Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his political capital chipping away at the prospect of a two-state solution.

Despite being ousted from power in 2021 after being indicted for criminal acts, he came back to power because allies further to the right who’ve historically rejected any talk of Palestinian statehood, invited him after a narrow election win in 2022. They’ve long been advocating additional Jewish settlements in the West Bank and now, even of war-blighted Gaza, after 3 months of Israeli attacks on Hamas in Gaza. Some of these right-wing ministers have also been publicly calling for the relocation of all Palestinians to other countries.

The divergent rhetoric coming from within Israel’s extreme right governing officials for different audiences has made U.S. attempts to hatch a regional plan to calm the crisis more difficult.

It’s my opinion that Israel’s far right war hawks and Hamas terrorists from Gaza are both guilty of war crimes. But Israel has a right to be free from the constant threats of harm from Hamas while the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have a right to a life of dignity, where their rights are respected. To achieve these goals, both the Israeli extreme right coalition members led by the current prime minister and Hamas’s leadership in Gaza have to relinquish power.

For the past 3 months, Israel military war tactics have resulted in the outright destruction of Gaza, killing over 23,000 while trapping the Palestinians living there in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis status. Israel’s scorched earth military war tactics have been in response to the October 7, 2023 brutal massacre of about 1,200 souls in Israel with 240 being taken as hostages by Hamas from Gaza.

South Africa has decided to be part of the dialog with regards to 2023 Israel-Hamas war by coming forward to accuse Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza as it pleads with the United Nations’ top court on January 11, 2024 to order an immediate halt to Israel’s military operation against Hamas, in Gaza.

It’d help their cause if South African officials were in a position of sharing with the world, the ample, timely, accurate, detailed intelligence from allies and from within, that were in the possession of Israel, prior to the October 7, 2023, when Israelis were massacred by Hamas. Let Israel explain, why they didn’t take even the most minimal steps to prevent this horror.

With the Israeli media outlets voluntarily coordinating with Israel’s military war efforts against Hamas, civilians living in Israel are deliberately being shielded from the news regarding the level of harm being imposed on Palestinians in Gaza.

These Israelis will eventually face this reality as there will be widespread, worldwide publicity regarding South Africa’s highly detailed/ documented accusation against Israel for committing genocide. It’s being presented before the Hague, starting around January 11, 2024. Israel plans to strongly contest this accusation.

Below is one of many examples of rhetoric by Israeli military documented in South Africa’s complaint:

—” Israeli Army Colonel, Deputy Head of COGAT: speaking in a video filmed in Beit
Lahia — one of the areas of Gaza which appears to have suffered particularly severe levels of
destruction — and broadcast on Israeli television on 4 November 2023, Colonel Yogev BarSheshet stated: “[w]hoever returns here, if they return here after, will find scorched earth. No houses, no agriculture, no nothing. They have no future;” another Army Colonel recorded in the same video, Colonel Erez Eshel (Reserve), also commented that: “Vengeance is a great value. There is vengeance over what they did to us … This place will be a fallow land. They will not be able to live here.”

Must Read: The 84-page application filed by the government of South Africa at the International Court of Justice

Top UN court opens hearings on South Africa’s allegation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza/ AP

What is South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ? – BBC

Patrick Kingsley and Johnatan Reiss write about how Israel’s words have differed based on its audience, in their January 9, 2024 NY Times report, “Israel, Shifting War Tempo, Tailors Its Messages for Home and Abroad:”

Excerpts:

“With a vast chasm between how Israelis see the war in Gaza and how much of the world does, Israel’s leaders have taken to adopting different rhetoric when addressing the two audiences about how its military campaign against Hamas will be conducted over the year ahead.”

“Israeli officials have begun to tell the international news media that its forces are shifting to a less intense phase of operations, particularly in northern Gaza, amid international alarm at the scale of destruction and civilian casualties in the territory.”

“But after those comments were published on (January 8, 2024), Israeli leaders sought to reassure the Israeli public that they remained committed to a long-term war in Gaza to destroy Hamas, even if the military tactics are shifting.”

“The messages are not incompatible, analysts say: The pace of a war can ebb without the conflict ending. But they say the differing rhetoric reflects the Israeli government’s effort to placate an international audience in the short term, in order to pursue its goals over the long term.”

“At home, the government must answer to a population, traumatized by the brutality of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, that still wants the government to follow through with its promise to end Hamas’s control of the Gaza Strip.”

“But to do that, Israel must retain some level of international legitimacy, especially if it wants to sustain the support of its primary backer, the United States. The top U.S. diplomat, Antony J. Blinken, visited Israel on Tuesday amid growing pressure on the Biden administration to push for a cease-fire.”

“The juggling act will become even harder on Thursday, when the International Court of Justice will hear allegations, leveled by South Africa, that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. The hearing could lead the court to order Israel to suspend its campaign, a largely symbolic gesture that Israel might ignore, but only at further cost to its reputation.”

“With all these put together, Israel wants to put on an image of, ‘OK, we’ve taken the criticism, we’ve integrated and incorporated the remarks,’” Alon Pinkas, Israel’s former consul-general in New York and a political commentator, said in an interview.”

“By contrast, Mr. Pinkas said, the Israeli mainstream does not want to hear that the war is winding down while Hamas remains active in much of Gaza. Israelis, he said, “understand that very little has been achieved, if the idea was to eliminate or eradicate or obliterate or annihilate or topple Hamas.”

“The rhetorical double act may have been clearest when the Israeli military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said in an interview with The New York Times that the war had entered a new phase, with Israel drawing down its troops, focusing on southern regions of Gaza and decreasing the number of airstrikes. Earlier in the day, Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, told The Wall Street Journal that Israel would soon transition from “intense maneuvering” toward “different types of special operations.”

“But in their domestic appearances, the men had a different focus.”

In his daily Hebrew-language press briefing on Monday night, Admiral Hagari responded to a question about his interview with The Times by saying that the goal of dismantling Hamas remained in place, and that the “semantics” of whether the war had entered a new phase “doesn’t serve the Israeli public.”

“And separately, the Israeli news media reported that Mr. Gallant had told fellow right-wing lawmakers, in a closed-door meeting, that the war would continue “for many more months,” and for that to happen, Israel needed a “margin for international maneuver.” Mr. Gallant’s office confirmed the remarks.”

“The scale of that (23,000 civilian death) toll — roughly one in a hundred Gazans have been killed — has given fuel to the allegations of genocide that will be discussed this week in The Hague.”

“Israel has strongly denied the accusations, but those making them have pointed to inflammatory statements from Israeli government ministers and lawmakers. The petition to the court lists scores of statements it says imply genocidal intent. It also argues that Israel is seeking to harm Palestinians by limiting the delivery of aid to the territory.”

“The attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, issued a statement in English, pledging that the government and its security forces were “all committed to act in accordance with international law, including the law of armed conflict.” It said that “any statement calling, inter alia, for intentional harm to civilians, contradicts the policy of the State of Israel and may amount to a criminal offense, including the offense of incitement.”

“And despite Mr. Blinken’s calls to de-escalate the fighting on Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Israel is clashing with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia allied with Hamas, the government has refused to rule out invading Lebanon if Hezbollah forces remain close to the border.”

“We will create a completely different reality, or we will get to another war,” the Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said.”