Baker said: “Israel is waging a defense war against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people, to ensure that it does not succeed,” adding: “The main element of genocide, the intention to destroy a people in whole or in part, is completely missing.”
download
Palestinian supporters marched carrying flags through The Hague and intended to watch the proceedings on a giant screen in front of the Peace Palace. As Baker spoke, they chanted: “Liar! Liar!”
Israel supporters held a separate gathering for family members of hostages taken by Hamas.
Baker said that by asking the court to issue an order to stop the military operation in Gaza, “the applicant seeks to frustrate Israel’s natural right to defend itself… and to render Israel defenseless.”
“Demand and demand [by South Africa] “It should be rejected for what it is, which is defamation,” Baker said.
Judges and parties stand during a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday.credit: AP
Israel said that South Africa acts as a mouthpiece for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which is widely classified as a terrorist group in the West. South Africa rejected this accusation.
The ICJ's decisions are final and not subject to appeal – but the court has no way to enforce them.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, passed in the wake of the mass killing of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
download
Since Israeli forces launched their offensive, almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been expelled from their homes at least once, creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
Post-apartheid South Africa has long championed the Palestinian cause, a relationship that was formed when Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization welcomed the African National Congress's struggle against white minority rule.
The court is expected to rule on potential emergency measures later this month, but will not rule on genocide allegations at that time, as such measures could take years.
Reuters
