On December 29, 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. In addition, South Africa, along with Bangladesh, Bolivia, the Comoro Islands and Djibouti, filed a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.
These measures by South Africa are in line with the fact that it maintains close relations with Hamas, despite the latter’s recognition as a terrorist organization by many countries, and also cooperates with Hamas’ patron, the state of Qatar. South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party not only refrained from condemning Hamas’ October 7 attack but even issued a statement calling the attack an “unsurprising” response to “the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime.”
Furthermore, in the three months since the attack, South Africa has…