South Africa’s presidency says it welcomed an announcement by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, saying he had requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
“The law must be applied equally to all in order to uphold the international rule of law, ensure accountability for those that commit heinous crimes and protect the rights of victims,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office says in a statement.
Israeli and Hamas leaders have dismissed allegations of committing war crimes, and representatives of both sides criticized the prosecutor’s decision.
South Africa has in recent months brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice accusing it of genocide in the war in Gaza. Israel rejects the accusations as baseless and says South Africa is acting as an emissary of Hamas.
Israel says the military is targeting Hamas terrorists, not Palestinian civilians, but that civilian casualties in the fighting are unavoidable as terrorists operate from within the population.
It's not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 20, 2024
