By Kouthar Sambo

Yesterday the South African parliament downgraded the embassy in Israel due to ongoing violations of Palestinian rights.

A statement drafted by the National Freedom Party (NFP), which proposed the draft resolution, claims that Nelson Mandela would have approved of the action. The statement read:

“This is a moment Mandela would be proud of. He always said our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of Palestinians.”

Furthermore, relations between South Africa and Israel have become contentious in recent years, in part because several human rights organizations strongly feel that Israel has proactively been propagating Apartheid, echoing claims made by South African and Palestinian activists for years.

The African National Congress (ANC), as well as other parties such as the African National Congress (ANC), United Democratic Movement (UDM), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), African Independent Congress (AIC), the PAC, and Al Jama ah and the NFP, are thanked for their support in the statement.

According to the statement, the state of Israel was, “built through the displacement, murder, and maiming of Palestinians” by imposing an Apartheid regime. Though, many would argue that the current gruesome attacks on Palestinians by Israel can be deemed as far worse than Apartheid.

The NFP leader in Parliament, Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam went on to motivate the reasons behind the proposed motion.

“The NFP proposed a draft motion in parliament to downgrade the South African embassy in Israel as a consequence of Israel continuing with its hostilities against the Palestinian people, extending settlements and new developments into land belonging to the Palestinian people, violating the human rights of the Palestinians, but more importantly, having to fail to comply with all international agreements that they have entered into.”

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