Johnathan Paoli
President Cyril Ramaphosa has again accused Israel of war crimes and ‘genocide’ in Gaza, following an extraordinary summit of the Brics group of nations on Tuesday.
Ramaphosa hosted the virtual meeting consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA in order to draw up a joint response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime. The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide,” Ramaphosa said.
The group is expected to issue a statement after the talks, which are being attended by representatives from the Brics Plus members who include Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Israel has bombed the Gaza strip for almost two months and killed more than 11000 civilians, a substantial portion of which were women and children.
Ramaphosa’s stance comes in the wake of the National Assembly passing a motion to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel until such time as it agrees to a ceasefire.
Two amendments were made to the original motion which was introduced for debate last week by the EFF; the suspension of diplomatic ties, who’s lifting is conditioned upon an immediate ceasefire; and that the state of Israel commits to binding UN-led negotiations that must result in lasting peace.
EFF leader Julius Malema said he had no objection to the ANC’s amendments and thanked the party for backing his motion.
“We want to applaud the ANC for its maturity on this matter. It doesn’t matter, politically, we can disagree, but when it comes to issues of humanity, we must protect the human rights of all human beings all over the world,” Malema said.
The NFP, PA and Al Jama-ah also supported the amended motion, with the DA, IFP, FF Plus and ACDP objecting, saying it was a short-sighted move that would exclude South Africa from any peace talks.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina lashed back, saying their response was unsurprising.
“Today we are supposed to speak in one voice as parties to say ‘cease fire, free Palestine’ but because you benefit out of whatever makes you feel good, you don’t want to support anything,” Majodina said.
In addition, reports have been emerging, of a possible temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in return for the release of hostages, however, still remains to be confirmed.
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