Israel Slams South Africa for Acting as ‘Hamas’ Lawyer’ at Hague Trial

In a blistering rebuttal to South Africa’s charges of genocide at a court in the Hague on Thursday, Israel accused South Africa of “functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization,” and presenting “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims.”

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said in a statement posted to X that South Africa’s argument before the 15 judges of the International Court of Justice “utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the Oct. 7 massacre.” 

He said South Africa’s arguments “completely ignored the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens, simply because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide.”

Attorneys for South Africa spent nearly three hours making their case to the court on Thursday, listing a litany of horrors from the ongoing offensive in Gaza and focusing their case on statements by top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting that Israel’s goal was to wipe Gaza clean of Palestinians and equating the people of Gaza with animals.

It could take years for the court to give a final ruling, but South Africa is seeking an immediate injunction against Israel to end the war.

While the court has no police of its own to enforce the ruling, member states are obliged to respect the final decision, and Israel said in a cable to its embassies that a ceasefire order could have “practical bilateral, multilateral, economic, security ramifications.”

Israel's lawyers will have their turn to address the court on Friday.

On Wednesday evening, after weeks of not challenging increasingly inflammatory comments by his right-wing coalition partners calling for Israel to empty Gaza of Palestinians, Netanyahu spoke out saying that is not the intention of his government.

"I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” he said in a statement posted on X Wednesday night.

“Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”

In a short statement issued on the group’s Telegram page, Hamas said South Africa is proving “its principled position in support of our Palestinian people … and its rejection of the brutal crimes of the occupation (by Israel) against our people,” the Associated Press reported.

In her opening statement to the court, South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges and audience in the packed, ornate room of the Peace Palace in The Hague, that the evidence was clear and the court had to act. 

“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies as a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” said Hassim.

“Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court.”

But in his statement, Haiat attacked Hassam and her colleagues.

“South Africa seeks to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual crimes they committed repeatedly on Oct. 7, as its leaders have stated,” he said.

Haiat added that the South Africans have ignored Hamas’ use of civilians and civilian installations including schools and hospitals to camouflage its military activity.

“Hamas uses the civilian population in Gaza as human shields and operates from within hospitals, schools, UN shelters, mosques and churches with the intention of endangering the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip,” Haiat said.

He said Israel will “continue to protect its citizens in accordance with international law,” distinguishing between “Hamas terrorists and the civilian population.”