Pressure mounts on South Africa to sever ties with Israel, expel diplomats
South African authorities are facing mounting pressure to sever ties with Israel and expel Israeli diplomats, amid growing outrage over its genocide by starvation campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Several activists told Middle East Eye that they had intensified their campaign to end what they called South Africa’s complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza, where more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and the entire population is facing famine.
Zukiswa Wanner, a writer and activist, said that many South Africans had thought Pretoria’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in late 2023 would result in a swift end to the 22-month conflict, but Israel, with full Western backing, continued its war on Gaza.
“Almost two years later, Israel has not relented and we continue seeing the horror visited on the Palestinians,” Wanner told MEE.
“As individuals, we are all quite powerless on pushing the stop of the genocide – but as citizens – we can demand of our government that they finalise this small thing: South Africa can’t be having normal relations with an abnormal, genocidal government.
Since Israel went to war on Gaza, only Bolivia and Belize have severed diplomatic relations with Israel. At various points, the Muslim majority countries of Bahrain, Chad, Jordan and Turkey have withdrawn their ambassadors, but all still maintain diplomatic ties with Israel.
For its part, South Africa hasn’t had an ambassador in Israel since 2018. But activists say the country needs to take stronger action against Israel.
