Parliament is expected to debate an EFF motion to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa.
- The ANC will support the EFF’s motion for the closure of Israel’s embassy in South Africa.
- The party also supports President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel.
- During a state visit, Ramaphosa told Qatari journalists that a “war crime is under way” in Gaza.
The ANC has welcomed the call of its leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel for war crimes during its ongoing siege and bombardment of Gaza.
It said it would support a motion in Parliament to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa.
The motion, sponsored by EFF leader Julius Malema, will be debated on Thursday in a mini-plenary of the National Assembly, but voted on at a later date.
On Wednesday, while speaking to Qatari journalists during a state visit to their country, Ramaphosa said he was seeking a global consensus for Israel to be investigated for war crimes.
“There is a need for the whole world to rise and call upon the Israeli government to cease fire, to stop what is happening, and we want the ICC to investigate, and of course, legal measures then need to be taken at a global level,” he said.
Referring to Israel’s raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in particular, he added:
A war crime is under way.
Ramaphosa said that South Africa would soon send government-level aid to Gaza and the West Bank, via Egypt and the likes of Unicef and the World Health Organisation.
“Our commitment to the struggle of the Palestinians is irrevocable and it will go beyond just political. It will be very practical,” he said.
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In a statement on Thursday, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the governing party welcomed Ramaphosa’s call.
“We cannot sit back and watch the genocidal actions of the Israeli regime,” she said adding that Ramaphosa clearly stated that the government, and the ANC, does not condone any form of violence directed at citizens,” she said.
“We welcome the fact [that] in this intervention South Africa is not alone [and] it has the support of other nations.
“We reiterate our call for a ceasefire for humanitarian corridors to be fully operational. Given the unfolding atrocities in occupied Palestine, the African National Congress will agree to a parliamentary motion which calls upon the government to close the Israel Embassy in South Africa and suspend all diplomatic relations with Israel until Israel agrees to a ceasefire and commits to binding United Nations facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace.”
On the EFF’s motion, the party said South Africa shared the “common history of colonial domination and apartheid with Palestine”.
“…[South Africa] cannot justify its continued diplomatic relations with Israel, and for this reason, the EFF calls for the closure of their embassy,” the EFF said in a statement.
“We call on all progressive people, allies of Palestine and peace-loving citizens of the world to come out and defend the call to boycott apartheid Israel and cut all diplomatic ties with genocidal Israel State.
“The motion, which will be voted on in the Parliament of South Africa, provides an opportunity for all those who claim to be in solidarity with Palestine to put their solidarity into practice, especially the ruling ANC which has paid lip service to the struggle of the Palestinian people for decades.”
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In a video released by the ANC on Thursday, the party’s chief whip in Parliament, Pemmy Majodina, said the ANC caucus would not only be supporting the motion of the EFF, but was also calling for the government to cut diplomatic ties with Israel.
She said the caucus “fully supports Palestine, want a free Palestine”.
Majodina added:
And we are saying in that motion that will be presented by the EFF, let the embassy of Israel be closed with immediate effect up until Israel cease fire between themselves and Palestine, and United Nations declarations must be respected by all, even the democratic ties must be cut with immediate effect with Israel.
“We are further calling for the [Prime Minister] of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to be taken to ICC because of the genocide [and] the violation of human rights. Let Palestine be free, let the land of Palestine be free… We support that as the ANC,” she said.
Majodina added that International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor would be among the MPs taking part in the debate on Thursday afternoon.
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