Palestinians hail South Africa for bringing Gaza ‘genocide’ case

Palestinians hail South Africa for bringing Gaza ‘genocide’ case
Palestinians gather around a statue of the late South African president Nelson Mandela in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on January 10, 2024, to celebrate a landmark "genocide" case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice. (AFP)
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Updated 11 January 2024
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Palestinians hail South Africa for bringing Gaza ‘genocide’ case

Palestinians hail South Africa for bringing Gaza ‘genocide’ case
  • Hearings at the UN’s top court will begin on Thursday with South Africa hoping the judges will compel Israel to halt its bombardment
  • While the ICJ makes binding decisions, it has little ability to enforce them, and Israel and the US

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Dozens of Palestinians gathered Wednesday in front of the statue of Nelson Mandela in the occupied West Bank to thank South Africa for bringing a “genocide” case against Israel over its bombardment of Gaza.

The crowd waved Palestinian flags, listened to speeches and held signs saying “Stop the genocide” and “Thank you South Africa.”
Hearings at the UN’s top court will begin on Thursday with South Africa hoping the judges will compel Israel to halt its bombardment.
“It’s very important to show appreciation to the people who understand our pain,” Ramallah mayor Issa Kassis told AFP after addressing the crowd.
“We feel that South Africa listens to our heart.”
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has long supported the Palestinian cause, often linking it to its own struggle against the apartheid government, which had cooperative relations with Israel.
Mandela famously said South Africa’s freedom would be “incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

BACKGROUND

• Based in the Hague, in the Netherlands, the ICJ was established in 1945 as a way of settling disputes between countries.

• Also known as the ‘World Court’, the ICJ is one of the six “principal organs” of the United Nations. It is composed of 15 judges, all of whom are elected to nine-year terms of office by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

• It is different from the International Criminal Court, or ICC, which is independent from the UN and whose purpose is to investigate and try individuals for “genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

• The case brought by South Africa against Israel on December 29, 2023, is the first time a contentious case has been brought against Israel at the ICJ.

SOURCES: UN.org, usatoday.com

Mvuyo Mhangwane, South Africa’s representative to the Palestinians, said his countrymen had not forgotten Mandela’s words.

“The message is to remind them (Palestinians) that we are friends of Palestine forever, for better or for worse, and to say that Palestine is not alone,” he said.

While the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) makes binding decisions, it has little ability to enforce them.

Nonetheless, Israel and the United States have reacted furiously to the case.

On Tuesday, top US diplomat Antony Blinken dismissed the case as “meritless” and said it was “particularly galling” because Hamas, Iran and others had the stated aim of wiping Israel from the map.
Last week Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said South Africa was giving “political and legal cover” for the attack launched by Hamas on October 7.
The attack resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel has since bombarded Gaza by land, sea and air, killing at least 23,357 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
“South Africa has made itself criminally complicit with Hamas’s campaign of genocide against our people,” said Levy, accusing the country of “abetting the modern heirs of the Nazis.”


Pope Francis set to visit Turkiye for Council of Nicaea anniversary in 2025

Pope Francis set to visit Turkiye for Council of Nicaea anniversary in 2025
Updated 21 sec ago
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Pope Francis set to visit Turkiye for Council of Nicaea anniversary in 2025

Pope Francis set to visit Turkiye for Council of Nicaea anniversary in 2025
  • The pope had already expressed in June the desire to go on the trip despite international travel becoming increasingly difficult for him
ROME: Pope Francis said on Thursday he planned to visit Turkiye’s Iznik next year for the anniversary of the first council of the Christian Church, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The early centuries of Christianity were marked by debate about how Jesus could be both God and man, and the Church decided on the issue at the First Council of Nicaea in 325.
“During the Holy Year, we will also have the opportunity to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the first great Ecumenical Council, that of Nicaea. I plan to go there,” the pontiff was quoted as saying at a theological committee event.
The city, now known as Iznik, is in western Anatolia, some 150km southeast of Istanbul.
The pope had already expressed in June the desire to go on the trip and the spiritual head of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, had said the two men would celebrate the important recurrence together but no official confirmation had been made yet.
Despite international travel becoming increasingly difficult for him because of health issues, Francis, who will turn 88 on Dec. 17, completed in September a 12-day tour across Asia, the longest of his 11-year papacy.

Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue investments after US bribery allegations

Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue investments after US bribery allegations
Updated 44 min 50 sec ago
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Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue investments after US bribery allegations

Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue investments after US bribery allegations
  • Adani Group holds a 70 percent stake in Haifa port in northern Israel and is involved in multiple other projects with firms in the country
  • US last week accused Adani Group of being part of scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure contracts, misleading US investors 

HYDERABAD, India: Israel wants India’s Adani Group to continue to invest in the country, Israel’s envoy to India said on Thursday, affirming the nation’s support for the ports-to-media conglomerate whose billionaire founder is facing bribery allegations in the United States.

