‘Mandela Will Be Smiling,’ South Africa Minister Says on ICJ Ruling against Israel

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of the Republic of South Africa Ronald Lamola, (C), and member of the African National Committee react as they watch the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruling on the emergency measures requested by South Africa against Israel over its war on the Gaza Strip, in Johannesburg, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of the Republic of South Africa Ronald Lamola, (C), and member of the African National Committee react as they watch the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruling on the emergency measures requested by South Africa against Israel over its war on the Gaza Strip, in Johannesburg, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
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‘Mandela Will Be Smiling,’ South Africa Minister Says on ICJ Ruling against Israel

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of the Republic of South Africa Ronald Lamola, (C), and member of the African National Committee react as they watch the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruling on the emergency measures requested by South Africa against Israel over its war on the Gaza Strip, in Johannesburg, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of the Republic of South Africa Ronald Lamola, (C), and member of the African National Committee react as they watch the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruling on the emergency measures requested by South Africa against Israel over its war on the Gaza Strip, in Johannesburg, 26 January 2024. (EPA)

South Africa's liberation hero Nelson Mandela "will be smiling in his grave" at the World Court order imposing emergency measures against Israel over its war in Gaza, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said.

In a case brought by South Africa, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to help civilians, although it stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.

It has not yet ruled on the core of South Africa's case, whether genocide has occurred in Gaza. That ruling could take years.

"We believe that former President Mandela will be smiling in his grave as one of the advocates for the Genocide Convention," Lamola told Reuters on the sidelines of a gathering of the governing African National Congress party outside Johannesburg.

The ANC has long defended the Palestinian cause, a relationship forged when its struggle against oppressive white-minority rule was supported by Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.

It has likened Israel's actions to its struggle against apartheid, a comparison rejected by Israel, which has said South Africa's allegations of genocide are "grossly distorted" and that it makes the utmost efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "The mere claim that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians is not only false, it's outrageous, and the willingness of the court to even discuss this is a disgrace that will not be erased for generations."

Lamola said South Africa taking the case to The Hague was an act of courage motivated by a desire to stand up for a rules-based world order.

He added: "It is a victory for the international law that there could be no exceptionalism in any part of the world and Israel cannot be exempt from complying with its international obligations."



ICC Opens Inquiry into Hungary for Failing to Arrest Netanyahu

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)
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ICC Opens Inquiry into Hungary for Failing to Arrest Netanyahu

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)

Judges at the International Criminal Court want Hungary to explain why it failed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Budapest earlier this month.

In a filing released late Wednesday, The Hague-based court initiated non-compliance proceedings against Hungary after the country gave Netanyahu a red carpet welcome despite an ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

During the visit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced his country would quit the court, claiming on state radio that the ICC was “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.”

The Hungarian leader, regarded by critics as an autocrat and the EU’s most intransigent spoiler in the bloc’s decision-making, defended his decision to not arrest Netanyahu.

“We signed an international treaty, but we never took all the steps that would otherwise have made it enforceable in Hungary,” Orbán said at the time, referring to the fact that Hungary’s parliament never promulgated the court’s statute into Hungarian law.

Judges at the ICC have previously dismissed similar arguments.

The ICC and other international organizations have criticized Hungary’s defiance of the warrant against Netanyahu. Days before his arrival, the president of the court’s oversight body wrote to the government in Hungary reminding it of its “specific obligation to comply with requests from the court for arrest and surrender.”

A spokesperson for the ICC declined to comment on the non-compliance proceedings.

Hungary’s decision to leave the ICC, a process that will take at least a year to complete, will make it the sole non-signatory within the 27-member European Union. With 125 current signatory countries, only the Philippines and Burundi have ever withdrawn from the court as Hungary intends.

Hungary has until May 23 to submit evidence in its defense.