According to British conservative MP Sir Michael Ellis, “South Africa is in danger of becoming a terrorist proxy,” and their genocide case against Israel “has no legal merit whatsoever.”
Sir Michael Ellis has been the MP of Northampton North, a constituency of the East Midlands region of England, continuously since 2010. He is notably known for initially opposing BREXIT before the 2016 referendum but later supporting it.
Speaking at the House of Commons on Monday (8 January), Sir Ellis made several statements about South Africa’s general foreign policy stance, also speaking specifically on South Africa’s International Court of Justice(ICJ) genocide case against Israel.
According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which Israel is a signatory to, conferring to Article II of the Convention: “Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
South Africa filed an 84-page document to the ICJ detailing Israel’s committing acts of genocide by killing Palestinians in Gaza based on the convention. South Africa has also asked for the suspension of Israeli military actions in Gaza.
Sir Ellis first stated that “South Africa is geopolitically moving towards Iran and openly supports Hamas.” South Africa, for many years, has supported Palestinians in making the case of genocide by Israel due to their own experience of settler colonialism and dealing with the aftermath of apartheid as well.
Political groups like the Economic Freedom Fighters, led by Julius Malema, have been open about their support of Palestine.
South Africa maintains strong diplomatic ties with Iran, as both nations share common foreign policy positions on various issues, including the Russia-Ukraine crises, Sudan, Yemen, and Palestine.
The South African ICJ case hearings will take place later this week on the 11th and 12th of January and should see a ruling either against or for Israel.
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