Overview
- President Cyril Ramaphosa told Parliament the US-backed peace deal will have no bearing on South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice.
- Under the court’s schedule, Israel is due to file its response by January next year, with a final ruling on the merits not expected before 2027.
- The ICJ has already ordered emergency measures requiring increased humanitarian relief and steps to prevent violations of the Genocide Convention.
- A recent UN commission of inquiry said acts in Gaza amount to genocide, a finding South African deputy foreign minister Alvin Botes cited in defending the case.
- The case has sharpened diplomatic tensions, with the Trump administration terminating all US assistance to South Africa in February and Benjamin Netanyahu denouncing the litigation as a ‘blood libel,’ even as Pretoria rallies support through the Hague Group and states such as Spain, Ireland, Turkey, and Colombia.