FRACTUREBREAK,
The movement continued to continue the again.
South Africa’s parliament has voted in favor of a motion calling for the closure of the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and the cessation of diplomatic relations as tensions rise between the two countries over Israel’s attack on Gaza.
The move is largely symbolic, as it is left to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government whether to implement it.
The motion, which calls for the closure of the embassy and the suspension of all diplomatic relations pending a ceasefire, was approved on Tuesday with 248 votes in favor and 91 against.
The action was launched by the left-wing opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), backed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and opposed by members of the centrist, white-majority, largely pro-Israel Democratic Alliance (DA).
Ramaphosa said his country believes Israel is committing war crimes and genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip. Palestinian authorities said more than 14,100 people have been killed in Israeli air and ground strikes there since October 7.
The war in Gaza was sparked when the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, according to authorities there.
The vote came after Israel announced it would recall its ambassador Eli Belotserkovsky from Pretoria “for consultations”.
The African country, which has not had an ambassador to Israel since 2018, has long supported the Palestinian demand for statehood.
Many Palestinian human rights groups have drawn parallels between the Israeli occupation and South Africa’s decades-long apartheid regime.
In recent years, a growing number of international human rights groups have declared that Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians constitute the crime of apartheid, which Israel strongly denies.
South Africa also hosted a virtual BRICS summit on Tuesday, where the group of emerging economies, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, agreed to an “immediate, permanent and permanent humanitarian ceasefire leading to a cessation of the “is conducting hostilities” in Gaza.
“As individual countries, we have expressed our deep concern about the death and destruction in Gaza,” Ramaphosa said in a social media post on Tuesday.
“This meeting should be a clear call for us to combine our efforts and strengthen our actions to put an end to this historic injustice.” Let us work together to achieve a just, peaceful and secure future for the people of Palestine and “To make Israel a reality.”