Ramaphosa’s move to refer Israel to ICC for war crimes the right one

The decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to file a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for it to investigate Israel for war crimes in Gaza is the correct one.

With more than 11 000 dead since the Israeli retaliation started for the Hamas terror attacks in Israel on 7 October; along with the targeting of hospitals, as well as the cutting off of vital supplies to the Palestinian enclave, there is a strong prima facie case to be made that Israel’s actions are a grave contravention of international law.

In making his announcement while on a visit to Qatar this week, Ramaphosa hastily mumbled “of course” the ANC condemned the actions of Hamas… but it was almost a throwaway line, confirming for some that the ANC has definitely taken sides in the conflict.

Also, the ANC can rightly be accused of hypocrisy and double standards in its attempt to use the ICC.

After all, it effectively refused to arrest wanted criminal fugitive Omar al-Bashir, then president of Sudan, wanted for war crimes, when he was in this country in 2015.

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The ICC and our own courts ruled that the ANC government was wrong in not honouring its obligations to the ICC.

Then, of course, there was the glaring failure by the ANC to say anything in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

There was credible evidence of Russian atrocities against civilians and the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin for genocide and war crimes in Ukraine.

Yet, despite all that, there must be a judicial reckoning over what is happening in Gaza, just as there must be an accounting for the Hamas murders and brutalities in Israel.

To call for that justice does not make one a fanatic for one side or the other… it makes one humane.

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