Dirco official says Israel is 'weaponising' Jewish suffering to 'deflect criticism'

A senior official of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) says Israel is using Jewish suffering as "a means to deflect criticism" over its conduct in Gaza.

This after an Israeli spokesperson described South Africa's genocide accusations against it as "blood libel".

That term, which was used by Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy to describe South Africa's International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide application against Israel, refers to antisemitic accusations levelled against Jews in Europe in the Middle Ages, when they were falsely accused of murdering Christians to steal their blood.