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South Africa Volunteers to be Legal Counsel for Hamas
(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - The UN has done little while Russia has slaughtered innocent Ukrainians, but suddenly the body has a cause it can get behind - charging Israel with genocide for the crime of self-defense. South Africa says support for the genocide claim should be "inferred" by the existence of Israeli bombardment. Well, no. The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." A legally plausible case for genocide requires a demonstrated intent of ethnic cleansing, not a war of self-defense after a terrorist massacre. Before its military campaign, Israel urged civilians to evacuate. But arguing the merits presumes this case is more than political theater. Where was South Africa's moral outrage when the country tolerated Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, or when it opposed the indictment of Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir for killing 200,000 people in Darfur? If the UN wants to find genocidal intent, try the Hamas charter. The preamble says "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it."