Thousands march in Cape Town to demand action against Zionism and Israel

Thousands of Cape Town residents, in solidarity with Palestinians, marched through the city streets on Saturday to renew calls for action against Israel. Led by the Muslim Judicial Council, Al Quds Foundation and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the marchers delivered a memorandum of demands to parliament calling for the enactment of the Apartheid Bill, termination of all diplomatic and economic relations with Israel, prosecution of corporations complicit in violations of international law and of South African citizens who enlist in the Israel Defence Force, and the outlawing of Zionism in South Africa, among others.

The march was supported by civil society organisations, faith-based groups as well as political parties: the ANC, MK, EFF, UDM, Good Party, Al Jama-ah, Rise Mzansi, National Coloured Congress (NCC) and People’s Movement for Change (PMC). Amongst the speakers were two Palestinian woman who have sought refuge in South Africa.

Malak Mohammed, who lost 125 family members including her mother, told the crowd how she was losing hope while being bombed and starved by the Israeli army. “I am glad to be here and be standing in front of everyone because I was starving and getting bombed, and I was asking myself where the world is. I wanted everyone to stand and speak about us and support us. I had to walk with my hands up all the time. If I put my hands down, i would have been shot. My child who was three years at the time, if she had her hands down, they would have shot her. I was always worried about my child,” she said.

Anti-apartheid activist and cleric, Dr Allan Boesak said that it is important for South Africans and the world to continue to march to expose “the deceit and hypocrisy” of those who are calling for a two-state solution when it is too late to do so.

“This week, I saw at the United Nations how those European countries are lining up to call for a two-state solution, after they have allowed Israel to make a two-state solution absolutely impossible. So we are saying to them, we are marching because we see the deceit and hypocrisy, we see your lies. We are marching so that the truth is told and the truth is what Palestine wants is one unitary, democratic, free state where everyone’s rights are respected and protected by law,” he said.

One of the demands of the protesters is for the South African government to outlaw Zionism in South Africa by recognising it as an ideology of racial supremacy.

The United Nation’s independent international commission of inquiry has after two years of investigation released a report that concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Rev Frank Chikane, the convenor of the South African chapter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, said that it is important to march to send a message that the International Court of Justice case and the position of the South African government is also the position of the people of South Africa.

Julia Hope from South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) said that the struggle for Palestine must be fought alongside struggles against all forms of oppression.

Political parties step up

Nazier Paulsen from the Economic Freedom Fighters called on the South African government to stop providing coal to Israel and to expel the Israeli ambassador from South Africa. Paulsen said that the recent remarks by the Columbian president for countries to send peacekeeping forces to Palestine makes sense.

The United Democratic Movement’s deputy president, Nqabayomzi Nkwakwa spoke of Israel’s destabilisation of the African continent. He said that the M23 rebels were able to overrun the South African National Defence Force peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo because of the involvement of Israel.

Nomvula Monkonyane, the deputy secretary general of the African National Congress called on South Africans to boycott goods from Israel, even if that would mean being blacklisted by the United States of America – a small price to pay, she said, compared to the freedom of Palestinians.

The memorandum was accepted by National Assembly house chairperson, Cedric Frolick who promised that parliament would be able to respond within 14 days.