As South Africa and Israel locked horns at the International Court of Justice last week over Tel Aviv’s brutal bombing and invasion of Gaza, the world watched history come full circle. Israel had supplied arms — and even offered nuclear weapons, leaked documents suggest — to South Africa’s erstwhile apartheid regime. Now, a democratic South Africa, represented by a team of black, brown and white lawyers, has put Israel on trial before the world’s top court, accusing it of genocidal acts in Gaza where nearly 24,000 people have been killed. South Africa’s arguments revolve around the nature and the scale of destruction and the genocidal statements made by top Israeli leaders and generals. Israel has countered it by arguing that it was acting in self-defence after Hamas’s attacks on October 7 in which nearly 1,200 people were killed; Israel also said that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the case. Whether or not the ICJ agrees to South Africa’s calls for an early injunction asking Israel to stop the war, a new chapter is being written in the post-colonial journey of the Global South. Defending Israel’s war are Western nations. Standing up for Palestine — whose cause enjoys mass support on the streets of the developing world — at the ICJ is a member of the Global South. India, which wants to be seen as the leader of the Global South, is nowhere to be seen.

In a world where national interests are measured solely through the prism of opportunism, it is understandable why India — a country that was once a flagbearer for the Palestinian cause — has chosen to largely stay mute amid the Gaza bloodbath. Israel is a supplier of key military equipment and technology, including surveillance tools that the Indian government has allegedly used against its citizens. But it will be difficult to claim leadership of emerging nations without taking a stand on an issue that resonates deeply with them. South Africa is likely to face blowback from the West for its position. But it has shown that there is still space for a moral position in diplomacy — not as an end in itself, but as a powerful tool. It was popular — global — anger against apartheid that forced the West to stop enabling that racist regime and helped bring its downfall. India once knew the power of morals in diplomacy too. It needs to refresh its memory.