South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperations Minister, Naledi Pandor has accused Israeli intelligence of trying to intimidate her after her country brought genocide charges against Israel last month at the UN’s top court.
Pandor said she was concerned for her family’s safety after having been targeted on social media, local media reported.
“I felt that [it would] be better if we had extra security. But what I’m more concerned about is my family, because in some of the social media messages my children are mentioned and so on, but this is par for the course. The Israeli agents, the intelligence services, [this] is how they behave, and they seek to intimidate you, so we must not be intimidated. There is a cause that is underway,” she told the Mail & Guardian.
South Africa received a hero’s response from countries other than the West when it took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the latter of genocidal acts in Gaza with its war against Hamas.
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The court last month ruled that it is “plausible” that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention. In provisional orders, it said Israel must immediately ensure that the Palestinian people in Gaza are protected from acts prohibited by the convention, but it did not order a cease-fire.
Pandor however said South Africa’s government is determined to see the ICJ case through as its lawyers would be working in the months ahead to put together a case for the next round of arguments at the ICJ.