South Africa made history. The land of Nelson Mandela, the global treasure who towered over other political icons for turning the tide of apartheid, took a bold step other nations failed to do. It filed a case against Israel for violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice. Recall that South Africa closed down the Israel embassy in Praetoria earlier, effectively suspending their diplomatic relations.

What’s historic about it? It was an unexpected move by a country populated by a Christian majority. Muslim nations, since the 7 October surprise attack on Israel, had been posturing before the global stage, not the least of which was a threat to file a case against Israel for its callousness to world opinion by waging unabated assault and annihilation revenge against innocent civilians in Gaza resulting to over 20,000 deaths. But nothing came out of it. They were mere rhetoric, a play of words without action. They didn’t have the moxie to walk the talk. That Israel is backed up by a world superpower, the United States, did not deter South Africa.

In an earlier article last year, I wrote: “Knowing the weakness, if not futility, of enforcing decisions of UN tribunals because of the concept of states’ sovereignty could initially discourage any resort to the ICC. What good is filing a case with the ICC if the guilty state party is not sanctioned but will pay lip service to the tribunal? Filipinos do not have to look far. Our victory against China on the issue of territorial waters is treated as vacuous by China.

A worry for legalists in the present war between Hamas and Israel is the fact that Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and rejects ICC jurisdiction. It asserts it is beyond the “long arm of the law.”

Former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda “spent five years” investigating the occupation of Palestinian lands and other human rights violations and found that “war crimes have been or are being committed… but no arrests were made.” Bensouda retired in 2021, and the burden falls on the new Prosecutor, Karim Khan.”

This observation could easily discourage any state from filing war crimes and crimes against humanity against occupier Israel. But not South Africa, which is proving to be more than a country that upholds human rights and justice. It shows the world that it will walk the extra mile to convey its message of solidarity with the suffering Palestinians.

There is more meaning to the 84-page complaint filed by South Africa than being a legal suit. It speaks loud and clear that what Israel is doing is wrong; no ifs, buts, or ands about it. And whether the suit will prosper or be relegated to the dustbin of history is beside the point. 

Legalists and those involved with the working of the world justice system accept that it will take decades to resolve the case despite its urgency as laid out in the motion to issue a provisional immediate relief order. It even runs the risk of being dismissed based on the technical argument of lack of jurisdiction, Israel being a non-signatory state to the Rome Statute. The defense of the principle of “proportionality” could work in favor of Israel, which can always claim that its action is “proportionate” to the heinousness of the 7 October attack by Hamas, which to them is “fair game” under the rules of engagement in war. These and many other issues could be raised by Israel that could stymie the resolution of the complaint.

Whatever fate awaits the suit, we doff our hat to the sovereign people of South Africa for its monumental display of empathy for people who are victims of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by an occupier in conspiracy with powerful neo-colonialists. It is not every day that the world sees a country putting in jeopardy its domestic interest by refusing to kowtow to world economic and political superpowers, which are potential fonts of support in addressing their domestic social and economic ails.

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