Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba has called on the government to support South Africa in its move to charge Israel with genocide through the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“Malta has so far taken a very courageous stance when compared to other EU states, and I believe that, as a country, we should support this initiative of the South African government,” Agius Saliba told Times of Malta.
South Africa has launched an emergency case at the ICJ arguing that Israel stands in breach of the UN Genocide Convention, signed in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust. Israel has described the case as “profoundly disturbed” and “malevolent”.
Most of the EU’s 27 member states have remained silent on the issue.
Asked if Malta should still support South Africa even if alone in doing so, Agius Saliba said that “when you are speaking the truth and when you know you are on the right side, you should always speak up”.
'Someone needs to begin'
“Someone needs to begin. The South African government was first, and I believe there should be many more states, including Malta, that support this initiative to end fighting immediately and condemn something that can never be justified”.
Earlier this week a group of Maltese activists, academics and authors urged Malta to be the first EU member to join South Africa’s case. The PL MEP did not go as far as calling on Malta to join the proceedings at the ICJ.
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Turkey, Venezuela and the 57-country Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), have all supported Israel’s move.
The US has strongly rejected South Africa’s allegations, while the UK has called them unjustified.
In the EU, Germany has described the genocide claim as “false”, Austria has voiced doubt on the case and the European Commission has said it is “not for us to comment”.
'To go against the US, Israel is not a joke'
Many European countries do not want to condemn Israel because of political repercussions, Agius Saliba said on the edges of a European Parliament (EP) plenary session in Strasbourg.
“The South African government has made a courageous decision because to go against the US (an Israeli ally) and Israel is not a joke,” Agius Saliba said.
Israel is coming under mounting international pressure to end its offensive against Gaza, launched after the October 7 Hamas attacks that killed 1,140 people.
At least 24,285 Palestinians, about 70 per cent of them women, children, and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments in Gaza, according to the Hamas government.
“Israel had every right to defend itself but not to use defence as an excuse to conduct disproportionate attacks,” said Agius Saliba. “We now almost have 25,000 civilians who were massacred in less than three months; there is nothing proportional in that.
“There is a situation where there is ongoing ethnic cleansing with a people that are denied the most basic rights,” Agius Saliba said.
“In the West Bank, where the excuse of Hamas using civilians as human shields does not exist, you still have hundreds of Palestinians who were killed,” he said.
Agius Saliba said that several fellow MEPs advised him to tone down his stance on the issue because he might find problems in his political career, including through political pressure from the Israeli government.
He has joined MEPs calling on the EU to support South Africa’s ICJ case in a letter to the commission.
MEPs voting for a resolution tomorrow
The letter, which is an initiative of the Left group in the European Parliament, also asks the EU to call on provisional measures to cease “the genocide”. There are no Maltese MEPs in the Left group, with Labour part of the Socialist and Democrats and the PN part of the European People’s Party.
Agius Saliba was speaking hours before an EP parliament debate on the “Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation”.
MEPs will be voting on a resolution tomorrow.
Agius Saliba said that the EP has not done enough on this issue, comparing the body’s actions towards Russia with those of Israel.
“In three years since Russia’s war of aggression, less than 5,000 Ukrainian civilians have died; in Gaza, 25,000 have already died in three months”.
The EU has rightly condemned Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, and there have been multiple condemnations and sanctions imposed on Russia, he said.
But “on a human tragedy that is much larger, we have not had the courage to call for a ceasefire or to call for the protection of journalists,” Agius Saliba said.