South Africa’s Gaza genocide case against Israel is funded by Iran – report

The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) published a report on Friday stating that South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is being funded by Iran.

The report, "South Africa, Hamas, Iran, and Qatar: The Hijacking of the ANC and the International Court of Justice," states that South Africa has developed strategic relationships with Iran's terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as with leading state sponsors of terrorism in Iran and Qatar.

In January, the African National Congress (ANC) submitted a formal legal case to the ICJ in The Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In May, South Africa claimed that Israel’s military operations sought to “destroy Palestinian life and to wipe them off the face of the earth.”

According to the ISGAP report, South Africa's ruling ANC party brought the case against Israel to the ICJ as a diversion from its own domestic challenges. Shortly after announcing the case, the ANC faced near bankruptcy but unexpectedly secured funds after a series of meetings between ANC ministers and leaders from Iran, Qatar, and Hamas. These funds reportedly covered the party's nearly $30 million debt.

The report also highlighted that South Africa functions as a hub for terrorist financing and fundraising, with an increasing presence of Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, who use the country for military training and media operations.

In January, The Jerusalem Post uncovered a South African network involving major banks and organizations deeply involved in funding the Hamas terrorist group. At the center of the network was the Al-Quds International Foundation, a Hamas-affiliated organization, established in 2001 in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola attended Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian's inauguration in Tehran this summer, according to the ISGAP report, and was praised by acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri, “for his outstanding role as an undaunted and innovative diplomat in pursuing the case of the Zionist regime’s crimes at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the special efforts by the South African government to denounce the regime’s crimes in international legal and judicial circles.”

The ISGAP report also describes how South Africa‘s efforts have been crucial in gaining Iran political legitimacy and influential economic access by facilitating its involvement in the BRICS group, an intergovernmental organization comprising nine nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Furthermore, Qatar has invested heavily in South African energy projects.

The report highlights that 45 of the 574 references in South Africa's ICJ submission were sourced from anti-Israel organizations. In January, NGO Monitor, a globally recognized research institute established in 2002, demonstrated how the case relied heavily on reports from groups with known ties to terrorist organizations.

“South Africa's submission to the court contains no fewer than 45 references to NGO publications, including several from outfits linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization. Staff and board members of these PFLP-linked groups were part of the South African delegation to public hearings in mid-January and helped prepare South Africa's case,” wrote NGO Monitor Chief of Staff Naftali Balanson in The Wall Street Journal.

“Among the references in South Africa's court petition is a report titled 'Israel Apartheid. Tool of Zionist settler colonialism' from al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO that Israel designated a 'terror organization' in 2021."

He added: "According to Israel, al-Haq is part of a network that operates on behalf of the PFLP... Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin was part of South Africa's delegation to the ICJ... On Oct. 10, Ziad Hmaidan, head of al-Haq's training and capacity-building unit, celebrated the Hamas attacks, writing on Facebook: 'It is written in the Hadith: 'You must wage jihad. The best jihad is preparing for war, and it is best to prepare for war in Ashkelon,' an Israeli city.