[South Africa has filed a case at the main judicial body for the
United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague,
accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.]
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SOUTH AFRICA FILES CASE AGAINST ISRAEL AT INTERNATIONAL COURT OF
JUSTICE OVER “GENOCIDAL” WAR ON GAZA  
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Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Francis Boyle
January 2, 2024
Democracy Now!
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_ South Africa has filed a case at the main judicial body for the
United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague,
accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. _

, Democracy Now!

 

South Africa has filed a case at the main judicial body for the United
Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing
Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. “I believe South Africa will
win an order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all
acts of genocide against the Palestinians,” says Francis Boyle, an
international human rights lawyer who won two requests at
the ICJ under the Genocide Convention of 1948 for provisional
protection on behalf of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against
Yugoslavia. Boyle says Israel has a history of listening to the United
States’ orders to stop its assaults on the Occupied Palestinian
Territories. “We here in the United States of America have the power
to stop this.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: As the death toll from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza
since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel now exceeds 22,000, South
Africa has filed a case at the International Court of Justice in The
Hague accusing Israel of genocide and trying to, quote, “destroy
Palestinians in Gaza.” This comes as the separate International
Criminal Court is already investigating alleged war crimes committed
by both Israel and Hamas.

In its filing to the ICJ, the main judicial body for the United
Nations, South Africa says, quote, “The acts and omissions by Israel
complained of by South Africa are genocidal in character because they
are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of
the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group,” unquote. South
Africa accused Israel of violating the 1948 Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which Israel has
signed on to.

Israel responded by calling the charge, quote, “without legal
merit.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused South Africa of, quote,
“collaborating with a terrorist group that calls for Israel’s
annihilation,” unquote.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has compared Israel’s
treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to racist system
of apartheid in his own country which ended in 1994 after nearly half
a century. In November, Ramaphosa responded to Israel’s assault on
Gaza by recalling South Africa’s diplomats from Israel.

PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA: The collective punishment of Palestinian
civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime.
The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the
residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, in October, South African lawmaker and the
grandson of Nelson Mandela, Nkosi [Zwelivelile] Mandela, joined a
Palestinian solidarity protest in Cape Town.

NKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA: Palestinians are counting on each and
every one of us to stand and be counted, like they stood side by side
with us in the trenches when we fought to liberate our country.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Francis Boyle, professor of
international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He
previously applied the Genocide Convention for Bosnia and won two
requests for provisional protection from the ICJ against Yugoslavia,
and thinks the same could apply here. His books include _The Bosnian
People Charge Genocide_, as well as _Palestine, Palestinians, and
International Law_ and _World Politics, Human Rights, and
International Law_.

Professor Boyle, welcome back to _Democracy Now!_ It’s good to
have you with us in this new year, but under very serious
circumstances. If you can explain why it’s South Africa that’s
bringing this charge, and what exactly is the International Court of
Justice, where it fits into the world justice system? And talk about
the charge of genocide.

FRANCIS BOYLE: Well, thank you very much for having me on, Amy. My
best to your listening audience.

Not to toot my own horn here, but I was the first lawyers to win
anything under the Genocide Convention from the International Court of
Justice, that goes back to 1921. I single-handedly won two World Court
orders for the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina against Yugoslavia to
cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide.

And based on my careful review of all the documents so far submitted
by the Republic of South Africa, I believe South Africa will win an
order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all acts of
genocide against the Palestinians. And then we will have an official
determination by the International Court of Justice itself, the
highest legal authority in the United Nations system, that genocide is
going on. And under Article I of the Genocide Convention, all
contracting parties, 153 states, will then be obliged, quote, “to
prevent,” unquote, the genocide by Israel against the Palestinians.

Second, when the World Court gives this cease-and-desist order against
Israel, the Biden administration will stand condemned under
Article III, paragraph (e), of the Genocide Convention, that
criminalizes complicity in genocide. And clearly we know that the
Biden administration has been aiding and abetting Israeli genocide
against the Palestinians here for quite some time. This has also been
raised by my friends in the Center for Constitutional Rights and in
the National Lawyers Guild in a lawsuit against Biden, Blinken and
Austin.

