On Friday, January 12 (Jadi 22), Israel rejected the charge of “genocide of Palestinians” in Gaza, which was raised by South Africa, and called it “false and distorted” at the International Court of Justice.

Israel asked the Hague Court of Justice to reject South Africa’s request to stop offensive attacks in Gaza, arguing that such a move would make Israel defenseless.

South Africa accused Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice in December last year. Meanwhile, South Africa asked the court on Thursday to take urgent measures and order Israel to immediately stop its offensive in Gaza.

According to the Reuters news report, South Africa, based on the report of the Ministry of Health of Gaza, said that Israel’s ground and air offensive in Gaza has killed more than 23,000 people, and the aim of these attacks is to “exterminate the population” of Gaza.

Tel Bakr, a legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told the International Court of Justice that South Africa’s interpretation of the events “will be severely distorted.”

Bakr said: “If acts of genocide exist, these acts have been committed against Israel. Hamas is looking for genocide against Israel. The Genocide Convention of 1948 would have killed, mass murders of Jews, by the German Nazis. Genocide has been defined as the intentional act of destroying a nation, a nation, a race or a religious group completely or partially.

According to Bakr, after the attacks on October 7, Hamas, the sworn enemy of Israel, launched its offensive. Israeli officials have said that 1,140 people, including civilians, were killed and 24 others were taken hostage in Hamas attacks.

Bakr added that the pain and suffering that the civilians in Gaza and Israel have endured is the result of the strategic group Hamas in the first step and emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself.

Hamas has always denied Israel’s claim that its fighters are hiding among civilians. Bakr stressed that Israel’s war was launched against Hamas, not the Palestinian people.

And he said: “The main part of genocide is the intention to exterminate a nation either completely or partially” and added that the claim that South Africa lacks the main elements of genocide – that is, intentional extermination.

Israel argued that under the International Genocide Convention, the International Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction to order the Israeli army to stop military operations in Gaza.

Malcolm Shaw, another lawyer defending Israel, said that Israel’s attacks on Gaza “are not genocide, and South Africa is only telling me half the story.” The litigation process may take years.

At the same time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, said on Friday that his country will submit documents to the International Court of Justice to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Erdoğan told reporters in Istanbul that he would continue to present documents on the genocide of Palestinians by Israel, mostly on video.

Erdoğan said: “I believe that Israel will be sentenced there (the Hague Court). I believe that the International Court of Justice will be the judge.”

In response to Erdogan’s accusation, Israel’s foreign minister has accused Turkey of Armenian genocide on the official Facebook page of the country’s government.

Addressing Erdogan, the Israeli Foreign Minister said: “President of Turkey, if the Armenian Genocide is in his history, now he is bragging about targeting Israel with baseless claims. We will remember the Armenians and the Kurds. Your history speaks for itself.” Israel defends itself against your barbaric allies.”

It is expected that the court in Lahore will issue an urgent order for measures this month, but it is not expected that the charge will be genocide. The decision of the International Court of Justice is not final and appealable, but the decision of this court is not enforceable.

Part of this report was taken from Reuters and France Press.