The Economic Freedom Fighters, the third-largest political party in South Africa, staged a protest in front of the Israeli embassy in the nation’s capital, Pretoria.
After claiming that Israel’s government had “no respect for humanity” regarding the ongoing bombardment of Palestine and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in a war that was started by an incursion by militant group Hamas into Israel and the murder of 1,300 people, party leader Julius Malema once again called for the closure of the embassy.
Malema encouraged local merchants to take Israeli-made products off their shelves by the end of October.
“If they don’t remove products from Israel, we’ll remove them ourselves. We don’t want Israeli products sold in South Africa, we don’t want food from people who have the blood of innocent people on their hands,” said Malema.
Friday saw a similar picket organised by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in front of the Israeli embassy.
Nomvula Mokonyane, the deputy secretary general of the ANC, urged South Africans to boycott Israeli imports in support of the Palestinians.
Additionally, Mokonyane reaffirmed South Africa’s demands for an early end to hostilities in the Middle East.
The ANC Women’s League spokesman resigned last week, accusing the organization of failing to understand the “Jewish side of the story” in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
