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Israel’s attack on Rafah is part of an “endgame” in which Gaza is “utterly destroyed” as a place fit for human life, the UN’s highest court was told on Thursday.
South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to order a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza amid what it called a “new and horrific phase” of the war.
In a two-hour pleading in The Hague, it said previous rulings by the 17-judge bench telling Israel to prevent genocide “have not succeeded” in protecting Palestinians.
“Israel must be stopped,” said South African lawyer Adila Hassim, who became visibly emotional as she told the court of the suffering of Palestinian children.
Israel, which denies South Africa's allegation of genocide, will take the floor in reply on Friday.
On another day of legal arguments over the war in the Middle East:
· South Africa said the destruction of Rafah, the “last refuge” in Gaza's south, would mean there is “no more Palestinian life in Gaza to speak of”
· The court heard Israel had sealed off aid routes and bombarded Rafah in “unprecedented violence” even by the standards of the past seven months
· One lawyer compared Israel's “spectacular destruction” of Rafah to the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995
· Israel's use of evacuation orders and talk of designated humanitarian zones was described to judges as “purely performative” because many people cannot flee
· Judges were urged to intervene to defend the court's authority and the rule of law after earlier rulings failed to quell the violence
· South Africa said many people especially in the West had “appeared unwilling to accept” that “people who look like us” could commit genocide
Full withdrawal
Lawyers for South Africa had initially sought an Israeli withdrawal only from Rafah, the southern tip of Gaza where many Palestinians are sheltering.
However, they widened the request to all of Gaza on Thursday because only a full retreat will “protect what is left of Palestinian life” in the strip, Ms Hassim said.
British barrister Vaughan Lowe, representing South Africa, said the attack on Rafah was part of a wider goal of “wiping Gaza from the map”.
“It has become increasingly clear that Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the endgame in which Gaza is utterly destroyed as an area capable of human habitation,” he said.
“It was Rafah that brought South Africa to the court, but it is all Palestinians … who need the protection from genocide that the court can order.”
Judges declined a previous South African request in January to order a withdrawal by Israel, which argued this would deny it the right to self-defence.
The court has instead told Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocide and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid.
However, the court was told Israel's talk of setting up humanitarian zones and evacuating civilians is “purely performative”.
South African barrister Max du Plessis said many of those sheltering in Rafah are “so starved that they can barely walk” and therefore unable to move elsewhere.
The ICJ was told Israel's closure of border crossings had served to “seal Gaza hermetically from the outside world” and deny life-saving aid.
Humanitarian need
Israel's failure to allow sufficient food and aid into Gaza has “plunged Gaza into unprecedented levels of humanitarian need even as compared with the catastrophic levels of the previous seven months”, Mr du Plessis said.
In addition, Israel has “deliberately attacked the very shelters to which it directed Palestinians to flee”, he told the court.
Attacking Rafah after “deliberately herding” Palestinians there through attacks on the rest of Gaza “leaves only one inference … and that is of genocidal intent”, he said.
He compared Israel's attack on Rafah to the mass killing of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, for which Serb commanders were found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Court.
Borrowing from a UN court's ruling on Srebrenica, he said destroying in full view of the world was “intended by Israel to serve as a potent example to all Palestinians of their vulnerability and their defencelessness”.
The ICJ is not considering at this stage whether Israel has committed genocide, a verdict that could take years.
Instead it is hearing a request by South Africa for an interim order to stop the genocide case being overtaken by events.
With Palestine lacking full UN status, South Africa is acting on its behalf under a precedent that all states have an interest in preventing genocide.
South Africa “is here because the Palestinian people are facing genocide in Gaza and your previous orders have not succeeded in protecting them against that”, Mr Lowe said.
Lawyers also called on the court to act in the name of the rule of law and “reassert its authority”.
“This may well be the last chance for the court to act,” said Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, an Irish lawyer representing South Africa.
Israel has previously described South Africa's genocide case as one-sided and blamed Hamas human-shielding tactics for the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
It says its offensive is a response to the Hamas violence on October 7 in which militants killed and kidnapped Israelis in a surprise attack.
In a second case filed by Nicaragua, the court last month refused a request to stop Germany providing arms to Israel.
The ICJ is separate from the International Criminal Court, which is believed to be considering arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
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Persuasion
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Date started: 2018
Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: TravelTech
Funding stage: Pre-series A
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Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
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