Netanyahu Rejects Charges of Genocide as ‘Lies’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected South Africa’s charge that it was committing “genocidal” acts in the Gaza Strip after Pretoria filed a case against Israel at the U.N.’s International Court of Justice, The Times of Israel reported.

“No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide; it is Hamas,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting. “It would murder all of us if it could. In contrast, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is acting as morally as possible.”

More than 21,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, since Hamas carried out an invasion of Israel and massacred some 1,200 people and brought some 240 hostages back to Gaza on October 7, The Hill reported.

Netanyahu called South Africa’s charges “nonsense, lies, and evil spirit,” adding that “we will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which is without peer.”

The Biden administration has strongly backed Israel during the war, although in recent weeks American officials have increased their calls for Israel to exert a better effort in protecting civilian lives.

“Hamas does everything to get [civilians] harmed, using them as a human shield,” Netanyahu said in his remarks. The Israeli army has provided substantial evidence that Hamas terrorists position themselves in and around civilian sites such as hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and places of worship.

South Africa alleges the “acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character” with the intent “to destroy Palestinians in Gaza” as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group.

In its submission last week, South Africa asked the court to issue an interim order for Israel to stop its attacks in Gaza.

Netanyahu has warned of many more months of war in order to destroy Hamas.