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Understanding South Africa’s genocide case against Israel · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [INTRO MUSIC]
• 0:05
  Mark Garrison, Narrating: Good morning. It's Thursday, January 11th. I'm Mark Garrison, in for Shamita Basu.
• 0:10
  This is Apple News Today.
• 0:12
  On today's show, South Africa's genocide case against Israel;
• 0:16
  Explaining the violent crisis in Ecuador;
• 0:19
  And a compelling new clue
• 0:21
  in one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history.
• 0:29
  [MUSIC FADES]
• 0:33
  The UN's International Court of Justice is hearing arguments in a case
• 0:37
  accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
• 0:41
  More than 23,000 Palestinians, largely civilians, have been killed
• 0:46
  since Hamas' attack on October 7th.
• 0:48
  And nearly all of Gaza's more than two million residents
• 0:51
  have been forced out of their homes.
• 0:54
  South Africa is bringing the case.
• 0:56
  In court today at the Hague, Ronald Lamola,
• 0:58
  the country's justice minister,
• 1:00
  argued that Israel's actions in Gaza have been problematic
• 1:03
  even before the current war.
• 1:04
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:05
  Justice Minister Ronald Lamola: The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression
• 1:08
  and violence for the last 76 years.
• 1:11
  On 6 October 2023, and every day since October the 7th, 2023.
• 1:18
  In the Gaza Strip, at least since 2004,
• 1:21
  Israel continues to exercise control over the airspace,
• 1:26
  territorial waters,
• 1:27
  land crossing, water, electricity, and civilian infrastructure,
• 1:32
  as well as over key government functions.
• 1:35
  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:35
  Garrison, Narrating: Lamola also clearly condemned the Hamas attack on Israel.
• 1:40
  Ellen Ioanes is covering the case for "Vox."
• 1:42
  Ellen Ioanes: Proving that Israel directed genocide
• 1:46
  and actually, as a whole state or body politic
• 1:49
  or however the court looks at this is gonna be really hard.
• 1:53
  Garrison, Narrating: She told us about why South Africa is bringing the case against Israel.
• 1:57
  Ioanes: There's a really long history of solidarity with Palestinians.
• 2:01
  It's an important political notion within South Africa.
• 2:05
  Garrison, Narrating: Nelson Mandela once said
• 2:06
  the freedom of South Africans would be incomplete
• 2:09
  without the freedom of Palestinians.
• 2:11
  He and other anti-apartheid campaigners
• 2:13
  were strong supporters of the Palestinian cause.
• 2:17
  South Africa laid out its argument in an 84-page document.
• 2:21
  It says Israel's actions are, quote, "genocidal in character,
• 2:24
  intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part
• 2:27
  of the Palestinian national, racial, and ethnical group."
• 2:31
  Israel has strongly denied the accusations.
• 2:33
  And yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• 2:36
  said the country has no intention of displacing Gaza's civilian population.
• 2:40
  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls the genocide case meritless.
• 2:45
  [START PBS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 2:45
  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken: It's particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel,
• 2:50
  Hamas,
• 2:51
  Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter Iran,
• 2:56
  continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel
• 3:00
  and the mass murder of Jews.
• 3:02
  [END PBS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 3:02
  Garrison, Narrating: Genocide is among the most serious crimes a country can be accused of.
• 3:06
  The term was first used in 1944
• 3:09
  to describe the Nazi murders of Jewish people and other ethnic groups
• 3:12
  during the Holocaust.
• 3:14
  While the court's decisions are legally binding,
• 3:17
  they can be difficult to enforce.
• 3:19
  Russia, for example, was ordered to halt its invasion of Ukraine,
• 3:22
  but has continued to ignore that ruling.
• 3:25
  Ioanes: The interesting thing about the court is
• 3:29
  There really isn't much of a mechanism
• 3:31
  besides the U.N. Security Council
• 3:34
  and member states' treaty obligations
• 3:37
  to enforce it.
• 3:40
  And that's pretty complicated because the Security Council,
• 3:45
  especially the permanent members, are highly, highly political right now.
• 3:49
  So, the U.S. has veto power.
• 3:52
  So, any sort of dispute that comes up before the Security Council,
• 3:56
  especially when it comes to Israel, the U.S. is going to side with Israel.
• 4:02
  [INVESTIGATIVE MUSIC]
• 4:02
  Garrison, Narrating: Still, Ioanes says, a ruling of genocide would have significant impact
• 4:06
  on Israel's global reputation.
• 4:08
  Tomorrow, Israel will present its defense.
• 4:10
  It could be years before there's a final ruling in this case.
• 4:21
  Now, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
• 4:25
  Today, there are closing arguments
• 4:26
  in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud case in New York.
• 4:30
  And those arguments will not be delivered by him personally.
• 4:33
  [MUSIC FADES]
• 4:33
  Trump reportedly wanted to speak, but the judge turned down the request
• 4:37
  because Trump refused to agree to stick to the facts of the case
• 4:40
  and avoid attacks.
• 4:41
  Trump is accused of fraudulently inflating his net worth
• 4:44
  and faces hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages.
• 4:48
  There's also quite a bit of news
• 4:50
  about the rest of the Republican presidential field.
• 4:52
  Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie dropped out of the race
• 4:55
  just days before the Iowa caucuses.
• 4:57
  His campaign, built on criticizing Trump, failed to gain much traction.
• 5:01
  What Christie said offstage about other candidates
• 5:04
  is getting a lot of attention this morning.
• 5:06
  He was caught on a hot mic
• 5:08
  talking about Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
• 5:10
  [START X ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:10
  Former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie: She spent 68 million so far, just on TV, spent 68 million so far,
• 5:15
  59 million by DeSantis, and we spent 12.
