Blinken: SA ‘genocide’ case against Israel ‘unhelpful, galling’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described South Africa's case against Israel as unhelpful as efforts continue to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Blinken spoke to the media in Jerusalem on Tuesday night following discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His remarks come as South Africa and Israel prepare to square off the UN's top court from Thursday.
In December, South Africa launched a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for what it said were "genocidal" acts in Gaza, with Israel rejecting the case "with disgust”.
According to a statement, the ICJ application related to alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention and said that "Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza”.
South Africa wants the International Court of Justice to order Israel to urgently suspend its military operations in Gaza.
While Blinken believes that the submission against Israel was distracting the world from important efforts; he acknowledged that the daily death toll on Gazan civilians was far too high.
LISTEN TO BLINKEN BELOW:
While Blinken has criticised South Africa's decision, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says efforts and calls by South Africa to resolve the matter on a political level have fallen on deaf ears.
"We have called for the genocide that is happening in Gaza to stop, at a political level, on a number of forums around the world and the slaughter and the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has not stopped, and we felt that we should resort to the International Court of Justice, we do so out of principle," says Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa was speaking in Kameelrivier in Mpumalanga during a visit to the Amandebele Royal House on Tuesday.
LISTEN TO RAMAPHOSA BELOW:
On Monday, Israel accused South Africa of being criminally complicit in the atrocities committed by militant group Hamas.
The Gaza war began after Hamas gunmen launched their unprecedented October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants of Hamas, considered a "terrorist" group by the United States and European Union, also took around 250 hostages. Israel says 132 of them remain captive, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.
Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza that has killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The Israeli army says its death toll inside Gaza had risen to 185 after nine soldiers were killed on Monday.
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