South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has said that its citizens fighting in Gaza with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) will be arrested.
According to the minister, individuals will be arrested on their return to the country.
“I have already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and are fighting… We are ready. When you come home, we are going to arrest you,” she quoted during a Palestinian solidarity event earlier this week.
It is however not clear how many people this could affect.
The foreign ministry also said that those with dual South African Israeli citizenship however could be stripped of their South African citizenship.
She also advocated for protests outside the embassies of what she labeled as the “five primary supporters” of Israel and its military actions in Gaza.
South Africa had already warned its citizens last year that they may be liable to prosecution if they fought with the IDF.
In 2023 South Africa launched a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
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They requested the court to provide provisional measures and order Israel to halt its war, citing it as essential to prevent further harm to the rights of the Palestinian people.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 26th January 2024, found it plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide.
Furthermore, it issued six provisional measures, ordering Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts.
ICJ Ruling on South Africa Israel Cases
I) The State of Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts in particular:
a) Killing members of the group and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group was deterred.
II) The State of Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above.
III) The State of Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
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IV) The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
V) The State of Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Convention against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
VI) The State of Israel shall submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to this Order within one month as from the date of this Order.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa however on 7th March said the people of Gaza were still facing unfathomable human suffering as the conflict between Israel and Palestine continues.
He further stated that they were approaching the court once again because Israel has not been complying with the order that was issued by the court adding that 100 people had earlier been massacred.
His words came after South Africa on 6th March filed an urgent request with the Court for the “indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024 and decision of 16 February 2024 in the case.
In its new request, South Africa states that it is “compelled to return to the Court in light of the new facts and changes in the situation in Gaza — particularly the situation of widespread starvation — brought about by the continuing egregious breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the State of Israel.”
