The International Court of Justice at The Hague has no jurisdiction under the Genocide Convention to order Israel to stop its military operations in the Gaza Strip, Israeli State Counsel Malcolm Shaw told the United Nations Court of Justice.

Israel does not have the necessary “specific intent” to commit crimes under the Convention, the lawyer said on the second day of a hearing before the United Nations Court to consider South Africa’s appeal seeking an immediate end to Israel’s hostilities. campaign in the Palestinian enclave arguing that the Jewish state is committing genocide against the Palestinians.
“This is not genocide. South Africa is only telling us half the truth,” he added.

Another advocate stated that Israel “does not seek to destroy” the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“What Israel seeks in Gaza is not the destruction of a people, but the protection of another people, its own, which is under attack on multiple fronts,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Tal Becker told the court, calling on it to reject South Africa’s demands for an end to hostilities in Gaza.

“The appeal and petition must be dismissed for what it is— a slander,” he said.

The Israeli side argued that the case of genocide in the Gaza Strip before the International Court of Justice in The Hague is “completely distorted” and does not reflect the realities of war.

Rejecting the accusations, Israel accused South Africa of acting as a mouthpiece for Hamas.

South Africa “unfortunately presented the Court with a complete distorted factual and legal table”, said Tal Becker. “If acts of genocide were committed, they were committed against Israel,” he added.

By asking the court to order an end to the military operation in Gaza, “the applicant seeks to harm Israel’s inherent right to defend itself … and render Israel defenseless,” he said.

Israel’s military actions in Gaza they are part of the legitimate defense against Hamas and “other terrorist organizations”, the legal advisor of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated before the Court.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague will announce its decision on whether or not to take provisional measures on the case judging whether the positions of the applicant Pretoria are plausible or not within the month.

A Court decision on whether the charges are substantiated can take years.

South Africa accuses Israel of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, which was a response to the genocide of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust. It defines genocide as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, an ethnic, racial or religious group”.