️ The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a message on its official X account directed at The Hague Group, a growing coalition of sovereign states—including South Africa, Colombia, and Malaysia—that was meeting in an emergency session in The Hague to discuss the enforcement of international law and accountability for actions in Gaza. The ministry shared an image of 40 assembled nations alongside a photograph of thick black smoke rising from an Iranian vessel sunk earlier that same day. Part of the caption read: “We can expect the outcome of the Hague meeting to be as successful as Iran’s navy.” This post was published on an official government account and has not been retracted, while referencing an active military operation.
️ The Hague Group represents a significant shift in Global South diplomacy, established on January 31, 2025, by eight core nations: Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal, and South Africa, with the explicit mandate of coordinating state action to enforce the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provisional measures. The coalition explicitly frames its activities as compliance with an existing international legal framework, not a departure from it. In contrast, Israel has responded by comparing a diplomatic meeting to a military target, a choice that reveals contempt for the process, the participants, and the premise that legal accountability applies equally to all states.
️ By March 2026, The Hague Group’s influence had expanded significantly, with 40 nations—including G20 members like Brazil and Saudi Arabia, alongside European states such as Spain and Norway—convening to discuss concrete measures to ensure the enforcement of international law. In the final statement from the March 4 emergency meeting, the attending nations proposed a sweeping package of concrete measures to move “from rhetoric to action,” including a total prohibition on the import of settlement goods and a halt to the transfer or transit of all arms, military fuel, and dual-use items to Israel. A significant new measure involved the implementation of disclosure requirements for travelers using Israeli documents; individuals who have served in the Israeli military could now be subject to “secondary screening at ports of entry” under national war crimes inadmissibility rules.
️ The Israeli ministry’s tweet dismissed the coalition as “corrupt regimes” united by “hatred,” but the legal standing of this group is bound up with a history that Israel cannot so easily dismiss. During the height of the apartheid era in South Africa, when the world was beginning to isolate the white-minority government in Pretoria, Israel remained one of its most steadfast allies, involving nuclear collaboration and advanced military technology. The tools of state violence that maintained apartheid were often developed or refined in tandem with Israeli expertise.
️ The current moment adds another layer of historical irony: the February 28 strikes on Iran have given new prominence to Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, heir to the Pahlavi dynasty, who has thanked Donald Trump for “striking the monstrous regime” in what he has referred to as a “humanitarian intervention.” In April 2023, on an official visit to Israel organized by the Israeli intelligence minister, Pahlavi spoke of rekindling “the ancient bond” between the people of Israel and Iran and promoted the “Cyrus Accords” to re-establish ties between them.
Source: www.aljazeera.com