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Jewish Leaders in South Africa Slam ANC Government’s Move to Prosecute Israel at International Court
Pro-Hamas demonstrators march in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Reuters/Nic Bothma
Jewish leaders in South Africa have angrily condemned the decision of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to refer Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in its war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.
In an application filed with The Hague-based ICJ last Friday, South Africa claimed that Israel “has engaged in, is engaging in, and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
It further accused the Jewish state of acting “with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group.”
Responding to the ICJ application, South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Warren Goldstein, accused the ANC government of serving the Iranian regime’s interests.
Calling the genocide allegations “grotesquely false” in a post on X/Twitter, Goldstein accused the government of acting “as Iran’s ally and proxy in the Islamic state’s plans to destroy the Jewish state through its multifaceted strategy, a critical element of which is to undermine Israel’s legal and moral right to defend itself.”
Iran is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with funds, arms, and training.
Goldstein added that the ANC supports “Iranian proxy Hamas in its war crimes of using its own civilian population as a human shield to cause maximum Palestinian casualties so as to delegitimize Israel’s just war of self-defense, thereby to neutralize its military superiority.”
Goldstein had particularly harsh words for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whom he said had drawn the country closer to Iran and Hamas while in office.
“As far back as 2007, the SA government invited Hamas to the country on an official visit,” he noted. “And at the 2017 ANC conference which elected Ramaphosa as its president, a Hamas delegation was in attendance.”
He added that “of late, Ramaphosa led the charge to admit Iran into the Brics grouping” — a reference to the bloc led by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa that presents itself as a counter to the global influence of the US — and that “in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacres, the SA government dispatched its foreign minister to Tehran in a show of support of the Iranian administration.”
Strong criticism was also voiced by Rolene Marks, the spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), who charged that the government was using the Palestinian issue to deflect from its woeful domestic record.
“This move seems designed to distract from the government’s own spectacular domestic failures,” Marks said in a statement that was shared with The Algemeiner. Citing statistics on crime that revealed an average of 75 murders and 120 rapes daily, Marks asserted that the ANC’s “focus on Israel is not only misplaced but negligent.”
South Africa temporarily withdrew its diplomats from Israel and shuttered its embassy in Tel Aviv shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom, saying that the Pretoria government was “extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians” in Gaza. Last month, two Hamas officials — Bassem Naim, a member of the terrorist organization’s politburo, and Khaled Qaddoumi, its official representative in Iran — arrived in South Africa to attend a government-sponsored conference in solidarity with the Palestinians as well as ceremonies commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who led the ANC in its struggle against apartheid.
The post Jewish Leaders in South Africa Slam ANC Government’s Move to Prosecute Israel at International Court first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.