THE HAGUE: A legal battle over whether Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations’ top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa’s call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel’s military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation.
The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South Africa’s identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.
Israel normally considers UN and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.
“I think they have come because they want to be exonerated and think they can successfully resist the accusation of genocide,” said Juliette McIntyre, an expert on international law at the University of South Australia.
Two days of preliminary hearings at the International Court of Justice begin with lawyers for South Africa explaining to judges why the country has accused Israel of “acts and omissions” that are “genocidal in character” in the Gaza war and has called for an immediate halt to Israel’s military actions.
Thursday’s opening hearing is focused on South Africa’s request for the court to impose binding interim orders including that Israel halt its military campaign. A decision will likely take weeks.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, health officials say. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
In the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas overwhelmed Israel’s defenses and stormed through several communities, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. They abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom have been released.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed the case as “meritless” during a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
“It is particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter Iran — continue to call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” he said.
The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, has never adjudged a country to be responsible for genocide. The closest it came was in 2007 when it ruled that Serbia “violated the obligation to prevent genocide” in the July 1995 massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.
South Africa “will have a hard time getting over the threshold” of proving genocide, said McIntyre.
“It’s not simply a matter of killing enormous numbers of people,” she added in an email to The Associated Press. “There must be an intent to destroy a group of people (classified by race or religion for example) in whole or in part, in a particular place.”
In a detailed, 84-page document launching the case late last year, South Africa alleges that Israel has demonstrated that intent.
Israel responded by insisting it operates according to international law and focuses its military actions solely against Hamas, adding that the residents of Gaza are not an enemy. It asserted that it takes steps to minimize harm to civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement called South Africa’s case a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the court.
The ICJ case revolves around the genocide convention that was drawn up in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II and the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Both Israel and South Africa are signatories.
In its written filing, South Africa says it went to the court “to establish Israel’s responsibility for violations of the Genocide Convention; to hold it fully accountable under international law for those violations” and to “ensure the urgent and fullest possible protection for Palestinians in Gaza who remain at grave and immediate risk of continuing and further acts of genocide.”
A team of lawyers representing South Africa will present three hours of arguments in the wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice at the world court on. Israel’s legal team will have three hours on Friday morning to refute the allegations.
Among South Africa’s delegation will be former UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose leadership of the left-of-center Labour Party was stained by allegations of antisemitism. He is a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel.
Human Rights Watch said the hearings will provide scrutiny in a UN courtroom of Israel’s actions.
“South Africa’s genocide case unlocks a legal process at the world’s highest court to credibly examine Israel’s conduct in Gaza in the hopes of curtailing further suffering,” said Balkees Jarrah, the group’s associate international justice director.
The UN court, headquartered in the ornate Peace Palace in a leafy suburb of The Hague, deals with disputes between nations. The International Criminal Court, based a few miles (kilometers) away in the same Dutch city, prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Israel is back on the ICJ docket next month, when hearings open into a UN request for a non-binding advisory opinion on the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
A legal battle is set to open at the top UN court over an allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza
https://arab.news/g5p8n
A legal battle is set to open at the top UN court over an allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza
- Israel normally considers UN and international tribunals unfair and biased
- It is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation
Emergency declared as smog in New Delhi hits highest level this year
- New Delhi was the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to IQAir
- PM 2.5 concentration was 138.4 times higher than WHO’s recommended levels
NEW DELHI: New Delhi was in a medical emergency on Monday as toxic smog engulfing the Indian capital reached the highest level this year, prompting authorities to close schools and urge people to stay indoors.
Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.
Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.
“All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said in a press conference, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”
She said farm fires, where stubble left after harvesting rice is burnt to clear fields, were causing the extreme levels of pollution.
“Why is the (central government) not taking action against these states and implementing concrete steps? People are unable to breathe. I am getting calls from people complaining about breathing and respiratory issues,” she said.
“All of North India is paying the price for this, especially children and elderly who are struggling to breathe.”
Authorities in Delhi have directed all schools to move classes online and tightened restrictions on construction activities and vehicle movements.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.
