The effort by the government of South Africa at the International Court of Justice to accuse Israel of genocide in its war against Hamas must be combated and rejected forcefully. The accusation doesn’t come close to meeting that extreme description either by the context of what is happening or by the clear intent of Israel in its struggle against a terrorist group.
Let us not forget that Israel’s military operation in Gaza only happened because Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, engaged in the most barbaric assault on Israeli civilians. More than 1,200 Israelis were murdered, scores of women were raped, and more than 200 were taken hostage. Hamas has made clear that this effort to murder as many Israelis as possible would continue going forward absent Israeli action against it.
In sum, Israel had no choice but to act in the most forceful terms, not only to redeem the trust between the Israeli public and its leadership after the worst day in Israel’s history but to prevent future massacres.
Indeed, if ever the term “genocidal” were relevant, it belongs to Hamas and its founding charter, which states very clearly the group’s genocidal intent vis-a-vis Israel and Jews. Added to this context is South Africa’s bias against Israel long before this war. That government has labeled Israel an apartheid state, and used other extreme terms that makes clear their initiative on this issue lacks any credibility and reflects an inherent hostility to the Jewish state.
More than the context are the facts about the war itself. The combination of Israel’s multiple efforts to avoid civilian casualties, as well as its repeated stated purpose of the war together with Hamas’s disregard for its own civilian safety, make a mockery of the genocide charge against Israel.
Here are some of the steps Israel has taken to avoid civilian casualties.
It has in advance called on Palestinians to leave areas where Hamas terrorists are located so as to limit the danger to them, which results in Israel tipping its hand to Hamas about where attacks will be coming from.
It has provided advance notice to civilians when a particular building will be targeted as a Hamas hideaway.
It has allowed humanitarian aid to be distributed to civilians even as Israel recognizes that some of that aid will be stolen by Hamas.
And it has made clear in repeated statements, backed up by actions, that Israel’s goal is to destroy Hamas, not to harm Palestinian civilians.
On the other side, showing how absurd the South African proposal is, is the way Hamas conducts itself in Gaza, with the goal of maximizing Palestinian civilian casualties as a way to enhance public pressure on Israel. Hamas deliberately embeds itself in heavily populated areas and specific sites like hospitals in order to discourage Israel from attacking those areas, and it has gone so far as to prevent the movement of civilians from areas that Israel is planning to attack.
The ultimate irony of South Africa’s intervention is that a complete defeat of Hamas would actually provide an opportunity for Palestinians in Gaza to pursue another path and flourish. Therefore, it is imperative that the governments of those nations whose judges sit on the International Court of Justice bench and will decide this case make clear their unequivocal rejection of the charge of genocide against Israel, even if they have legitimate concerns about civilian casualties.
Supporting the genocide charge will have multiple bad effects, including allowing Hamas to survive and continue its terrorism, undermining Israel’s basic right to defend itself, generating more attacks against Jews around the world, and undermining the credibility of the International Court of Justice as an impartial judicial body.
The world must stand up to avoid another atrocity against the state of Israel and the Jewish people.
Ken Jacobson is deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League.