Pandor demands ICC action on Gaza civilians’ killings

International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor was right to call for Israel’s prosecution and challenging the International Criminal Court (ICC) for failing to act on the killings of Gaza civilians, experts agreed.

Prof Dirk Kotze, from the department of politics at the University of South Africa, said as Israel was not a member of the ICC, the United Nations Security Council could take the matter to the court. That route was followed in the past but Israel was never charged.

It was up to states to decide whether they still want to support ICC because they criticised it as biased towards Africa, he said.

But some have criticised Pandor for commenting when South Africa in 2017 refused to arrest former Sudan president Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the ICC on charges of genocide, and instead smuggled him out of the country during his controversial visit.

‘Pandor criticism of the ICC was correct’

Pandor’s criticism of the ICC for being quick to prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin but failing to prosecute Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged genocide in Gaza, was correct, political analyst Sandile Swana said.

But Pandor needed to take it a step further and encourage countries, including South Africa, to report the matter directly to the ICC so that it was properly investigated and prosecuted, he said.

“Without following procedures, her statement is just a publicity stunt and that can never work against Israel,” Swana said.

“Pandor must get competent people to investigate and launch a proper case in the ICC.”

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Prof Ntsikelelo Breakfast, director of the Centre for Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution at Nelson Mandela University, accused the US, an ally of Israel, of using the United Nations to not resolve the Palestinian question.

“The US is using these multilateral institutions as a platform to entrench its hegemony. Why was George Bush and Tony Blair not prosecuted for Iraq atrocities?

“Why the ICC rushed to charge Putin but is not charging Netanyahu?

“What is happening in Gaza and West Bank is a gross violation of human rights,” Breakfast said.

‘Pandor hit the nail on the head’

He said Pandor had “hit the nail on the head on ICC bias”.

Swana lashed at the minister, the ANC and the government for only in raising their concerns now about the ICC selective prosecution.

“The genocide has been going on for a long time.

“It is part and parcel of settler-colonialism because these are European Jews who came to take land from the indigenous Palestinians who are constituted of Hebrews (Jews), Christians, Moslems, Arabic and various other ethnic and religious groups,” Swana said.

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