By Akani Nkuna
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has strongly condemned what it describes as the apartheid Israeli regime’s assault on Iran and ongoing genocidal acts against Palestinians.
SACP spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana slammed the destruction of Iranian homes, civilian killings and the escalating instability in the Middle East, accusing Israel, backed by the United States, of acting with impunity, further calling on international actors to bring the perpetrators to book.
“The international community must not be silent in the face of Israel’s violation of other countries’ fundamental rights to peace, self-determination, sovereignty, and human rights,” he said on Saturday.
“Israeli leaders responsible for the aggression, war crimes and genocide must be held accountable.”
This comes after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacked Iran this week, targeting nuclear facilities, military installation and private residences of senior officials in what many reports described as an unprovoked attack.
The IDF claimed that the attacks were preemptive and carried out with the intelligence that Iran had planned to develop nuclear capabilities and expand its ballistic missile stockpile, which remains to be proven.
According to reports, the attacks killed at least two top Iranian military officers, 78 civilians and injured 300 people.
Mandlana reiterated that Israel leaders launched the strikes with full knowledge they would kill civilians and described the devastation in Tehran as the outcome of a deliberate campaign of terror by Israel regime.
“The apartheid Israeli settler regime’s forces killed and injured innocent men, women and children, reducing family homes to rubble and throwing entire neighbourhoods into terror. They struck without warning, forcing people to flee into smoke-filled streets as explosions shattered their homes,” Mandlana said.
He casted doubt on the timing of the attacks, calling them a calculated and deliberate act aligned with US interests. He noted the strikes coincided with an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting and upcoming Iran-US talks, suggesting the US was using these attacks to gain an upper hand on the talks.
“This is a deliberate attempt to sabotage diplomacy and escalate tensions. Once again, this exposes the hypocrisy of the United States and its allies, who claim to champion peace while enabling continuous aggression,” he added.
INSIDE POLITICS