International relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor says the government has not received any funding from Iran in its pursuit of genocide charges against Israel over the Gaza conflict.
The minister said on Wednesday such claims were part of a fightback campaign against SA for having brought the charges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Pandor repeated a warning made by President Cyril Ramaphosa recently that SA should expect retaliation from its detractors. These could include incitement of regime change, the president said.
“There’s no funding from Iran. It is merely an allegation and we expect even more allegations to come our way.
“As far as I know the [SA] legal team has not been paid yet and I have not seen an offer from Iran regarding payment,” she told journalists.
The claims that SA and the governing ANC are receiving funding from Iran were initially sparked by the former CEO of the SA Institute of Race Relations (IRR), shortly after SA filed its case at the ICJ. The claim was later reported by various Israeli media publications. However these were not backed up with evidence.
Israel and Iran are longtime rivals, with Tel Aviv accusing Tehran of funding armed military groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran has supported SA’s case at the ICJ. Israel said the charges brought by SA were “outrageous”, and that it would continue its military action in Gaza while adhering to international law.
The court’s decision last week noted that 25,700 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict that started in October 2023 after Hamas launched an attack on Israel. A reported 1,200 Israelis were killed and about 240 were kidnapped by Hamas militants, resulting in Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which SA says “plausibly” involves various acts of genocide.
The court also ordered Israel “to prevent and punish” incitement to genocide, after noting statements from Israeli officials. Israel must report back to it within 30 days.
The ICJ called on Hamas and other armed groups to release Israeli hostages and expressed grave concern over the hostages’ fate.
Pandor has also called on Israeli allies to halt funding the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) after the ICJ’s ruling, which found the military action could be genocidal.
Pandor said the ICJ ruling “makes it clear that it is plausible that genocide is taking place against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This necessarily imposes an obligation on all states to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions.”
After the ICJ’s ruling, at least 10 countries, including the US and Germany, halted funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after Israel’s claim on Friday that some agency staff belonged to Hamas and Islamic Jihad were directly involved in the raid that triggered the Gaza war.
Pandor said that the action was part of a “collective punishment” against Palestinians.
“What SA should do with the relief agency is to really try and secure humanitarian support. We should be speaking to the Gulf states, we should be speaking to other African countries that have the ability to contribute, we should look to our own resources and we should support the agency to provide humanitarian aid. We shouldn’t leave things as it is,” she said.
