Israel’s Foreign Ministry sent a memo on Sept. 9 to its Washington embassy and to its consulates in the U.S., instructing them to lobby the U.S. Congress to apply muscle on South Africa, getting them to drop the Gaza genocide case before the International Court of Justice. The ICJ has given South Africa a deadline of October 28 to file its arguments for pursuing the case. Axios reports that the cable from Israel’s Foreign Ministry states:
“We are asking you to immediately work with lawmakers on the federal and state level, with governors and Jewish organizations to put pressure on South Africa to change its policy towards Israel and to make clear that continuing their current actions like supporting Hamas and pushing anti-Israeli moves in international courts will come with a heavy price.”
Further, they were told to push for bills targeting South Africa on state and federal level, so “that even if they won’t materialize, presenting them and talking about them will be important.” This includes pressuring members of Congress to publicly condemn South Africa’s actions and suggest this could result in suspension of trade relations between Washington and Pretoria.
Yesterday, South Africa delivered an official statement from the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa. It reads in full:
“South Africa will be filing its memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) next month (October 2024). South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine. This case will continue until the court makes a finding. While the case is in progress, we hope that Israel will abide by the court’s provisional orders issued to date.
“The case represents a growing global effort towards ensuring peace in the Middle-East. Several countries, namely, Nicaragua, Palestine, Türkiye, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia have all joined the South African case against Israel.”
