With placards accusing Israel of genocide and racism, the marchers walked to parliament in a protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign…reports Asian Lite News
Several hundred people marched through central Cape Town Saturday waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans in a pro-Gaza rally to mark the first anniversary of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
With placards accusing Israel of genocide and racism, the marchers — many of them wearing the keffiyeh scarf that symbolizes the Palestinian struggle against Israel — walked to parliament in a protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
“Israel is a racist state” and “We are all Palestinian,” chanted some of the marchers. Others held up placards stating: “We are all Hamas” or “Zionism is racism.”
Some marchers said they agreed with the South African case before the International Court of Justice that alleges the Israeli military operation in Gaza, launched in response to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, amounts to “genocide.”
“I am appalled at Israel and the genocide and the attack on innocent people, children… and now moving on into Lebanon,” Linelle Arendse told the News24 channel.
Many South Africans compare Israel’s stance toward Palestinians with the racially oppressive system of apartheid that imposed white-minority rule on South Africa until the first all-race election in 1994.
“I have been through the apartheid struggle so I know the pain of the Palestinians and Lebanese,” Shafiek Barnes told News24. “I am here because I am Muslim and I feel the pain that they are going through.”
The organizers of the march handed to parliament a memorandum demanding the government implement the UN’s 1973 Apartheid Convention which declares apartheid systems a crime and allows for action against them, such as boycotts.
Also called the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, it was signed by the South African government in May 2024.
Pro-Gaza marches were also due Saturday in the cities of Johannesburg and Durban and around the world ahead of the anniversary of the October 7 attack.
Since Israel launched its attack on the Gaza Strip last October, South Africa has maintained a firm stance, expressing support for the Palestinians but also condemning the resistance group Hamas for attacking and kidnapping Israeli civilians.
Pretoria, which has been highly critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, has taken several measures against Israel.
In November 2023, South Africa withdrew all its diplomats from Tel Aviv for consultations over Israel’s war on Gaza.
“A genocide under the watch of the international community cannot be tolerated. Another holocaust in the history of humankind is not acceptable,” Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a minister in the president’s office, told reporters at the time.
South Africa also instructed the Foreign Ministry to take the necessary diplomatic measures to deal with the conduct of the Israel ambassador to South Africa, Eli Belotserkovsky, which they said was becoming very untenable.
Belotserkovsky was accused of making disparaging comments against those who raised their voices against attacks on Palestinians.
A few days later, Israel recalled Belotserkovsky from Pretoria reportedly “for consultations” amid the growing diplomatic rift between the two countries over the conflict in Gaza.
ICJ genocide case
Late last year, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing Israel, which has bombed Gaza since last October, of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The top UN court ordered Israel in May to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. It was the third time the 15-judge panel issued preliminary orders seeking to rein in the death toll and alleviate humanitarian suffering in the blockaded enclave, where casualties have surpassed 41,000.
Last month, South Africa said its genocide case against Israel at the ICJ will continue and South Africa will file a memorial this month.
“South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine,” the presidency said in a statement.
“This case will continue until the court makes a finding. While the case is in progress, we hope that Israel will abide by the court’s provisional orders issued to date,” it said.
South Africa’s remarks come amid reports that Israeli diplomats are being instructed to lobby members of the US Congress to pressure South Africa into dropping the case.
Pretoria said its genocide case represents a growing global effort towards ensuring peace in the Middle East.
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