Johnathan Paoli
Zionist civic organisations and the FF+ have expressed shock at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent pledge of solidarity to the people of Palestine in the ongoing Israeli invasion of the Gaza region.
President Ramaphosa was speaking at the ANC’s NEC meeting on Saturday in Ekurhuleni, where he was seen wearing a keffiyeh scarves next to executives waving Palestinian flags and he said South Africa has officially sent its condolences to the innocent victims of the conflict.
Ramaphosa further expressed concerns over the international ramifications of the conflict, saying this conflict could potentially impact many other countries, with lines being drawn in the sand.
“The concern we have of course is that this conflict could actually go beyond the borders of Israel and Palestine and engulf the entire Middle East into a conflict that the world least deserves at this point in time,” Ramaphosa warned.
This follows on the president’s previous calls for what he called humanitarian corridors in order to facilitate the transportation of food, water and electricity to areas within Gaza after the Israeli Government blocked food, water and medical supplies from entering the strip.
However, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies wasn’t pleased by Ramaphosa’s stance and its National Chairperson Karen Milner said the Zionist organisation was shocked and hurt by the President’s show of support of what they call a ‘terrorist’ organisation.
Milner said that SA’s solidarity amounted to treating Jewish South Africans as “second class citizens” and linked Hamas’s attack to the Holocaust and antisemitism.
In addition, minority party FF+ expressed its exasperation at what its party leader Corne Mulder termed the ANC’s one-sided support of a ‘genocide against the innocent people of Israel’.
“By criticizing Israel’s military action against Hamas, the government of South Africa has unequivocally expressed its support for the attack on Israel and the murder of innocent civilians, including babies,” Mulder said.
During the last week, reports arose of Hamas allegedly beheading infants, a narrative which has since been proven false.
Last weekend, Hamas launched an attack on the state of Israel, with the Israel Defence Force supported by the Americans, launching a response that many have called disproportionate overkill.
Ramaphosa is among several world leaders calling for a peaceful and nonviolent negotiation and ending of the conflict that has taken so many lives in the last few days.
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