The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, will begin hearings this week in a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The hearings, the first step in a lengthy process should the case go forward, will be the first time that Israel has chosen to defend itself, in person, in such a setting, attesting to the gravity of the indictment and the high stakes for its international reputation and standing.
Genocide, the term first employed by a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent in 1944 to describe the Nazis’ systematic murder of about six million Jews and others based on their ethnicity, is among the most serious crimes of which a country can be accused.
In its submission to the court, South Africa cited that lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, to expand the definition of genocide. South Africa, whose post-apartheid government has long supported the Palestinian cause, accused Israel of actions in Gaza against Hamas that are “genocidal in character.” It says Israel has killed Palestinian civilians, inflicted serious bodily and mental harm, and created for the residents of Gaza “conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”
Uh… That’s one thing, but for example Nelson Mandela was designated as a terrorist until 2008. It’s a meaningless term (or I guess more accurately a meaningless designation) that happens to include some really bad people. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to say that someone’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.
Who designated nelson Mandela a terrorist? Reagan right? Low hanging fruit. That guy was a fucking cancer on the planet.
How many US presidents weren’t cancer on the planet?