“If they are non-smokers, then they will also inhale at least 30 to 40 cigarettes per day (at these pollution levels). So, you can imagine how bad it is for our health,” he told Arab News.
“PM 2.5 is a very minute particle (that can be inhaled). It is so minute that it can go into our blood vessels also, so it is very harmful and leads to various diseases, particularly for older people and infants who have breathing problems.”
Palawat is expecting the air quality to remain at this level for at least a few more days.
“It will remain in the very poor to serious category in coming days also,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s left-leaning president swears in new Cabinet after election victory
- Harini Amarasuriya, first woman to head Sri Lankan government, reappointed as PM
- National People’s Power alliance won two-thirds majority in the 225-member parliament
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new left-leaning president swore in on Monday a 22-member Cabinet after his party coalition secured a landslide victory in a snap parliamentary vote last week.
The alliance of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the National People’s Power, secured 159 seats in the 225-member assembly, giving the new leader a mandate to fulfill his campaign promises of sweeping reforms, including to fight poverty and corruption.
The crisis-hit island nation is still struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, after declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on its external debt in 2022.
Dissanayake reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister and lawmaker Vijitha Herath to helm the foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism ministries, while the president himself retained the posts of defense and finance minister.
“This power we gained is accountable. To whom? On one hand, it is accountable to the public, and on the other hand, to the movement,” Dissanayake told the new Cabinet after the swearing-in ceremony, referring to his alliance’s aim to create a people-centered national movement.
“We had a lot of good aims. We worked to gain power for that. We struggled a lot … The huge the victory we achieved, the heavier our responsibility,” he said. “Let’s work together to achieve the results our people deserve.”
When Dissanayake won the presidential vote in September, the NPP coalition only had three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and call for a snap election that took place on Thursday, a year ahead of schedule.
His new, fully-formed Cabinet will govern Sri Lanka after austerity measures imposed by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe — part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund — led to price hikes in food and fuel and caused hardship to millions of Sri Lankans.
During his campaign, Dissanayake said he planned to renegotiate the targets set in the IMF deal to alleviate the burden placed on ordinary people. A team from the fund is in Colombo this week to review the reform program.
More than half of former lawmakers chose not to run for re-election. No contenders were seen from the powerful Rajapaksa family, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya, also a former president, who was ousted in 2022 and largely blamed for the crisis.
Thursday’s election saw the United People’s Power of Sajith Premadasa retain its role from the previous parliament as the largest opposition party, winning 40 seats.
Sri Lanka People’s Front, the party loyal to the Rajapaksa family, secured only three seats in the new parliament.
UN climate chief to nations at COP29: ‘cut the theatrics’
- As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance deal for poorer countries that will determine the success or failure of COP29
Baku: The UN’s climate chief on Monday told countries at the deadlocked COP29 summit to “cut the theatrics,” as pressure mounts on G20 leaders to deliver a breakthrough.
As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance deal for poorer countries that will determine the success or failure of COP29.
UN climate boss Simon Stiell said that “bluffing, brinkmanship and premeditated playbooks burn up precious time and run down the goodwill needed.”
“Let’s cut the theatrics and get down to business,” he told delegates assembled in a cavernous football stadium in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.
COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev, a former oil executive turned ecology minister, urged countries to “refocus and pick up the pace.”
Government ministers at the negotiating table have until Friday to break the impasse over how to raise $1 trillion a year for developing countries to cope with global warming.
With the clock ticking, pressure is mounting on G20 leaders to throw their weight behind the stalled process in Baku when they meet in Brazil for their annual summit on Monday and Tuesday.
“A successful outcome at COP29 is still within reach, but it will require leadership and compromise, namely from the G20 countries,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, where he is attending the G20 summit of the world’s biggest economies.
Difference between life and death
“The spotlight is naturally on the G20. They account for 80 percent of global emissions,” Guterres said, calling on the group to “lead by example.”
In a sign that a solution could emerge from Rio, the head of the Brazilian delegation to COP29, Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, left Baku to prepare for the G20.
Besides the finance impasse, a fight is also brewing at COP29 over whether countries should recommit to last year’s landmark pledge to move the world away from fossil fuels.
