On December 29th, 2023, South Africa filed an 84-page application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel, claiming the state is committing genocide in Gaza, breaching the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Public hearings around South Africa’s application against Israel at the ICJ will begin today.
South Africa’s allegations have been both supported and criticized by politicians here in Canada.
Here are five tweets that illustrate the reaction abroad and at home.
The day after the application was submitted, the South African government issued a press release, which its President Cyril Ramaphosa posted on X (formerly Twitter), demonstrating its position on Israel’s actions in Gaza and the impact they have had on the civilian population.
Lior Haiat, a spokesperson of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, fired back at South Africa’s application by disputing its legal basis and calling it “blood libel.”
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has spoken out against South Africa’s application, stating that, “the charge of genocide is meritless.”
In Canada, reactions have varied including with the Trudeau government’s own caucus.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather released a joint statement via X with his colleague MP Marco Mendicino that argued against South Africa’s claims.
However, not all members of the Liberal Party agree. The caucus appears split, with a handful of Liberal MPs asserting the motion should be supported. Liberal MP Salma Zahid is one of the MPs speaking out via her own statement.
Other Liberal MPs have since shown their support.
On January 9th, A Globe and Mail op-ed, written by former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Rosalie Abella, critiqued South Africa’s application against Israel as an “outrageous and cynical abuse of the principles underlying the international legal order.” Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman defended the former Supreme Court Justice while critiquing Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly for still not issuing a position.
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