JERUSALEM — Israel argued on Friday that South Africa was trying to defame Israeli leadership and society by accusing the country of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Watch the hearing in the player above.
Making Israel's closing statement, attorney Gilad Noam said South Africa's case against Israel made the nation look like a state "singularly consumed with destroying an entire population. That is patently false."
Noam, Israel's deputy attorney general for international law, argued that compliance with the law was woven deeply into the fabric of the Israeli military apparatus and a core component of the Israeli state since the war that led to Israel's creation. That war forced an estimated 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in what is known by Palestinians as the "Nakba," Arabic for "catastrophe."
"When the cannons roar in Gaza, the law is not silent," Noam said. "This has been the case since 1948."
On Thursday, South Africa's legal team alleged that Israeli leadership had demonstrated "genocidal intent," pointing to statements made by top officials. But Noam said Israel has no tolerance for statements calling for harm to civilians in Gaza and that the Israeli justice system could consider them to be incitement.
Noam said an order by the court asking Israel to halt hostilities in Gaza would lead to a "perverse situation" in which Hamas would continue to attack citizens of Israel, hold about 136 hostages in the Gaza Strip and prevent displaced Israelis from returning to their homes. It would also set a precedent, he said, in which militant groups like Hamas turn to the international court for protection.
"Yes, there is a heart wrenching armed conflict," Noam said. "But the attempt to classify it as genocide will turn an instrument adopted by international community to prevent horrors of the kind that shocked the conscience of humanity during the Holocaust into a weapon in the hands of terrorist groups who have no regard for humanity or the law."