Combat Antisemitism Movement comes out against South Africa’s decision to move ICJ

Tel Aviv, Jan 12( IANS) The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has attacked the decision by South Africa to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on the charges of alleged genocide in Gaza, with proceedings starting on Thursday.

The CAM in a statement said, "In an attempt to score domestic political points and ingratiate itself with some of the vilest and repressive regimes on earth, South Africa has taken Israel to the ICJ."

It also added that unfortunately, South Africa has a deeply problematic history of utilising international institutions for narrow political purposes to attack the Jewish people.

The statement said: "The 2001 World Conference against Racism (WCAR), also known as Durban I, was appropriated by South Africa and Iran, among others, to malign the Jewish state and Jewish delegates in attendance, while ignoring and abrogating its responsibility to the many real victims of racism and oppression around the world."

The CAM alleged that there was zero legitimacy in accusing a nation fighting genocide of perpetrating the same crime and added that it would be like accusing the allies in the Second World War of perpetrating genocide against the Nazis.

The CAM also said that South Africa had a very problematic history standing against actual perpetrators of genocide.

The statement said: "South Africa is extremely and deviously selective in its accusations of genocide, ignoring the mass murder of Yazidis, the hundreds of thousands of Syrians butchered by their own regime, and countless attempted genocides in Africa."

The CAM statement further said: "In fact, South Africa has displayed a shocking and callous attitude toward the perpetrators of actual genocides in the past, notably when it refused to heed an International Criminal Court (ICC) order in 2015 to arrest former President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, betraying the memory of hundreds of thousands killed during the Darfur conflict."

The CAM alleged that it was clear that South Africa has no interest in preventing genocide, and merely aims to propagate a "blood libel" against the national and indigenous homeland of the Jewish people, while lending implicit support for Hamas' exterminationist intentions.

CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa explains the reason for the release of the statement and added, "South Africa are trying to defame and delegitimise the one Jewish state, and needs to be called out for their hate, anti-semitism and hypocrisy."

He further added, "This manipulation and appropriation of the international legal system to score local domestic points and to lend legal cover and assistance to the genocidal Hamas death squads should be condemned by all decent people and nations around the world."

The CAM is a global coalition engaging more than 830 partner organisations and four million people from a diverse array of religious, political and cultural backgrounds in the common mission of fighting the world's oldest hatred.

CAM acts collaboratively to build a better future, free of bigotry, for Jews and all of humanity.

Source: IANS