In the occupied West Bank, dozens of Palestinians gathered in front of Nelson Mandela’s statue on Wednesday to express gratitude to South Africa for filing a “genocide” lawsuit against Israel over its assault of Gaza.
Palestinians assembled in Ramallah around a statue of late South African President Nelson Mandela to commemorate South Africa’s landmark “genocide” complaint filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
The audience waved Palestinian flags, listened to speakers, and carried placards that said “Stop the genocide” and “Thank you South Africa.”
Hearings at the UN’s top court will begin on Thursday with South Africa hoping the judges will compel Israel to halt its bombardment.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has long supported the Palestinian cause, often linking it to its own struggle against the apartheid government, which had cooperative relations with Israel.
Mandela famously said South Africa’s freedom would be “incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.
Mvuyo Mhangwane, South Africa’s representative to the Palestinians, said his countrymen had not forgotten Mandela’s words.
While the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) makes binding decisions, it has little ability to enforce them.
Nonetheless, Israel and the United States have reacted furiously to the case.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken dismissed the case as “meritless” and said it was “particularly galling” because Hamas, Iran and others had the stated aim of wiping Israel from the map.
Last week Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said South Africa was giving “political and legal cover” for the attack launched by Hamas on October 7.
According to reports, calculation based on government estimates, the strike killed approximately 1,140 people in Israel, the majority of whom were civilians.
According to the Gaza health ministry, Israel has since bombarded Gaza by land, sea, and air, killing at least 23,357 people, the majority of them are women and children.
