Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi has stated that the world is watching and demanding a “just” ruling from the UN’s International Court of Justice on the genocide case against Israel.
This came as the ongoing Israel-Hamas war entered the 100th day on Sunday, January 14, 2023 amid Israel’s relentless attack on Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini, Head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said during a visit to Gaza that “the massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss and grief of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity”.
He warned an entire generation of children in Gaza is being “traumatised”, disease is spreading, and the clock is “ticking fast towards famine”.
Speaking at a conference in Tehran aimed at Islamic unity on Gaza, Raisi averred, “I say to the legal experts of this court they must answer firstly to God, secondly to the global conscience, and thirdly to history and future generations.”
“People around the globe will appreciate a just verdict. But if the lawyers allow their hands to shake and be influenced by the strength of the Americans and by wealth and power, they must answer for it.”
Ebrahim Raisi
The Iranian President added that lack of unity among Muslim countries of the region allowed Israel to continue its “crimes” in Gaza.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s legal team arrived in their home country.
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer on the team, spoke to reporters on arrival at OR Tambo airport.
He said the case, which took place on Thursday and Friday, marked a “very crucial turning point” in having the world look at Israel’s actions in Gaza through a “legal lens.”
He added that the “overall struggle” of the Palestinian people will continue.
According to Ngcukaitobi, South Africa’s legal team is “very humbled” to have been able to contribute in a “very small part to an otherwise long and courageous struggle of the Palestinian people.”
Namibia Condemns Germany For Defending Israel In Genocide Case
Moreover, Namibia criticized Germany’s “shocking decision” to support Israel in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa.
“Germany has chosen to defend in the ICJ the genocidal and gruesome acts of the Israeli government against innocent civilians in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian Territories,” the President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, said in a statement.
The statement by the Namibian presidency added that Berlin was ignoring Israel’s killing of more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza and various United Nations reports disturbingly highlighting the internal displacement of 85 percent of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people amid acute shortages of food and essential services.
The Namibian President expressed “deep concern” over “the shocking decision” communicated by the government of Germany on Friday, in which “it rejected the morally upright indictment” brought forward by South Africa.
“No peace-loving human being can ignore the carnage waged against Palestinians in Gaza,” it said.
A statement noted that Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in Namibia between 1904 and 1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died under brutal colonial conditions.
“Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza,” the presidency said.
Also in the statement, the President appealed to the German government to reconsider “its untimely decision” to intervene as a third-party in defence and support of the genocidal acts of Israel before the ICJ.
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