Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced th South African government’s decision to withdraw its diplomats from Israel amid that country’s ongoing genocide in Palestine. [Picture: GCIS]
South African diplomats working at its Tel Aviv embassy will return to Pretoria for consultations. This comes after the government decided to recall its diplomats amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine, which has now entered its second month. At least seven other countries have made a similar move.
“The South African government has decided to withdraw all its diplomats in Tel Aviv for consultation,” said Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister in the Presidency, in a post-Cabinet meeting media briefing on Monday.
South Africa is one of eight countries to have made similar moves, while only one has severed diplomatic relations – Bolivia. The governments of Jordan, Turkiye, Chile, Colombia, Chad, Honduras and Bahrain have recalled their ambassadors.
Others, like Canada, have urged a “humanitarian pause”, while the United States and the United Kingdom have thrown their weight behind apartheid Israel.
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International response to the genocide
Despite their governments’ dogged defence of apartheid Israel – an occupier and unrepentant violator of international law – hundreds of thousands in the US and UK have in recent weeks taken to the streets in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
“The UK government should be doing a lot more. Shame on them for saying that Israel has the right to defend themselves but not once have they said that Palestine has the right to defend themselves,” said a London protester, quoted by The National News.
Meanwhile, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of attempting to wipe out Palestinians.
“We will support formulas that will bring peace and calm to the region. We will not be supportive of plans that will further darken the lives of Palestinians, that will gradually erase them from the scene of history,” he said.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro last week recalled his ambassador from Israel. Separately, the country’s foreign affairs ministry condemned “the genocide and serious violations of international humanitarian law that the civilian Palestinian population is suffering in the Gaza Strip”.
As of Tuesday morning, no less than 10 022 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes – nearly a quarter of the capacity of Israel’s Ramat Gan Stadium, the largest in the colonial state. Approximately 70% of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents had been displaced after their homes were reduced to rubble.
@thenationalnews Thousands of people have taken part in a pro-Palestinian march through the centre of London. #london #palestine #gaza #news #israel #protest ♬ original sound – The National News