So, I believe we will be able to use the World Court order. Right now
my sources tell me the hearing will be January 11, January 12. Based
on my experience with the Bosnians, we can expect an order within a
week.

I would also say, with respect to the Biden administration, they are
currently in violation of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act,
that makes genocide a crime under United States law. And again, once
we — South Africa wins this order, the Biden administration also
will stand in violation of the Genocide Convention Implementation Act.

So, I believe this is where we will be going between now, I would say,
and the end of this month. And it is up to all of us, as American
citizens, to figure out and support what South Africa is doing at the
International Court of Justice here.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Francis Boyle, what’s the difference between
the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal
Court, which is already considering allegations of war crimes by both
Israel as well as the Palestinian militant groups?

FRANCIS BOYLE: Right, Juan. The International Court of Justice was
originally established back in 1921, its predecessor, legal
predecessor, in law. And that is where I filed the genocide case. I
was the first lawyer ever to win two orders in one such case since the
World Court was founded in 1921, and it was on the basis of the
Genocide Convention. The International Criminal Court is a separate
international organization, set up in 2000.

The problem, Juan, is this. Back in 2009, after Operation Cast Lead, I
advised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the jurisdiction
of the International Court — of the International Criminal Court for
Palestine, which he did. I regret to report that the International
Criminal Court has not done one darn thing to help the Palestinians
since 2009. The International Criminal Court has all the blood of the
Palestinian people on its hands since 2009. And, Juan, that is why we
set up a campaign to find a state willing to file a lawsuit at the
International Court of Justice, the World Court.

The ICC basically operates at the behest of its funders and founders
and masters, which is the U.S., the NATO states, the European
states, etc. Until their expedited indictment of President Putin as
U.S.-NATO lawfare against Russia, the International Criminal Court
had not indicted one American, one European, one Brit,
one NATO citizen and one Israeli, and one white person.

So, we’ve gone — we have a campaign now to support the Republic
of South Africa at the International Court of Justice. And we are
asking — we’re starting this campaign today. I’m part of a
coalition. We’re starting this campaign today to get members of the
Genocide Convention to file declarations of intervention at the World
Court in support and solidarity with South Africa against Israel and
in support of the Palestinians. That material hopefully will go out
today.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Francis, I wanted to ask you, though — Joan
Donoghue is the president of the International Court of Justice. She
previously worked in the U.S. State Department. How do you think she
will approach South Africa’s application? What power does she have
to shape the proceedings?

FRANCIS BOYLE: That’s a good question, Juan. Yes, Donoghue is a
lifelong, careerlong U.S. State Department legal apparatchik, which is
how she got the job. And I am sure she’s in contact right now today
with the U.S. State Department, giving them a heads-up on everything
going on over there at The Hague behind the scenes. She will toe the
State Department party line in these proceedings. I regret to report
the president does have a lot of power there to shape these
proceedings. I suspect she will use that power to shape the
proceedings in favor of Israel.

However, I have also been advised that the Republic of South Africa
is, as of now, nominating a judge _ad hoc_. That is their right under
the statute of the International Court of Justice. I don’t have a
name yet, but I would hope the South African judge _ad hoc_ will do
his or her best to try to keep Donoghue straight.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go back to South Africa, who has done this
genocide filing. In 2008, I had the opportunity to speak
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the South African anti-apartheid icon, the Nobel Peace laureate
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I caught up with him at the South African
vice consul’s apartment in New York right before Archbishop Tutu
received the Global Citizens Circle award. I asked him about
Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: Would you compare the occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank to apartheid South Africa?

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU: I have to speak about what I know. I mean,
most people — a Jew will usually speak about their experiences and
maybe compare whatever it is that is happening with what happened in
the days of the Holocaust. For me, coming from South Africa and going
— I mean, and looking at the checkpoints and the arrogance of those
young soldiers, probably scared, maybe covering up their apprehension,
there’s no way in which I couldn’t say — of course, that is a
truth. It reminds me — it reminds me of the kind of experiences that
we underwent.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Francis Boyle,
talk about the significance of it being South Africa and what it means
for one state to bring a charge against another state. Who are
signatories here? And how binding is this? Explain what happened, for
example, in Bosnia.

