The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuasserted this Thursday that Israel fights “against terrorism and against lies,” in reference to the accusation of genocide presented by South Africa before the UN International Court of Justice.
“Today we once again see a world turned upside down: the State of Israel is accused of genocide while fighting against genocide,” said the prime minister in a video message after finishing the first hearing on that procedure in The Hague.
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South Africa’s legal team began this Thursday to present its legal arguments before the ICJ, the highest UN court, to demand urgent precautionary measures against Israel, a country it accuses of having “a genocidal intention” in its war in Gaza and demands to put end to the bombings on the Strip.
”Israel is fighting against murderous terrorists who have committed terrible crimes against humanity: they massacred, raped, burned, dismembered, killed children, women, the elderly, young men, young women,” said the prime minister about the attack on Israeli soil by the Islamist group Hamas on October 7, which caused the outbreak of war.
The attack in Israel left more than 1,200 dead and almost 250 kidnapped; while the bombings on the Strip have caused more than 23,400 deaths and 59,600 injuries, in addition to displacing 1.9 million inhabitants of the enclave.
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“A terrorist organization that committed the most terrible crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and now there are those who come to defend it in the name of the Holocaust. What audacity, the world upside down,” he said of Hamas.
Netanyahu criticized “South Africa’s hypocrisy” and referred to the Israeli Army as “the most moral in the world,” which does everything possible to avoid harming the civilian population not involved in the conflict, in his words.
“Where was South Africa when millions of people were killed and displaced from their homes in Syria and Yemen, and by whom? By Hamas partners. The world upside down,” she noted.
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Following the allegations of the South African legal team, the hearing at the ICJ in The Hague is expected to continue tomorrow, when Israel’s legal defense will present its arguments to refute the accusations of genocide, which are also supported by countries such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia, Iran or the Arab League.
“We will continue to fight terrorists, rejecting lies, maintaining our right to defend ourselves and secure our future, until absolute victory,” Netanyahu insisted.
