Gaza

¹by Eduardo del Buey

1. According to the media reports, exactly a week before South Africa charged Israel with genocide before the International Court of Justice, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted Sudanese warlord Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo whose Janjaweed Militia are accused of genocide in Darfur.

South Africa announced that it would accuse the United States and the United Kingdom of war crimes for their support of Israel’s response to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7^th. It should be noted that South Africa’s actions have been supported by Turkey, Iran, and many other developing countries.

The visit to Iran by South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandoor immediately before the Hamas terrorist attack underscores the close relations between both countries.

South Africa’s suit has Iranian and Turkish underpinnings. Both countries seek a broader role in regional affairs and a leadership position in the Muslim world.

Turkey seeks to resurrect the influence if not the outright power of the Ottoman Empire of the 19^th century, while Iran seeks to solidify a Shia crescent of influence from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, achieve the destruction of Israel and, the elimination of Jews globally.

All three countries have close ties to Hamas. South Africa recognizes the Hamas government in Gaza and regularly receives senior Hamas representatives – a strong diplomatic demonstration of the support the South Africans provide to the terrorist organization.

The South African legal suit in The Hague serves the interests of Turkey and Iran who may well have emboldened them to take this step. It remains to be seen whether threatened similar suits against the United States and the United Kingdom will in fact take place.

Genocide is a loaded term, especially in Middle East politics.

Genocide has been defined by the United Nations as “any acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Turkey engaged in what can be viewed as genocide against the Armenians in 1923 and has, more recently, engaged in the murders of tens of thousands of Kurds in Turkey and Syria. I have yet to see any accusations of genocide against the Erdogan regime in any international legal forum.

The Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies have murdered over 300,000 citizens over the past decade, yet Syrian President Bashir Al Assad was recently received in Saudi Arabia by the Islamic leaders as a hero.

Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine aims to erase Ukraine and Ukrainian culture from the map and eliminate any vestige of Ukrainian history.

China has engaged in what can be viewed as genocide in Tibet since 1959 (trying to wipe out Tibetan culture and resettling millions of ethnic Chinese into Tibet) and, more recently, against its Muslim Uyghur minority in Western China.

Can one take seriously charges of genocide by Israel given what is happening and in such a global climate?

I believe that the charges can only be justified in the name of global antisemitism and hypocrisy.

And this does an enormous disservice to the real victims of genocide around the world.

Let’s review the facts.

Israel has over two million Arab citizens (21% of its population) and Arab Israelis serve in the police, the military, and the government. There are Arab political parties whose members sit in the Knesset (parliament), and there are Arab Israeli Muslim and Christian judges at all levels of the judiciary including on the Supreme Court.

Is this genocidal?

On the other hand, the basic tenet of both Hamas and Hezbollah is the total disappearance of Israel and of Jews worldwide. Hamas leaders have repeated this continually in the media in recent days, as have the Iranian government and Hezbollah.

In 1948 Jews were expelled from Muslim countries and their properties and possessions confiscated. One can easily and correctly argue that Muslim nations have practiced ethnic cleansing and promoted genocide against Jews.  

I have yet to see anyone demonstrate against the Jewish expulsion from these countries or for the fact that while 21% of Israelis are Arabs, few of any Jews remain in Middle Eastern Arab countries despite a history of flourishing Jewish communities there throughout the ages.

The decision to sue Israel in the International Court of Justice will go down in history as an attempt to legitimize antisemitism in global jurisprudence.

How can we ignore the genocidal intent of Hamas’ attacks on Israeli citizens and the widespread support for these attacks amongst the general population of Gaza (and the Arab street)?  

Similarly, ignoring other historical and contemporary genocides, and concentrating solely on the Israeli case the international community will diminish the Court’s reputation and call into question whether genocide can ever again be prosecuted fairly in international courts.

Finally, South Africa will have to deal with accusations of genocide against white South Africans whose property is slowly being confiscated and who are increasingly the victims of threats of violence or expulsion that that would likely cause Nelson Mandela to turn over in his grave.

A decision against Israel in this case it will create a two-tier system for dealing with the victims of real genocide by differentiating the actions of states that have international support and those who don’t.

Israel is by no means perfect, nor is any other country. And the U.S.’s recent decision to sanction Israelis who have grievously attacked Palestinians on the West Bank indicates that Israel as well is taken to task when warranted.

Hamas could have prevented the bloodshed in Gaza from the start by simply releasing the hostages and extraditing those responsible for the atrocities committed against Israelis to Israel to face justice. Hamas preferred to hide behind the hostages and innocent Gazans while their leaders live a life of luxury in Qatar.

And yet, over 27,000 Gazans – many of them civilians and most supporters of Hamas -- have died in addition to the thirteen hundred Jews slaughtered, kidnapped, and tortured by Hamas and the dozens of hostages who remain in Hamas torture cells. This might well put added pressure on Arab governments that have made peace with Israel, or who are considering doing so, to contend with increased internal political pressure to ensure their own survival possibly making peace more difficult than ever.

It could also drive a wedge between Israel and its Western allies.

More than 800 serving officials in the US and Europe have signed a statement warning that their own governments' policies on the Israel-Gaza war could amount to "grave violations of international law".

The "transatlantic statement", a copy of which was passed to the BBC, says their administrations risk being complicit in "one of the worst human catastrophes of this century" but that their expert advice has been sidelined.

It is the latest sign of significant levels of dissent within the governments of some of Israel's key Western allies.

The situation in the Middle East is very complicated with no positive end in sight. Twice the Palestinians could have had their state with 97% of the land they wanted, and twice they rejected the deal.

Now the current government of Israel opposes a two-state solution, as do Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and a number of other Arab states.

The situation appears to be at an impasse and will likely remain that way for some time to come.