza to Hamas, noting that “Urban warfare will always result in civilian harm.”
According to Raguan, these deaths, while tragic, represent a lawful consequence of targeting military objectives and do not amount to genocide. She further explicated that Hamas exacerbates civilian tolls by operating from within civilian areas, including schools and hospitals.
She further argued that the IDF has found incontrovertible evidence of Hamas military activity in every single hospital in the Gaza Strip.
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy

Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
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