The International Court of Justice in The Hague, headed by American judge Joan Donoghue, will begin hearings tomorrow in the case filed by South Africa against Israel, accusing it of committing genocide crimes in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian people.

The court allocated the first day for two hours starting from ten in the morning - Cairo time - to hear the plea of the South African defense team, which includes a select group of international law professors.

Below is a glimpse of the legal team, which includes nine prominent experts in international law and human rights, according to the South African newspaper "Times Live".

John Dugard

Dugard, former professor of law at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, is considered one of the leading defenders of international law in South Africa locally and internationally.

He practices international law and international criminal law in the Netherlands.

Since 2001, he has served as the special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Committee in the Palestinian territories, and he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Law for Palestine since 2020.

He previously prepared a report on the situation in Palestine in 2006, in which he stated that human rights violations in the Palestinian territories had reached "unbearable new levels".
Dugard also has experience with the International Court of Justice, having served as a special judge at the court in 2008.
Dugard said in an interview conducted with him in 2015: “I am South African who lived under apartheid, and I have no hesitation in saying that Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians are worse than those committed by the apartheid regime.”

Dugard was part of the negotiations that led to the drafting of South Africa's constitution after the fall of the apartheid regime.

Dugard now practices international law and international criminal law in the Netherlands.

Adila Hasim

Hasim, a former judge and member of the Johannesburg Bar Association since 2003, is also a founder of the anti-corruption organization "Corruption Watch" and serves on its board in South Africa.

She is also a member of Thulamela Chambers, specializing in social, economic, and health rights issues. She contributed to the preparation of the "Human Rights Guide and Health Law and Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa," and has many research publications in legal and health journals.

Tempika Ngcokaitobi

Ngcokaitobi is a prominent lawyer and member of the Johannesburg Bar Association, specializing in constitutional and commercial law. Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa, appointed him to be a member of the Judicial Service Commission in 2022, and a member of the Competition Court of South Africa in 2023.

Ngcokaitobi gained his fame during the tenure of former South African President Jacob Zuma after joining the legal team of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, which defended in the Constitutional Court in Pretoria for the issuance of the so-called state capture report.

Ngcokaitobi was behind the application submitted to the Constitutional Court to convict Zuma of contempt of court for refusing to testify before the commission investigating the state capture case, which led to Zuma’s imprisonment as the first former head of state in democratic South Africa to be jailed.

Max du Plessis

Du Plessis is a lawyer specializing in public law, human rights, international law, and competition law at Thulamela Chambers, specialized in social and economic rights issues, and was for many years a visiting fellow in international law at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

Du Plessis provides consultation to international organizations and governmental and non-governmental organizations, and has appeared or provided advice on issues presented before the International Criminal Court (ICC), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the East African Court of Justice.

He also represented the opposition "Democratic Alliance" in South Africa, last May in obtaining an urgent declaratory order from the High Court in Pretoria, demanding the court to confirm South Africa's commitment to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin, who was expected to attend the BRICS summit in South Africa last year, charged with war in Ukraine.

Three junior counsel with extensive experience in human rights law and international law will also join the senior advisors in The Hague.