Apartheid memories help fuel South Africa’s World Court case against Israel in Gaza conflict

LUSAKA, Zambia — For three decades, South Africa has felt the freedom of independence after the fall of apartheid, the legalized system of racism and segregation that dominated that country and neighboring Namibia.  It is that history that some in that part of the world are drawing on in their support of South Africa’s unprecedented case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague in the Netherlands. South Africa is challenging Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, accusing Israel of genocide. The move is related to the attack on Israel by the Hamas terrorist organization on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,100 Israeli civilians, and Israel’s subsequent assaults on Palestinians in Gaza, which have left almost 30,000 Palestinians dead to date. “We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against Black people in my country,” Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, told the ICJ last month. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, center, leaves the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024....