South Africa issues statement on ICJ case against Israel
South Africa’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, has said his country will continue to pursue its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), despite US President Donald Trump punishing Pretoria for the move.
The senior diplomat made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday.
“Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences, but we remain firm that this is important for the world, and the rule of law,” Lamola stated.
South Africa filed a case with The Hague-based ICJ in December 2023, alleging that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is “genocidal in character.” Israel launched the operation following a deadly incursion by Hamas militants into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead.
West Jerusalem denies the allegations. In an interim ruling last year, the court ordered Israel to take all necessary steps to prevent any acts that could be considered war crimes.
Last week, Trump signed a decree ordering a halt in any aid or assistance to South Africa, accusing it of “undermining United States foreign policy.” He also accused Pretoria of taking “aggressive positions,” which include sending US ally Israel to the ICJ, developing “commercial, military, and nuclear” ties with Iran, and “fueling” violence against “racially disfavored landowners” in a recently-passed expropriation law.
The president offered to resettle Afrikaner (white South African) refugees “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination” in the US. The Afrikaners – descendants of European settlers, primarily from the Netherlands, who arrived in present-day South Africa in the 17th century – however, rejected the offer.
The South African government has criticized the US executive order, describing it as misleading. Pretoria has said the Expropriation Act aims to address racial disparities in land ownership in the country, where white farmers still own the majority of land decades after Apartheid ended in 1994.
Last Thursday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to defend his country’s interests, sovereignty, and constitutional democracy, declaring that Pretoria will “not be bullied.”
On Wednesday, Lamola said there is “no chance” that South Africa will withdraw its war crimes charges against Israel because of Washington’s threats.
According to US government statistics, Washington set aside nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023. However, there are fears that the Trump administration might end Pretoria’s tariff-free access to US markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) initiative.
Since 2023, American lawmakers have sought to remove the African country from the AGOA, which allows South Africa to export a variety of minerals, including platinum, iron, and manganese, to the US. The BRICS member state has emerged as the program’s top beneficiary, with the US ranking as the second-largest destination for Pretoria’s exports globally in 2021, after China.
Prior to Trump’s decree, South Africa’s minister of mineral and petroleum resources, Gwede Mantashe, urged African countries to withhold mineral exports to the US.