FRANCIS BOYLE: Sure. Well, first, the connection there with the
late, great Archbishop Tutu, the current lead counsel now in the
lawsuit for South Africa is professor John Dugard, a longtime friend
of mine. Professor Dugard was one of the very few courageous white
professors of international law who internationally opposed the
criminal apartheid system in South Africa, at risk to his life.
Second, later on, Professor Dugard became U.N. special rapporteur for
Palestine. I read all of his reports. They are excellent. Professor
Dugard’s heart and head are in the right place with the
Palestinians, and he is one of the top professors of international law
in the world.

So, there is a direct comparison between the Israeli apartheid system
on all the Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, and
what happened in apartheid South Africa. Indeed, Professor Dugard has
written that the Israeli system of apartheid against the Palestinians
is worse than the apartheid that the Afrikaners applied to the Black
people in South Africa.

I was involved in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and
that is my assessment, too. Indeed, the parallels here then led me, in
November 2000, to call for the establishment, in a speech — the
establishment of the divestment/disinvestment campaign against Israel,
for the exact same reasons we had a divestment/disinvestment campaign
against the criminal apartheid regime in South Africa. And then, in
2005, Palestinian civil society contacted me to go in with them on
establishing the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
campaign against Israel, against apartheid Israel, for the exact same
reason we had a BDS campaign against the criminal apartheid regime
in South Africa.

So, Tutu, Dugard, I and, I would — Ramaphosa, the foreign minister
in South Africa, who’s made very compelling speeches, they all
understand what’s going on here and what’s at stake.

AMY GOODMAN: And the issue of genocide in Bosnia, if you could
explain, for people who are not familiar with what happened? And then
what came of the charges at the International Court of Justice?

FRANCIS BOYLE: Yes. Well, Yugoslavia exterminated about 200,000
Bosnians, raped about 40,000 Bosnian women. I was the lawyer for all
of them, arguing their case at the International Court of Justice. And
I won these two orders on 8 April, 1993, and 13 September, 1993. Until
I won that order, 8 April, 1993, everyone was denying that genocide
was going on. And once I won that order, that was massive and
overwhelming in favor of the Bosnians, no one could deny anymore that
genocide was going on.

As for the effectiveness, when I walked out of the World Court on 8
April, 1993, and won that order, I walked into the foyer there outside
the grand courtroom. The whole world news media were there. And I said
at the time, “The World Court has just determined that genocide is
going on in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under Article I, every state party
to the Genocide Convention has an obligation to prevent genocide in
Bosnia. And I hereby request direct military intervention by the
United States and the NATO states to save the Bosnians from
genocide.” Later that day, the United States and NATO announced
that they were instituting a no-fly zone, enforcing a no-fly zone over
Bosnia. So these orders by the World Court can have consequences.

And it will be up to us here in the United States to devise the
strategy for consequences for the Biden administration, because we
have to pressure the Biden administration to order Israel to stop the
genocide. They will do what we Americans tell them to do. In Operation
Cast Lead, that had been going on for a period of time under President
Bush Jr., Obama — the Obama people were coming into power. Obama
was about to be inaugurated. And in order not to spoil Obama’s
inauguration, the United States government told Israel to stop
Operation Cast Lead. So we have to understand we here in the United
States of America have the power to stop this. But we have to figure
out how to use the order that South Africa will win here in the United
States of America.

This is exactly what happened in Nicaragua. You’ll remember, Amy, I
was involved in advising almost every peace NGO and lawyer here in
the United States on the legal issues with respect to Reagan’s war
against Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala. My teacher, mentor and
friend, the late, great Abe Chayes at Harvard Law School, won a World
Court order against the Reagan administration in 1984, and then also a
final judgment on the merits in 1986. We here in the United States
used that World Court order and the final judgment to stop Reagan’s
war against Nicaragua. Regretfully, 16,000 —

AMY GOODMAN: We have 20 seconds.

FRANCIS BOYLE: Regretfully, 16,000 Nicaraguans were killed,
including U.S. citizen Ben Linder, but we did stop that. And I believe
that with this World Court order that South Africa will win, we can
stop what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.

AMY GOODMAN: Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the
University of Illinois College of Law. His books include _The Bosnian
People Charge Genocide_, _Palestine, Palestinians, and International
Law_, as well as _World Politics, Human Rights, and International
Law_.

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