Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 26.01.2024
Two weeks after the submissions of the legal teams of South Africa and Israel, according to New York Times on 25.1.24 “Israel has declassified more than 30 secret orders made by government and military leaders in order to rebuke claims that it has committed genocide in Gaza, according to a New York Times report on Thursday” [1]
“Among the documents revealed to the ICJ are dossiers from cabinet meetings and emails between military officers and aid workers in order to prove that Israel is making active efforts to preserve civilian lives in the strip.” [2]
This information raises many questions:
When Israel submitted these documents? Did the South African legal team see these documents? Were these documents examined by experts to verify that they were not produced now or are only partial omissions? Did the judges see these documents before the hearing?
There are laws of evidence that these documents have to satisfy. Otherwise, they are not valid. Israel had to submit them before the hearing. The South African team had to examine them before the hearing. The South Africa team has the right to use an expert to examine the documents.
If the court accepted these documents after the hearing and the South African team did not have the chance to examine them this court is good for nothing, a kind of a kangaroo court.
Israel is guilty of genocide!
Down with the murdering Zionist apartheid state!
Endnotes:
[1] https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-783723
[2] Ibid