There is a ‘tragic war going on, but no genocide,’ Israel tells ICJ hearing

Israel argues in front of the International Court of Justice in the Hague that while there is a “tragic war” ongoing in Gaza, “there is no genocide.”

“By exploiting the genocide convention, South Africa is suggesting a convoluted reading of international law, under which any conflict can be brought to this court,” Israeli attorney Gilad Noam tells the justices.

“There is a tragic war going on, but there is no genocide,” he says. “There is a danger that the court will find itself engaged in micromanagement of an armed conflict — which is what South Africa wants it to do.”

Noam suggests that South Africa is allied with Hamas, “which it does not wish to see defeated.”

He points to the South African foreign minister meeting with a Hamas delegation in Johannesburg earlier this year, and says she “did not urge Hamas to release hostages, cease using human shields, cease operating in UN hospitals, other protected sites.”

South Africa, Noam says, “is not interested in truth, law or justice.”