Middle East crisis: ANC, EFF join forces to call for closure of Israeli embassy

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), alongside the ANC, sang the same tune yesterday in a bid to call for the Israeli embassy to shut down.

In solidarity with SA Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition, various political parties, unions and civil organisations came together to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.

Members of these organisations marched from Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg, over Mandela Bridge and rallied at Constitution Hill.

Five days from yesterday to close shop

EFF Gauteng secretary Moshe Koma warned the embassy that it only had five days from yesterday to close shop, “or we’ll come close it for you”.

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ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula echoed Koma’s sentiments and said: “We want justice for the people of Palestine. As the ANC, we say (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu must be arrested now.”

“He is a war criminal. If the ICC (International Criminal Court) can take a decision about Ukraine and Russia that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin must be arrested, then why are we leaving out a murderer, someone who is killing children, bombing hospitals and refugee camps,” he added.

“We are calling for the closure of the Israeli embassy and we are saying that embassy should be closed not tomorrow but as in yesterday. We are here today to say no to genocide and the killing of innocent people.”

Mbalula said what other nations need to guarantee was that the people of Palestine were free and had a state of their own.

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‘Israel never had the goal of achieving a two-state solution’

However, the Palestine solidarity committee’s Dr Salim Vally said Israel never had the goal of achieving a two-state solution.

“It was never going to be a reality. We should not even be talking about it now, because the whole world has seen who they are. The mask has been torn off the face of Israel.”

Vally said Israel had long become an apartheid state and now the world could see that it was actually an apartheid state.

“South Africans rejected the Bantustans. Why must it be different for Palestinians? Let us stop talking about a two-state solution. We want a democratic state with equal rights for all,” he said.

“We want to tell our government that they went too far but they must not stop, because SA is not free until Palestine is free.”

South African Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi called for South Africans to boycott Israeli goods and products.

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