South Africa’s genocide case against Israel sets up a high-stakes legal battle at the UN’s top court

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South Africa has launched a case at the United Nations’ top court alleging that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide. The filing and Israel’s decision to defend itself at the International Court of Justice set up a high-stakes showdown before a panel of judges in the court’s Great Hall of Justice. The case will likely drag on for years. At its heart is the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust. The convention defines genocide as acts such as killings “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”