“We wish Adani and all Indian companies continue to invest in Israel,” Ambassador Reuven Azar said in an interview with Reuters, adding that allegations by US authorities were “not something that’s problematic” from Israel’s point of view.

The Adani Group holds a 70% stake in Haifa port in northern Israel and is involved in multiple other projects with firms in the country, including to produce military drones and plans for the manufacture of commercial semiconductors.

US authorities last week accused Gautam Adani, his nephew, and Adani Green’s managing director of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts and misleading US investors during fund raising efforts there.

Adani Group has denied all the accusations, calling them “baseless.”

Still, shares and bonds of Adani companies were hammered last week and some partners began to review joint projects.

“I am sure Adani Group will resolve its problems,” Azar said on the sidelines of an event in the southern city of Hyderabad.


Lebanon to hold parliament session on Jan. 9 to elect president

Lebanon to hold parliament session on Jan. 9 to elect president
Updated 51 min 26 sec ago
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Lebanon to hold parliament session on Jan. 9 to elect president

Lebanon to hold parliament session on Jan. 9 to elect president
  • State news agency: ‘Speaker Nabih Berri called a parliament session to elect a president of the republic on January 9’

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament will hold a session in January to elect a new president, official media reported on Thursday, a day after an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire began and following more than two years of presidential vacuum.
“Speaker Nabih Berri called a parliament session to elect a president of the republic on January 9,” the official National News Agency reported.


Israel says ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon violated

Israel says ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon violated
Updated 13 min 50 sec ago
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Israel says ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon violated

Israel says ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon violated
  • Lebanese security sources and state media report tank fire struck Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba
  • Lebanon’s military deployed troops and tanks across the country’s south on Thursday

BEIRUT: Israel’s military announced on Thursday that it had detected the presence of suspects in several areas of southern Lebanon, calling it a violation of the ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Earlier on Thursday Israeli tank fire targeted three towns along Lebanon’s southeastern border with Israel, according to Lebanese security sources and state media. The strikes came a day after the ceasefire, which prohibits “offensive military operations,” had officially taken effect.

The tank fire hit Markaba, Wazzani, and Kfarchouba, all located within two kilometers of the Blue Line that marks the border between Lebanon and Israel. One security source reported that two people were wounded in Markaba.

A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday under a deal brokered by the US and France, intended to allow people in both countries to start returning to homes in border areas shattered by 14 months of fighting.

But managing the returns have been complicated. Israeli troops remain stationed within Lebanese territory in towns along the border, and on Thursday morning the Israeli military urged residents of towns along the border strip not to return yet for their own safety.

The three towns hit on Thursday morning lie within that strip.

There was no immediate comment on the tank rounds from Hezbollah or Israel, who had been fighting for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war.

Lebanon’s military deployed troops and tanks across the country’s south on Thursday as a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war largely held for a second day.

A Lebanese army source said its forces were “conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints” south of the Litani River without advancing into areas where Israeli forces were still present.

In the border village of Qlaaya, residents threw rice and flowers to celebrate the arrival of Lebanese soldiers.

“We only want the Lebanese army,” chanted the residents of the Christian-majority village, as they clapped and cheered for the troops and waved the Lebanese red, white and green flag.

Since the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday, tens of thousands of Lebanese who fled their homes have headed back to their towns and villages, only to find scenes of devastation.

“Despite all the destruction and the sorrow, we are happy to be back,” said Umm Mohammed Bzeih, a widow who fled with her four children from the southern village of Zibqin two months ago.

“I feel as if our souls have returned,” she said, visibly exhausted as she swept up the shattered glass and pieces of stones that carpeted the floor.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said his group was cooperating on the army’s deployment in the south.

There is “full cooperation” with the Lebanese state in strengthening the army’s deployment, he said, adding the group had “no visible weapons or bases” but “nobody can make residents leave their villages.”

The agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region racked by conflict, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in years. But Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israeli forces can take up to 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military not to allow residents back to villages near the border.

Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, the top interlocutor for Lebanon in negotiating the deal, had said on Wednesday that residents could return home.


Syria war monitor says more than 130 dead in army-militant clashes in north

Syria war monitor says more than 130 dead in army-militant clashes in north
Updated 28 November 2024
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Syria war monitor says more than 130 dead in army-militant clashes in north

Syria war monitor says more than 130 dead in army-militant clashes in north
  • Clashes followed “an operation launched by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
  • The air forces of both Syria and its ally Russia struck the attacking militants

BEIRUT: A monitor of Syria’s war said on Thursday that more than 130 combatants had been killed in clashes between the army and militant groups in the country’s north, as the government also reported fierce fighting.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll in the clashes which began a day earlier after the militants launched an attack “has risen to 132, including 65 fighters” from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, 18 from allied factions “and 49 members of the regime forces.”