South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor once again criticized Israel on Tuesday, this time accusing it of setting a precedent for leaders to defy the International Court of Justice (ICJ), AFP reports.
Pandor said Israel had defied a January interim ruling by the ICJ that it should take action to prevent acts of genocide as it fights Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
- “The provisional measures have been entirely ignored by Israel,” Pandor was quoted as having said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace during a visit to Washington.
- “We’re seeing mass starvation now and famine before our very eyes,” she added.
- “I think we, as humanity, need to look at ourselves in horror and dismay and to be really worried that we have set an example.”
Pandor added that Israel’s actions may mean other nations believe that “there’s license — I can do what I want and I will not be stopped.”
- In December, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ in which it accused the Jewish state of carrying out genocide in Gaza.
- On January 26, the ICJ handed down a ruling in South Africa’s case, saying that Israel must do everything to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and take “immediate” measures for aid provisions. It did not, however, order Israel to stop the war in Gaza.
- Last month, Pandor related to the ICJ’s ruling and said it “makes it clear that it is plausible that genocide is taking place against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This necessarily imposes an obligation on all states to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions.”
Last week, the South African Foreign Minister caused an uproar once again, after she announced that dual South African-Israeli citizens who served in the IDF would be arrested.
South Africa recently again petitioned the ICJ and asked it to order measures for Israel to stop “widespread starvation” triggered by its Gaza offensive.
Source: Arutz Sheva