DOZENS of major actors have come together to read South Africa’s filing against Israel submitted to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
Key sections of South Africa’s 84-page filing has been read out in two videos which present more than 50 clauses of the case South Africa laid out, accusing Israel with genocide.
The videos were published by the Palestine Festival of Literature – a cultural initiative created as an act of cultural solidarity with Palestine by a group of international cultural figures brought together by Founding Chair, Ahdaf Soueif, in 2008.
The group previously published a video of Scottish actor Brian Cox who paid tribute to a Palestinian poet and teacher who was killed amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Cox read the “last poem” by respected academic and writer Refaat Alareer in December.
The group shared the readings on Twitter/X and said: “Every state has a legal duty to support South Africa’s case and uphold the Genocide Convention. Please apply pressure on your country if they have not supported the case.”
In the first video, 29 actors and artists read out the introduction and part one of the document: “Genocidal Acts Committed Against the Palestinian People”.
The readers include Scottish actor Peter Mullan, Game of Thrones stars Lena Headey, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, and Carice van Houten, as well as Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon and Alan Partridge’s Steve Coogan.
Khalid Abdalla, who recently played Dodi Al-Fayad in Netflix’s The Crown shared the video, posting: “It is one thing to read these words on the page, it is another to read them out loud. There were times when they broke me, and I had to start again to compose myself.
“@PalFest have put together an incredible series with an urgency that attempts to live up to this moment.”
The second video features the evidence chapter “Causing Serious Bodily and Mental Harm to Palestinians in Gaza” and the third hears the “Mass Expulsions from Homes and Displacement”.
Speaking to The National, Professor Alison Phipps, who helped inspire the video, commented: "Since we performed our own symbolic reading of South Africa's application against Israel to the International Court of Justice, I have watched our National article and posts go viral.
"We have been contacted by colleagues around the world who are keen to do likewise, looking for tips.
"I wasn't prepared, however, for the wonderful message from my colleague Daniel Machover in London with a link to these courageous stars reading the text of the application, saying 'look what your public reading in Glasgow inspired'."
All of the readers in the video are as listed: Khalid Abdalla; Tunde Adebimpe; Gbenga Akinnagbe; Adam Bakri; Kathleen Chalfant; Steve Coogan; Liam Cunningham; Charles Dance; Stephen Dillane; Inua Ellams; Paapa Essiedu; Lena Headey; Aida El-Kashef; Natalie Diaz; Maaza Mengiste; Tobias Menzies; Sepideh Moaf; Indya Moore; Peter Mullan; Cynthia Nixon; Maxine Peake; Dario Ladani Sanchez; Susan Sarandon; Maisie Richardson Sellers; Alia Shawkat; Wallace Shawn; Morgan Spector; Carice van Houten; Harriet Walter; Zukiswa Wanner.
