Julius Malema speaks during the EFF picket at the Israeli embassy in Lynnwood Gardens Estate, Pretoria, on Monday in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has called on Islamic militant group Hamas to shoot to kill the soldiers of Israel in the continued war between Israel and Palestine. The red beret leader was speaking during a march to the Israeli embassy in Pretoria yesterday.
Malema said there was nothing wrong with what Hamas was doing and the war in Palestine was not a holy war, but an evil war. He said when people are oppressed, the only thing they have is to fight and that was what Hamas was doing.
“Confront the enemy, shoot to kill, do not kiss the enemy. Why do you want to kiss the enemy? Why do you want to kiss the enemy, people came and took the land of the Palestinians,” he said.
WATCH: ‘Shoot to kill’- Malema compares Hamas to Mandela and Tambo
“The people of Palestine have nothing to lose but their chains, they must stand up and fight for their freedom. Condemning Hamas is an act of cowardice.
“I had some fools saying we can’t compare (Nelson) Mandela and them but they are the same; Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, Winnie Mandela and Steve Biko did the same thing.”
He said when the EFF takes over government next year, it will arm Hamas and make sure the organisation had the necessary equipment to fight for their people’s freedom. Malema said his party would also remove the Israeli embassy.
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“We can’t stay in the same murderous area, breathe the same air with people who kill innocent people,” he said.
“These people are terrorists and they have no respect for humanity and life. We must never find ourselves in cooperation with them, nor whatsoever with the Israeli embassy.”
He also called on fast-food franchise McDonald’s to explain why it kept feeding soldiers in Israel and for Woolworths to remove all Israeli products from store shelves or the EFF would remove them.“
Call for action, McDonald’s is giving the soldiers of Israel food. Comrades, start identifying where McDonald’s is found, start identifying where Woolworths is found; very soon action will be announced.
“From now onwards, we are collecting intelligence on where all products of Israel are being sold and we have to go to visit them and tell them that you have until the end of this month to remove everything from Israel or else we will remove it for you,” Malema said.
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He called on all South Africans to boycott products from Israel. That also applied to universities and research institutions which had ties with Israel. These must be cut “with immediate effect”.
However, he stressed, “we are not talking about Jewish people. We are not saying we don’t want Jews…”
Responding to The Citizen’s question on the sidelines of the march, Malema said former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane would be criticised for joining the EFF, just as she had been criticised before joining the party.
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“The hatred just continues. Even if she would take a pastoral cloth and say now I am a priest … she will still be criticised.
“She is going to survive in parliament like she was doing as a public protector,” he said.
– lungam@citizen.co.za
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