More … than 1,000 Christians gathered in The Hague on Thursday to march in favor of Israel and against the opening of South Africa’s case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
South Africa accuses Israel of subjecting Palestinians to acts of genocidea claim that nearly 30 South African Christian organizations refuted in an open letter earlier this week.
“Our Dutch national directors Jacob and Hennie Keegstra and other supporters of the ICEJ (International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem) were among the Christians who sided with Israel against this false accusation,” the ICEJ wrote in a statement on Facebook that included several photos of protesters calling to bring the Israeli hostages out of Gaza and back home.
The open letter, sent to the office of South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, who is representing SA’s case in The Hague, calls SA’s legal decision “fundamentally flawed.”
He also said the decision was against South Africa’s best interests and could have adverse political and economic consequences.
“The South African government has undermined the interests of its people to achieve the political and religious goals of others,” the letter reads. “The government is also aware that the unilateral approach it has taken has put its Jewish citizens at risk by inciting anti-Semitism and eroding freedom of religion for Christians in South Africa.”
Lamola responds
On Thursday morning, the organizations received a response from Lamola’s office, receiving a letter signed by his spokesperson, Phiri Chrispin.
“Thank you for your statement,” Chrispin wrote in an email to the ChristianView Network, an advocacy group in South Africa that helped spearhead the appeal letter. “We appreciate your efforts in sharing your perspective with us. However, your statement is fraught with a number of factual inaccuracies and principles of international law do not support some of these arguments.
“We will present our case in great detail today before the world court. You can follow him on various information platforms,” the letter concludes.
The Jerusalem Post received a copy of the email.
Philip Rosenthal, one of the signatories of the statement to the government and director of the ChristianView network, told the Post that while the Christian network cannot stop the process at this point, “(they) plan to meet with them to continue the dialogue”.