The main task at COP29 is negotiating a new deal to provide developing countries enough money to cut emissions and build resilience against worsening climate shocks.
Rei Josiah Echano, disaster chief in the typhoon-hit Philippines province of Northern Samar, called for talks to be “radically fast-tracked” to help those in dire need.
Developing countries excluding China will need $1 trillion a year in outside assistance by the end of the decade, according to independent economists commissioned by the United Nations.
Stiell said it was “easy to become slightly anaesthetised” by the numbers.
“But let’s never allow ourselves to forget: these figures are the difference between safety and life-wrecking disasters for billions of people,” he said.
“It certainly keeps me up at night.”
Hosts criticised
Climate-vulnerable nations want developed nations to commit at COP29 to substantially raising their existing pledge of $100 billion a year.
But donors say they cannot raise the money alone and the private sector must also be involved.
The United States and European Union also want wealthy emerging economies not obligated to pay climate finance — most notably China — to share the burden.
The EU is the biggest contributor to international climate finance but faces political and budget pressure, and could be left exposed should the United States refuse to pay up under Donald Trump.
The conference opened in the shadow of Trump’s re-election in the United States, and efforts to shore up support for the global climate fight took another knock when Argentina’s delegation withdrew from the summit.
A meeting between Chinese and European officials was seen as a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy first week.
Militants kill five Nigerian troops in raid on base
- Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province storm military base
- Militant groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate
KANO, Nigeria: Attackers from a Daesh-affiliated militant group killed five Nigerian soldiers and wounded 10 more in a raid on a military base near the Niger border, two officers said Monday.
Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the base in Kareto village, Borno state in a dawn attack Saturday and triggered a gunbattle, the military officers said.
Northern Nigeria has been plagued by a bloody Islamist insurgency since 2009, and security cooperation on the border has broken down since the July 2023 military coup in Niger.
“We lost five soldiers in the battle with 10 other injured,” one senior military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“Four of our men are still missing and search and rescue is under way to locate them,” he added.
The gunmen captured four trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns and burnt five other vehicles, including a mine-resistant military truck, according to a second officer who gave the same toll.
In a statement issued Sunday, ISWAP claimed to have “killed and wounded” more than 20 troops in a suicide car bomb attack during the raid, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors online militant activity.
The group claimed to have torched the base and burnt 14 vehicles.
Kareto, 153 kilometers (95 miles) north of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, houses the Nigerian army’s 149 Battalion, which is deployed to fight ISWAP and its rival fellow militant group Boko Haram.
The base has been repeatedly targeted by both groups.
Militant groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million more.
Ukraine brings back long rolling power cuts after major Russian strike
- Russia unleashed its largest missile attack on Ukraine in almost three months
- Temporary power cuts across the country were announced on Sunday
KYIV: Ukrainians in the Black Sea port city of Odesa on Monday morning had been without power for 24 hours and further cuts were planned across the country after a massive Russian missile strike over the weekend damaged energy infrastructure.
Russia unleashed its largest missile attack on Ukraine in almost three months on Sunday, killing seven people and further hobbling an already damaged energy system.
“The situation is most difficult in Odesa and Odesa district. Unfortunately, it is not yet technically possible to supply power to the critical infrastructure in the Kyivskyi and Primorskyi districts of the city,” power distributor DTEK wrote on the Telegram messenger.
As of Monday morning some 400,000 homes had power restored while 321,000 consumers remained without service, DTEK said.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said the water supply and heating was being gradually restored across the city with 445 shelters offering necessary services to residents.
Russia has attacked the Odesa region for months, hitting port and energy infrastructure.
Attacks in the autumn of 2022 left the region without electricity for several days and also triggered curbs on energy use in the winter of 2023.
Temporary power cuts across the country were announced on Sunday between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. by national grid operator Ukrenergo which said workers were repairing the damage as quickly as possible.
Engineers restored power to almost 150,000 consumers following yesterday’s attack, the energy ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Authorities said most regions would face blackouts on Monday of up to eight hours, including the capital Kyiv.
Power cuts of six hours were expected in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy and cuts of four to six hours in Sumy in northern Ukraine.
No cuts were planned in five western regions.
