South Africa has vowed to continue pursuing its case against Israel at the United Nations’ top court accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza, saying it will not change course despite strong US opposition.

There is “no chance” of South Africa withdrawing its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told the Financial Times in a new interview.

“Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences, but we remain firm that this is important for the world, and the rule of law,” he added.

The comments from South Africa’s top diplomat came after US President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order to “halt foreign aid or assistance” to South Africa partly in response to the country’s ICJ case and anti-Israel stance.

Trump’s order was also a response to South Africa’s new land expropriation law, which the US argues discriminates against Afrikaners, a minority South African ethnic group of European descent.

During the interview, Lamola denied such accusations, stating that the White House’s statements were “misinformation.” He also argued that the land reform is not “arbitrary,” but an essential measure to rectify the land ownership inequalities left by apartheid.

Trump also accused South Africa in his executive order of working with Iran “to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”

“While we do have a good relationship with Iran, we don’t have any nuclear programs with them, nor any trade to speak of,” Lamola said.

US intelligence agencies have for years described Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, and Iranian leaders routinely declare their intention of destroying Israel.

Trump’s executive order puts at risk not only $440 million in aid to South Africa but also tariff-free access to US markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, presenting a major challenge for the South African coalition government, which took power last year after the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority in parliament for the first time in South Africa’s post-apartheid democratic history. The ANC still remained the largest party and retained power at the national level through a coalition.

“We are willing to engage with them to persuade them, if they are willing to be persuaded,” Lamola said.

Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli leaders have condemned the case as an “obscene exploitation” of the Genocide Convention, noting that the Jewish state is targeting terrorists who use civilians as human shields in its military campaign. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Jewish community have lambasted the case as “grandstanding” rather than actual concern for those killed in the Middle Eastern conflict.

Last year, the ICJ ruled there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims that Palestinians had a right to be protected from genocide. However, the top UN court did not make a determination on the merits of South Africa’s allegations, which may take years to go through the judicial process, nor did it call for Israel to halt its military campaign. Instead, the ICJ issued a more general directive that Israel must make sure it prevents acts of genocide. The ruling also called for the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the terrorist group’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Last month, Cuba officially became the latest country to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, following Ireland, Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, Libya, Bolivia, Turkey, the Maldives, Chile, Spain, and “Palestine.”

Since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, the South African government has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s military campaign, which seeks to free the hostages kidnapped by the terrorists and dismantle Hamas’s military and administrative control in Gaza.

In late 2023, South Africa temporarily withdrew its diplomats from Israel and shut down its embassy in Tel Aviv, saying the government was “extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians” in Gaza.

Then in December of that year, South Africa hosted two Hamas officials who attended a government-sponsored conference in solidarity with the Palestinians. One of the officials had been sanctioned by the US government for his role with the terrorist organization.

Months later, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led the crowd at an election rally in a chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a genocidal call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

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