Israel’s Prime Minister Says Even The ICJ Genocide Case Won’t Stop Israel From Fighting Until Victory In Gaza
“No one will stop us – not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, no one,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
In a press conference held on Jan. 13, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that nothing will stop Israel from fighting until victory in Gaza, not even South Africa’s ongoing case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) determining whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.
“No one will stop us – not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, no one,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
His comments come 100 days following the country declaring war on Hamas after the latter’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
On Dec. 29, 2023, the South African government formally sued the Israeli government at the ICJ, saying Israel is committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
The initial hearing began at the Hague in the Netherlands on Thursday Jan. 11 to 12, with South Africa’s lawyers arguing that Israel has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, an international treaty created in the aftermath of the Holocaust that has been signed by 152 states, including both Israel and South Africa.
Israeli lawyers also presented their arguments, saying that South Africa has distorted facts and that “its case hinges on a deliberately curated, decontextualised and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities”.
Netanyahu has denied that Israel is committing genocide.
However, on the eve of the hearing on Jan. 11, Netanyahu publicly diverged from the demands of right-wing officials in his government for the first time, sharing a video on X saying that Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza.
“I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.” he said in the video.
The spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Jan. 11 denouncing the case, calling it “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims”.
The statement went on to accuse South Africa of functioning as the “legal arm of Hamas”.
