Egypt Joins South Africa's ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel

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Facts

• The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday that Cairo will formally support South Africa's lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza.¹
• In a statement, the ministry said that Israel had caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza by deliberately targeting civilians, destroying infrastructure, and forcibly displacing Palestinians in its war against Hamas.²
• Furthermore, Cairo termed Israel's actions in Gaza as 'systemic practices,' which it argued breached international humanitarian law and 'the Fourth Convention of 1949 for the protection of civilian persons in time of war.'³
• On Monday, Egyptian military officers reportedly called off planned meetings with their Israeli colleagues, allegedly due to Israel's offensive in Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah — a move that Cairo claims jeopardizes the bilateral peace treaty.⁴
• Egypt's decision comes after South Africa urged the ICJ to issue further emergency measures against Israel, calling for the immediate withdrawal and end of the Rafah offensive and allowing the free influx of humanitarian aid.⁵
• Israel denies the genocide allegations as false and defamatory, claiming it complies with international law and has the right to defend itself after Hamas reportedly killed about 1.2K people and took 252 hostages last October.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Egyptian Streets, ³The New Arab, ⁴The Cradle, ⁵Middle East Eye and ⁶timesofisrael.com.

Narratives

• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by I24news. By joining South Africa's anti-Israel campaign, Egypt is betraying decades of peaceful ties with Tel Aviv. Israel has successfully supported Cairo in fighting Islamist terror in Sinai, only to be stabbed in the back by Egypt in its fight against the Hamas terrorists. It also refuses to allow aid to be provided to the people in southern Gaza, whom it claims to defend. Israel has the right to self-defense under international law, and it will accomplish its mission against all odds.
• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Dailynewsegypt. Egypt officially backing South Africa's genocide case against Israel is a welcome and overdue step. Israel has now killed over 35K Palestinians in Gaza, and any country other than Israel would have long been held accountable for comparable war crimes against civilians and violations of international law. The international community must not apply double standards and take immediate action to end Israel's outrageous aggression in Gaza and its military assault on Rafah.

Predictions