By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel will ask the US Congress to put pressure on South Africa to withdraw its genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), local media reported on Monday.
As reported by Israeli news website Walla, a classified Israeli Foreign Ministry document said that Israeli officials want members of the US Congress to warn South Africa that there will be serious consequences for continuing the case against Israel.
Walla quoted Israeli officials saying that they hoped the new government in South Africa following elections this May would take a different approach on Israel and the war on Gaza.
South Africa has until Oct. 28 to present to the ICJ its reasons for continuing the case against Israel over its alleged violations of the Genocide Convention during the war on Gaza.
South Africa initiated the genocide case against Israel at the ICJ last December, accusing Tel Aviv of violating the 1948 convention in its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip – now nearly a year old – has killed nearly 41,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 94,800 others, according to local health authorities.
An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins. Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar