Ramaphosa: We expect Israel to abide by verdict!

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has thanked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for upholding its role of achieving justice, promoting peace, preventing genocide and holding those guilty of genocide accountable. 

Ramaphosa was reacting to the ruling made by the ICJ on Friday afternoon, 26 January on the Israeli-Palestine war.

The ruling comes after South Africa filed an application instituting proceedings against the state of Israel for the violence it has unleashed on the people of the Gaza Strip.

Mzansi's legal team argued that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

South Africa has been relentless about its stand since the 7 October 2023 on attack by Hamas and other groups that resulted in the deaths of many Israelis and the taking of hostages.

The attack led to blood bath, which saw thousands and thousands of Palestinians including women and children being slaughtered on a daily basis by the Israeli.

In its application, South Africa requested the court to indicate provisional measures to “protect against further severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention,” he said. 

South Africa was also seeking the court to “to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide.”

The ICJ has today (26 January) ordered that Israel should ensure its forces don't commit acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a historic decision.

The interim judgment delivered by the president of the court, Joan Donoghue, said Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent acts that fell within the scope of the Genocide Convention and must ensure with immediate effect that its forces don't commit any of the acts covered by the convention.

Donoghue said also said Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent the killing of Palestinians, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part of the Palestinian group, and imposing measures intended to prevent births of Palestinians.

“The court is also of the view that Israel must take measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to the members of the Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.

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“The court further considers that Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” she said.

Reacting to this, Ramaphosa said: “As South Africa we thank all in the international community who have supported our application, including a number of countries who have declared their intention to be part of our application.”

Ramaphosa said they will not waver in their commitment to the Palestinian people and their quest for self-determination. Our own painful history obliges us to do no less.  

“It is our earnest hope and wish that this court order paves the way for an end to this crisis, for an end to the terrible loss of life and hardship, and for the crucial first steps to be taken towards reconciliation and a just, lasting peace.”

"We welcome the measures the court ordered, and we expect Israel to abide by the ICJ verdict,” he said.