Brussels, January 12th, 2024 – European Coalition for Israel (ECI) called out the South African government for spreading “a modern version of medieval antisemitic blood libels” as the first day of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague came to a close on Thursday. Meanwhile ECI was recording their monthly European Report talk show in the European Parliament in Brussels. In the program German MEP Lars Patrick Berg pointed out that “it was probably no coincidence that the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa conducted important meetings in Doha, Qatar prior to launching the ICJ probe against Israel.”
Qatar is hosting the political wing of the terrorist organisation Hamas in Doha and has a long history of animosity towards the Jewish state. Apart from being an important trade partner with Qatar, South Africa has taken the lead in the international campaigning to isolate Israel diplomatically using lawfare as one of their most effective tools to achieve their goals. In 2001 the South African government hosted the infamous UN conference against racism in Durban which has been described by the late Holocaust survivor and US Congressman Tom Lantos as “the worst expression of international antisemitism after the Shoah.”
In the European Report ECI Founding director Tomas Sandell dismissed the ICJ court case as “a blood libel”. He noted that in the past Jews were accused of being “Christ killers”. Today their crime is “genocide” but the spirit behind these accusations is one and the same, ancient antisemitism.
By presenting this probe at the ICJ, the initiators know fully well that their accusations will give further fuel to the various extremist groups who are currently demonstrating on the streets in Europe in support of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This will also help to legitimise any form of violence against the State of Israel and the Jewish people based on their false accusations.
“The Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin, who after the end of Second World War led the campaign which in 1948 led to the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide would turn in his grave if he only knew that his lifework to prevent another Holocaust would be used against the Jewish people only three months after they had experienced the worst pogroms after the Shoah”, Sandell said.
He concluded by saying that “the civilized world will now have to stand firm against these baseless accusations unless we want to unleash a new wave of antisemitism.”
The hearings in the Hague will continue today Friday and a verdict can be expected already within the next few weeks.
