Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced Friday that his country supports South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Criminal Court. He added that the Jordanian government was working on a legal case to follow up on the case. In addition, Turkey, Malaysia and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have announced that they also support the case.
The UN decided to seek an opinion from the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the "Israeli occupation" // Reuters
The South African case at the ICC is based on the 1948 Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, to which Israel is a signatory along with 142 other countries. The convention states that in case of conflicts, any country can appeal to the ICC, where the petitioner does not have to be the one affected, because genocide is a universal issue (a similar discussion is currently taking place in Gambia's lawsuit against Myanmar). Israel will appear in the process and will not boycott it – it cannot deny its signature on the treaty and may be harmed if it ignores the discussion.
The "Peace Palace" in The Hague where the ICC hearings will be held, photo: AP
After the October 7 attacks, the South African president and members of his government stood in front of the media cameras and chose to back Hamas. Ramaphosa donned a keffiyeh next to a backdrop of Palestinian flags and said: "We sympathize with the residents of Gaza who are under Israeli siege." They accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, blatantly ignoring Hamas' crimes.
Cyril Ramaphossa, President of South Africa. Statements against Israel and the IDF, and support for BDS, photo: AFP
The unilateral alignment of President Ramaphosa and his government with the terrorist organization sparked outrage in the country's Jewish community, which has more than 50,000 members, and the chief rabbi announced the cessation of prayers for the president, for the first time in 30 years.
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