AhlulBayt News Agency: More than 3,000 individuals have demonstrated in South Africa’s southwestern coastal city of Cape Town, calling on the government to sever relations with Israel, in response to the regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The demonstration on Saturday united numerous pro-Palestinian organizations, political parties, as well as both Muslim and Christian groups, representing one of the largest gatherings of its kind in recent months.
The protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans like “Don’t just feel bad, do something.” The procession submitted a petition of demands to the parliament.
South Africa must “boycott, divest and sanction Israel, the same way as the world did for us,” Palestine Solidarity Campaign coordinator, Usuf Chikte said, pointing to international measures used to pressure South Africa’s apartheid regime.
The government must act on the immediate expulsion of Israeli chargé d’affaires Adi Cohen-Hazanov and embassy staff from South Africa, Chikte told the crowd.
He noted that the Israeli regime ought to be excluded from international sports organizations such as FIFA.
The petition further called for the government to halt its coal exports to the Israeli-occupied territories, and to take legal action against any South Africans who enlist in the Israeli military.
Pretoria has taken a strong stance against Israel’s actions in Gaza, filing a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023 that asserts the regime’s war in the Palestinian territory equates to genocide.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
At least 65,926 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 167,783 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.
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