Pretoria, July 21 (RHC)-- The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion shows that states “must isolate the State of Israel for continuing to… practice apartheid in Palestine,” South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola has said in a statement.

“The people of the world helped us to fight against apartheid. This ruling also called for the people of the world to help the people of Palestine, Gaza [and the] West Bank to fight this enduring apartheid by the state of Israel,” Lamola said.

Lamola added that the court’s opinion also showed that Israel’s argument that it was acting in self-defence did not hold.  “This ruling clearly shows that an occupier can’t act in self-defence,” he said.

The World Court’s ruling on Friday, the 19th, came following a 2022 request from the UN General Assembly and 49 submissions from member states, including South Africa.

South Africa has also separately brought another case before the ICJ, alleging that Israel is committing genocide in its war on Gaza.