The United Nations’ International Court of Justice will today hear genocide charges against Israel. The Republic of South Africa’s charges that Israel conducts genocide against Palestinians in Gaza are polemical and false. On their face, the accusations are ridiculous for two reasons. First, urban warfare is brutal, but as Middle East Quarterly editor Jonathan Spyer noted, the collateral damage to civilians is likely less than what the anti-Islamic State coalition tolerated when fighting the caliphate. Second, the charges assembled by South Africa do not match reality; South African officials twisted words, misquoted, omitted context with tendentious ellipses, and otherwise presented a document that would receive a failing grade in any law school and that not even ex-Harvard President Claudine Gay would dare plagiarize.
South Africa is the continent’s weak link on counterterror.
This is not South Africa’s first foray into terror support. Militarily, it is the continent’s weak link on counterterror. The government’s corruption and mendacity has eroded the capability of South Africa’s own counterterror and defense forces to the point where they not only stand down rather than fight the Islamic State in their own neighborhood, but also actively interfere with those who do.
The African National Congress (ANC) has long had a soft spot for Hamas terror. In December 2017, for example, just after the South African government downgraded its relations with Israel, the group invited and honored Hamas at its party conference. ANC Student Union members at the University of Witwatersrand praised Hitler. Iran treats South Africa as fertile ground to recruit Palestinians to attack Israel. Just two months after Hamas launched its latest war against Israel, South Africa hosted senior Hamas officials, helping fund their legitimization tour.
South Africa has long supported Polisario terror against Morocco.
Nor does Pretoria limit itself to anti-Israel terror. South Africa, after Algeria’s radical regime and Communist Cuba, has long been the Polisario Front’s greatest supporter. The group, which styles itself the government of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, wages terror against Morocco in the Western Sahara. In reality, the Polisario is as autocratic as North Korea or Eritrea. It runs refugee camps in Algeria with an iron fist and has zero popular support. Essentially, it is a money laundering operation in which South Africa is complicit. In 2017, South Africa took its support to a new level when it impounded a Moroccan phosphate ship in what amounted to an act of state piracy. The South African plan? Seize the ship, sell its cargo, and give the money to the Polisario Front. Even domestically, South Africa supports terror. Has the South African government ever held to account those South African police who just a decade ago massacred coal miners at Marikana? If they had, President Cyril Ramaphosa might be behind bars today.
Nor is South Africa alone in its aid and sustenance for terror. Turkey has been full-throated in its support for Hamas, providing its leaders with passports to ease movement, offices to plot attacks, and even explosives. In both intent and action, Turkey’s support for Hamas, the Islamic State, al-Shabaab, and Al Qaeda should land it State Department terror designation.
Norwegian officials have sought to shield Hamas from the consequences of its rape, torture, and murder of civilians.
Another underbelly of Hamas support is Norway. Norwegian politicians have gone above and beyond in their efforts to legitimize Hamas. In March 2007, Norway recognized the Hamas-led Palestinian government, signaling to the terror group it need not abide by Oslo Accords requirements that it first foreswear terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist. Since Hamas’s October 7 pogrom against Jews, Norwegian officials have consistently misstated international law and sought to shield Hamas from the consequences of its rape, torture, and murder of civilians.
South Africa may relish the plaudits it receives from countries like Cuba, Iran, and Turkey, and the affirmation of progressives, Greens, and other leftists may motivate Norwegian politicians who do not have the introspection to consider the antisemitism that permeates their own society. In reality, however, what is at stake in today’s court proceedings is the credibility of the UN. Should the International Court of Justice rule against Israel, it will delegitimize itself just like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International shredded their own credibility with the apartheid calumny. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is correct to call out the proceeding’s moral inversion, but it is time to go further: It is time to designate and sanction countries like South Africa, Turkey, and Norway for their terror support. In Pretoria, Ankara, and Oslo, money talks more than empty demarches.