• 5:19
  I mean, who's punching above their weight
• 5:20
  and who's getting a return on their investment, you know?
• 5:23
  And she's gonna get smoked.
• 5:25
  And you and I both know it. She's not up to this.
• 5:27
  [END X ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:28
  Garrison, Narrating: Haley and DeSantis faced off last night
• 5:29
  in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses Monday.
• 5:32
  You can find more campaign coverage in the Apple News app.
• 5:37
  And in sports, two football legends are leaving their teams.
• 5:41
  Coach Bill Belichick is reportedly parting ways
• 5:43
  with the New England Patriots.
• 5:45
  [PENSIVE MUSIC]
• 5:45
  He coached 24 seasons there, winning six Super Bowl titles.
• 5:49
  And in college football, Alabama coach Nick Saban is retiring.
• 5:53
  He won six national titles with Alabama and one with LSU.
• 6:05
  Now to Ecuador, where people are reeling from a wave of deadly violence.
• 6:09
  It includes the incident we talked about yesterday on the show,
• 6:12
  when armed men held a TV station's employees at gunpoint
• 6:15
  while they were live on the air.
• 6:17
  The "BBC" explains how the country has been overtaken
• 6:19
  by gang violence.
• 6:20
  [MUSIC FADES]
• 6:21
  The most recent wave started a few days ago,
• 6:24
  when a notorious gang leader was found missing from his cell.
• 6:27
  There were also riots in a number of prisons across the country,
• 6:30
  with more than 130 prison guards and staff taken hostage.
• 6:34
  Carolina Loza Leon, a local journalist, told the "BBC"
• 6:37
  that many people are afraid to leave their homes.
• 6:40
  [START BBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 6:40
  Carolina Loza Leon: Nobody expected this.
• 6:42
  We had seen violence, especially when there were transfers from
• 6:46
  drug gang members, key gang members from one prison to another.
• 6:50
  But nothing as coordinated at this level in several cities in the country,
• 6:53
  as we saw.
• 6:54
  People were in a complete state of panic and terror.
• 6:57
  [END BBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 6:58
  Garrison, Narrating: Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency
• 7:00
  and is enforcing a daily curfew.
• 7:02
  Thousands of police officers and military personnel are deployed
• 7:05
  to hunt down criminal gangs and restore order.
• 7:08
  [JAZZY MUSIC]
• 7:08
  The U.S. is offering support for the government, with aid on the way.
• 7:11
  Even before the most recent surge in violence,
• 7:14
  more Ecuadorians have attempted to enter America,
• 7:17
  trying to escape the danger and poverty there.
• 7:28
  We're gonna close with a story about a big break
• 7:30
  in one of the FBI's most intriguing cold cases.
• 7:34
  "Popular Mechanics" looks at how a necktie may hold the answer
• 7:37
  to the only unsolved commercial airline hijacking in history.
• 7:42
  [MUSIC FADES]
• 7:42
  In 1971, a man got on a plane in Portland with a one-way ticket to Seattle.
• 7:48
  He gave the flight attendant a note.
• 7:50
  It said he had a bomb and wanted $200,000.
• 7:53
  His demands were met.
• 7:55
  Then somewhere over Washington State, he parachuted out and was never found.
• 8:00
  History knows him as D.B. Cooper.
• 8:03
  Just before he jumped out, he took off his tie.
• 8:06
  It wouldn't be a good idea to skydive
• 8:07
  with one of those flapping around in your face.
• 8:10
  Now, a new analysis
• 8:11
  finds some microscopic evidence that's promising.
• 8:14
  Private investigator Eric Ulis talked to the Fox station in Seattle
• 8:18
  about the case.
• 8:19
  [START FOX ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:19
  Eric Ulis: When you look at the tie,
• 8:21
  when you look at that skinny black clip-on tie
• 8:23
  that he picked up at JCPenney, probably around Christmas 1964 for $1.49,
• 8:28
  and you apply modern, state-of-the-art technology to it,
• 8:32
  things they didn't have back in 1971 when this occurred, it tells a story.
• 8:38
  [END FOX ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:38
  Garrison, Narrating: Ulis says the tiny metal fragments on the tie
• 8:41
  trace to a company called Crucible Steel in Pennsylvania.
• 8:45
  It provided material that made planes.
• 8:48
  And Cooper seemed to know a lot about aircraft.
• 8:51
  He gave very specific instructions about the flight path, speed,
• 8:56
  even the angle of the flaps on the wings.
• 8:58
  Ulis thinks that points to a person who was involved in aerospace engineering.
• 9:04
  Ulis isn't sure who D.B. Cooper could be yet,
• 9:07
  but he's focusing on a titanium researcher named Vince Peterson.
• 9:11
  [OUTRO MUSIC]
• 9:11
  But Peterson died decades ago, so we can't get his part of the story.
• 9:16
  Over the years, people have found possible evidence,
• 9:18
  money, and papers in Washington state.
• 9:21
  But the thing that finally solves it might just be a tiny speck
• 9:26
  on an old-fashioned accessory.
• 9:31
  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
• 9:34
  And if you're already listening in the News app right now,
• 9:36
  we've got a Narrated Article coming up next from "The New Yorker."
• 9:40
  It's the story of one woman in Texas who died during pregnancy,
• 9:43
  and questions
• 9:44
  over whether the state's abortion ban may have cost her her life.
• 9:48
  If you're listening in the Podcasts app,
• 9:50
  follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story,
• 9:53
  and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
• 9:59
  [MUSIC FADES]