US legislators vent ‘disgust’ at SA’s genocide charge against Israel

Israeli legal counsellor Tal Becker looks down and South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola sits in the foreground on 11 January 2024 in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo: Michel Porro/Getty Images)

By Peter Fabricius

24 Jan 2024

A letter to US Secretary of State urges denouncement of SA’s ‘grossly unfounded case’ and accuses nation of attempting to delegitimise Israel.

Two hundred and ten members of the US Congress from both parties have expressed “disgust” at South Africa bringing genocide charges against Israel at the International Court of Justice (IJC).

The legislators of the 435-member lower House of Representatives signed a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urging him to denounce what they call SA’s “grossly unfounded case against Israel …, accusing Israel of genocide and asking the court to order Israel to immediately halt its military efforts in Gaza”.

The letter could be the first salvo in a blowback in the US against SA accusing Israel of genocide at the ICJ. South Africa’s ambassador to the US Ndumiso Ntshinga was summoned to a meeting of a House committee discussing the case this week, Daily Maverick was told.

The ICJ judges are expected to deliver their ruling on Friday at 1pm on South Africa’s request for Israel to be ordered to take provision measures — mainly an immediate ceasefire in its deadly attack on Gaza which has reportedly killed over 25,000 Palestinians in nearly four months of intense warfare by Israel against Hamas. This is in retaliation against an attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October last year in which it killed some 1,200 people mostly civilians and took 240 hostage.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Middle East crisis news hub

The court is likely to take much longer, possibly years, to make a final determination on whether or not Israel has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention through its bombardment and ground assault on Gaza.

South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is souring relations with the US in a year when the US Congress will be voting on whether or not to renew the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) and when influential Democrat Senator Chris Coons has asked for South Africa’s continued participation to be reviewed.

Israel, genocide South African delegation members John Dugard, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi and Adila Hassimon prepare for hearings of Israel's point of view as South Africa has requested the International Court of Justice to indicate measures concerning alleged violations of human rights by Israel in the Gaza Strip on 12 January 2024 in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo: Michel Porro/Getty Images)

‘Disgust at this filing’

The letter sent to Blinken was initiated by Representative Chris Smith, a Republican and member of a conservative, evangelical caucus in the House. 146 of the 210 Representatives who signed the letter are Republicans and 64 are Democrats.

“We write to you to express our disgust at this filing, which perpetrates false and dangerous allegations against the Jewish state,” the letter reads.

“We share the administration’s position that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas terror and appreciate the strong statement of National Security Council spokesman John Kirby that the South African application is ‘meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever’.

“South Africa’s accusation of genocide against Israel exposes how far Israel’s enemies will go in their attempts to demonise the Jewish state. While barely acknowledging the Hamas terrorists who gleefully massacred, mutilated, raped, and kidnapped innocent civilians on October 7, South Africa makes grossly unfounded and defamatory charges against Israel on the world stage, abusing the judicial process in order to delegitimise the democratic State of Israel.

“Charging the Jewish state with genocide for defending itself against Hamas terror is particularly cynical given that the term ‘genocide’ was coined following the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

“We vigorously denounce South Africa’s deeply hostile stance towards Israel and thoroughly reject its charge of genocide. We urge you to continue to do the same, to offer Israel all appropriate support in opposing the South African application to the ICJ, and to encourage our allies to join us in speaking out against this unfounded attack on Israel, particularly at the United Nations and in other intergovernmental organisations.”

Among the 210 who signed the letter are Republican Michael T McCaul chairperson of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

Emma Powell, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on international relations said “While it is not for the DA to judge the merits of the matter before the ICJ, the fact is that the ANC-led government has consistently ignored gross human rights violations in our own backyard.

“The ANC continues to turn a blind eye to the bloodbath unfolding in Sudan; to the atrocities committed by the Museveni regime in Uganda; and to the collapse of Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF's reign of terror that has turned the bread basket of Africa into a begging bowl, with significant domestic consequences for South Africa.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Ghaleb Cachalia quits DA over Gaza, spits fire at wider party issues

“The ANC continues to ignore the plight of the Uyghurs in China, while it’s business as usual with the Russian Kremlin, despite the mounting death toll in Ukraine. The oppression of women and girls in Iran and Afghanistan — along with thousands of extra-judicial political executions in those countries — are but an afterthought for our leaders.

“It is therefore reasonable to expect that the ICJ matter would evoke complex reactions from our international partners given the ANCs track record.” DM

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‘Disgust at this filing’