Home PodcastInayet Wadee ‘Apartheid was a picnic’, says Abbey Makoe, comparing with Israel

‘Apartheid was a picnic’, says Abbey Makoe, comparing with Israel

by Zahid Jadwat

Abbey Makoe called out the global south for being silent. [Picture: Sowetan]

 

Veteran journalist and international relations writer Abbey Makoe has slammed the global south for turning a blind eye to Israel’s atrocities in Palestine. He said South Africa’s apartheid was a picnic in comparison to the Israeli regime’s actions.

“The sheer brutality and disregard for human rights by members of the Israeli occupying force lay stark naked … for the entire world to see,” began the former SABC political editor in an opinion piece.

“But then again, the ‘world’ has stayed not only blind to the immeasurable suffering of the oppressed people of Palestine – but the “world” has additionally elected to remain deaf,” he added.

Speaking in an interview on Salaamedia, Makoe described as “heartbreaking” the fact that many countries, particularly those who experienced colonialism and oppression, chose to remain silent on the human rights abuses happening in the holy land.

“What really breaks my heart is the response of the international community towards what is happening. [People are] sort of pretending, day by day, that everything is hunkydory. What Israel is doing is not short of deserving total condemnation by the global community,” he said.

 

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Mischief and criminality

Voicing concern over the perceived silence of organisations like the Arab League and African Union (AU), as well as the ‘global south’, Makoe said it “strikes me as confirmation as though politics are nothing more than just a game of mischief and criminality run by the Global North”.

The ‘global north’ is used to describe a grouping of countries that are well-off and have a significant influence on the global stage. The ‘global south’, on the other hand, refers to developing nations with a history of experiencing colonialism.

Cautious not to downplay the severity of apartheid in South Africa, Makoe went on to suggest Israel’s brutality against Palestinians made a mockery of it.

“I was born and bred in apartheid South Africa. When I look at what’s happening in Palestine I describe it comparatively as making a mockery of what we went through in South Africa at the hands of apartheid.

He furthermore called out so-called human rights defenders who were silent amidst last week’s chaos in Masjid-Al-Aqsa. “When you look at what we went through and what the Palestinian men, women and children are going through, it leaves much to be desired by anyone in the international community who claims to be some kind of a moral compass of the right and wrong.”

 

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Makoe on misconceptions

Makoe was angered by the fact that Hamas was considered by many in the western world to be a terrorist organisation. He said this was not short of a misunderstanding that permitted Israel to continue abusing Palestinians.

“Hamas was born,” he explained, when “a peaceful negotiation was no longer something being delivered. Hamas came into being and adopted this hardline since believing that the new generation of [Palestinians] must take up arms against this occupying force when there was no light at the end of the tunnel.”

He suggested Hamas would be willing to negotiate with their oppressors if requested, but said Israel was disinterested in meeting them halfway.

“If you put Hamas in the room and make them engage, I think they will engage logically. I don’t think that the occupying force in Palestine is willing to leave up to their undertakings to agree to the two state solution.”

Makoe said as long as Israel was guaranteed military and political protection from the west, in the UN Security Council in particular, “you can see the impunity with which Israel is behaving in Palestine”. The choice was the world’s to make, he indicated.

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