CAPE TOWN: More than 3,000 people marched through Cape Town on Saturday, calling for South Africa to cut trade and diplomatic ties with Israel, including by shutting its embassy, over the war in Gaza.
Pretoria has been a leading critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, bringing a case before the UN’s top court in December 2023 that argues Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory amounts to genocide, a charge Israel has denied.
Saturday’s demonstration brought together several pro-Palestinian organizations, political parties, and Muslim and Christian groups, marking one of the largest such turnouts in months.
The government has to take action on the kicking out of Israel’s ambassador and embassy from South Africa now.
Usuf Chikte, Campaign coordinator
Waving Palestinian flags and slogans such as “Don’t just feel bad, do something,” the procession handed over a petition of demands at parliament.
South Africa must “boycott, divest and sanction Israel, the same way as the world did for us,” said Palestine Solidarity Campaign coordinator, Usuf Chikte, referring to international measures used to pressure South Africa’s apartheid regime.
The government has to take action on the “kicking out of Israel’s ambassador and embassy from South Africa now,” and the country should be excluded from international sporting bodies such as FIFA, he told the crowd.
The petition also demanded that the government suspend its exports of coal to Israel and prosecute any South Africans who enlist in the Israeli military.
The war in Gaza broke out after militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has since killed at least 65,926 people.
Hamas said a mass walkout of delegations before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN showed Israel’s “isolation” as a result of the Gaza war.
“Boycotting Netanyahu’s speech is one manifestation of Israel’s isolation and the consequences of the war of extermination,” Taher Al-Nunu, the media adviser to the head of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement.
