The South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) has warned that South Africa’s deepening military alliance with Iran fatally undermines its claim of neutrality at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and exposes the genocide case against Israel as a political weapon in a broader anti-Israel campaign.
“Iran’s foreign policy is defined by one central, obsessive objective – the destruction of the State of Israel,” says Daniel Jacobi, Executive Director of SAFI. “By entering into military cooperation with Iran, the ANC government is not positioning itself as a neutral human rights petitioner. It is publicly aligning with Israel’s most implacable enemy and serving as the legal arm of its war strategy.”
Jacobi noted that Iran openly funds and arms Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organisations committed to Israel’s destruction. “When you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a regime that executes dissidents, persecutes minorities, and bankrolls terror, you cannot claim to be a dispassionate humanitarian in The Hague,” he said.
In international law, a party bringing a genocide case is expected to act in good faith and with impartiality. “This new military pact destroys that posture,” Jacobi continued. “South Africa has chosen its side militarily, strategically, and ideologically. Israel and its allies now have every right to argue that the ICJ case is driven not by facts on the ground, but by political allegiance to an anti-Israel bloc.”
SAFI warns that the ICJ case fits seamlessly into Iran’s hybrid warfare doctrine – combining terrorism, proxy militias, and ‘lawfare’ to isolate and weaken Israel. “By simultaneously coordinating militarily with Iran, South Africa makes itself look less like a neutral advocate for human rights and more like a co-belligerent in Iran’s campaign against the Jewish state,” Jacobi said.
The hypocrisy, Jacobi stressed, is glaring. “The ANC rallies against Israel at the ICJ while ignoring Iran’s executions, women’s rights abuses, and role in mass atrocities in Syria and Yemen. This is human rights as a political weapon, not a consistent principle. It erodes both the legal and moral weight of South Africa’s case.”
By aligning militarily with Iran, South Africa also risks damaging the Court’s standing. “This case now looks less like a humanitarian intervention and more like an extension of Iran’s geopolitical campaign,” Jacobi concluded. “That perception doesn’t just weaken South Africa’s arguments – it undermines trust in the ICJ itself.”
SAFI calls on the ANC to immediately disclose the full scope of its agreements with Iran and to explain to South Africans why their government is aligning with the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror while claiming to act in the name of human rights.
