Stage set for 'genocidal' case against Israel
The stage has been set at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to hear SA's contentious claim that Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza is ‘genocidal’ in character.
SA has assembled a high-powered team to argue its case at the hearing, which will be broadcast live.
Israel yesterday named its former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak as its addition to its panel.
News24 reports that Barak, a champion of Supreme Court activism, was a focus of opposition for members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, whose judicial reform push last year bitterly polarised the public.
Setting the scene for Thursday’s opening foray, News24 notes former Deputy Chief Justice, Dikgang Moseneke, is to join the ICJ Bench hearing the case.
Advocate Adila Hassim SC, will begin SA’s oral arguments for the Presidency, leading the team of SA lawyers who will have 15 minutes each to address the court. She will be followed by fellow senior counsel, John Dugard, Max du Plessis and Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who will spell out SA’s case. They will be supported by a team of junior counsel, external counsel and legal teams from other countries.
By noon in The Hague, the oral arguments will be wrapped up.
On Friday, Malcolm Shaw, KC, a well-known British lawyer, will argue on behalf of Israel.
News24 notes that the two-day hearing will be focused on SA’s request for the court to rule on provisional measures it urgently seeks – which are to ‘protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention’ and ‘to ensure Israel's compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide’.
In terms of ICJ process, SA does not have a right of reply once Israel wraps up its defence.
Moseneke's nomination to the ICJ Bench is in line with the court's process that a state party can nominate a judge to hear a matter it is party to, according to the Department of International Relations & Co-operation (Dirco).
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
