South Africa Accused of Prior Knowledge in the Hamas Attack

(The Post News)– Significant accusations have been made against South Africa by a UK-based human rights advocacy group, which claims that the country knew of Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel beforehand. Justin Lewis, a representative for the judicial rights group Casisa, made the allegations, which have sparked debate and proposals for international sanctions.

Lewis lays forth his charges in a letter to Leo Brent Bozell III, a well-known American conservative activist who was nominated to be the US ambassador to South Africa. Lewis contends in the letter, dated March 27, 2025, that South Africa’s legal efforts in the wake of the attack on Israel were a component of a larger plan to aid Hamas.

He specifically claims that the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa helped Hamas access international tribunals that it is not a signatory to, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Hamas could not have filed lawsuits in these courts without this assistance.

Lewis further asserts that these measures were planned in order to give Hamas legal cover before Israel’s military reaction to the attack. He describes it as “assisting a neighbour to burn his house down, then rushing to court to claim insurance protection from your insurer.” Israel launched retaliatory strikes on Gaza in response to the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed almost 1,200 Israeli people and took 252 hostages, resulting in a considerable number of Palestinian losses, including over 50,000 deaths.

In his letter, Lewis raises the possibility that South Africa was implicated in the ensuing bloodshed because of its purported backing for Hamas. He stresses how critical it is to solve these issues, saying that no American president could permit a planned assault to go unpunished. The situation has gotten worse since he expressed his worries to the US Senate and Congress. Lewis is also demanding clarification on whether South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was aware of these purported DIRCO and Hamas acts, threatening to impose US penalties on South Africa if he does not respond to these claims.

Chrispin Phiri, a spokesman for DIRCO in South Africa, responded by calling Lewis’s allegations unfounded and unconfirmed. Given that Lewis was a part of a different investigation into money laundering connected to South African institutions, he raised doubts about his reliability.

Meanwhile, the US government has not yet commented on the potential diplomatic consequences for South Africa, nor has Bozell responded to requests for comment. There are also reports of a warning from Egypt’s intelligence chief, General Abbas Kamel, to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about an impending Hamas attack just days before it occurred. However, Netanyahu denied these claims, calling them “fake news”.