‘It’s been an inspirational experience’: SA legal team receive hero’s welcome

JOHANNESBURG - The South African legal team that faced off with Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague received a hero's welcome at OR Tambo International Airport.
Scores of pro-Palestine South Africans gathered at the airport, waving Palestinian flags and placards with messages of support on Sunday.

South Africa and Israel were pitted against each other at the ICJ last week in a landmark case.

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Pretoria accused Tel Aviv of genocidal intent in its retaliatory attacks on Gaza, where over 23,000 Palestinian civilians, including more than 10,000 children, were killed since October 2023.

The initial surprise attacks by Hamas claimed over 1,000 Israeli lives and saw the abduction of about 240 others.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said, humbled as they were, this was just an episode in a long struggle.

“It has been an inspirational experience because efforts that have gone into resisting an injustice by the Palestinian people is itself a source of great inspiration for a lawyer who comes into the situation at the tail-end.”