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Israel responded this Friday to an emergency public hearing called by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Accused Israel of violating the 1946 Genocide Convention by rejecting their claims.

“This case, by its very name… signals a subversion of reality… and a vulgar exploitation of the most sacred tradition… Calling something genocide repeatedly does not make it genocide. Repeating a lie does not A lie does not make it the truth,” Gilad Noam, Israel’s Deputy Attorney General for International Law, said in his opening remarks.

Noam said the picture presented by South Africa over the past five months was “completely at odds with the facts and circumstances”. He spoke of the “difficult and tragic armed conflict” in which Israel is immersed, and asked the court to “respect the situation in which it finds itself.”

“Armed conflict is not synonymous with genocide,” he said.

He said Israel was surprised by South Africa’s emergency hearing notice and requested a postponement to ensure adequate representation. However, the court rejected this request.

South Africa announced to the ICJ on Thursday that Rafah is the last refuge for Gaza civilians. In response, Noam said that while civilians have been evacuated to Rafah, it is also “a focal point of ongoing terrorist activity”.

On Thursday, South Africa declared in court that “if Rafah falls, Gaza will fall too,” to which Israel said the opposite.

He accused South Africa of “exploiting the court and its authority” with its “baseless claims” and “non-existent evidence”, adding that “all media reports do not represent the facts”.

Context: As in previous hearings before the ICJ, Israel insisted that it was acting in accordance with international law in Gaza.