Johnathan Paoli
EFF national chairperson Veronica Mente, said if the ANC was serious about supporting the Palestinian people, they would disassociate the government from the state of Israel, economically and politically.
Mente also said the government was also not doing enough for the plight of Palestinians and has taken a non-alignment kind of stance on their conflict with Israel.
EFF supporters and other civic organisations arrived in Pretoria on Monday for the picket outside the Israeli Embassy offices, in support of Palestine during its ongoing conflict with Israel.
“What kind of a measure is that if ever you are to intervene in a cruel humanitarian crisis. We are not only here to tell the Israeli Embassy to leave our shores, we are also sending a message to our government that stop being a coward.
“That is why we’re saying the Israeli, even the embassy itself, should not exist within the shores of this country because they are the people who are actually killing and wiping out the Palestinians from their own land,” Mente said.
The EFF leader said that companies such as Woolworths have got a responsibility to remove every product on their shelves that comes from Israel and McDonalds SA should distance itself from what is happening in the region by the end of this month.
The EFF’s CIC Julius Malema said that when the EFF takes over next year, it is going to arm Hamas and make sure Hamas has got the necessary equipment to fight for their freedom.
Malema concluded with a reminder that just like the historical struggle within this country, South Africans should stand in solidarity and support of the Palestinians and that the people have the right to defend themselves from the Israeli invasion.
South Africa has joined other international communities in condemning Israel’s bombardment of Gaza including an attack at a hospital where 500 people were killed including patients and people who had sought shelter at the facility.
Last week, the South Africa Cabinet called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel’s alleged human rights violations in Gaza.
The South African Jews for a Free Palestine held a vigil in Johannesburg and Cape Town on Sunday night, against what it calls the propaganda of the Israeli government.
The group’s spokesperson Jo Bluen has rejected what he termed the weaponisation of the Jewish faith in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“We absolutely resist the conflation of Zionism and the conflation of anti-semitism and anti-Zionism. There is a long history in the world and in SA around anti-Zionist Judaism,” said Bluen.
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