SA BDS Coalition welcomes Minister Pandor recognising Israeli crimes as apartheid

29 July 2022

The South African BDS Coalition welcomes Minister Naledi Pandor’s comments this week accepting the overwhelming body of detailed, factual evidence demonstrating that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. 

“How many more reports do we need that call Israel out on their unfair treatment of Palestinians and point out that Israel is implementing apartheid?” the Minister asked, referencing reports issued by Israeli human rights organisations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, United Nations Special Rapporteurs, and the first report of the International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, chaired by South African jurist Navi Pillay. Minister Pandor’s comments were made in her opening address to the Palestinian African Heads of Mission conference on 26 July in Pretoria.

We are pleased that the South African government has finally reached this conclusion, recognising Israel’s apartheid crimes, and we reiterate Pandor’s unequivocal view that “strong action to support Palestine must be taken by the UN, and a committee on apartheid should be established under the auspices of the UN General Assembly”. The SA BDS Coalition, together with  the global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, calls for South Africa to take a firm stand in the UNGA on this matter. The international community cannot continue passing resolutions without taking action, beginning by declaring Israeli crimes against humanity as apartheid.

Pandor reminded the audience, “As oppressed South Africans, we experienced first-hand the effects of racial inequality, discrimination and denial and we cannot stand by while another generation of Palestinians are left behind.” She also pointed out that South Africa’s post-apartheid government and people have a political and moral responsibility to isolate apartheid Israel - as called for by the Palestinian people. 

South Africa’s downgrade of diplomatic relations with Israel was a welcome start. We must now move towards ensuring that all government departments refuse to engage normally with this apartheid state. The Minister also challenged civil society to intensify the global campaign for BDS. “Advocating for the rights of the Palestinian people must be accompanied by material and practical support,” she said. 

The SA BDS Coalition, as a member of the Pan-African Palestine Solidarity Network (PAPSN), continues to mobilise across the continent to kick apartheid Israel out of the African Union after the unilateral decision last year by the AU Commission Chair, Mousa Faki Mahamet, to accept Israeli credentials.

As the Minister said, it is “incomprehensible” for the AU to reward Israel for its brutal occupation of Palestine and its colonial and apartheid practices. Alongside other PAPSN affiliates, we will continue to support the efforts of Minister Pandor, our government and other African states to “correct the mistake” of Israeli accreditation and ensure that the AU abides by its obligations under its founding documents, including the African Charter for Human and Peoples’ Rights to “eliminate colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, Zionism”.

The tirade of vitriolic insults and absurd attacks on the Minister following her address demonstrates the bankruptcy of the Israeli lobby that seeks to whitewash Israel’s apartheid crimes. The tired tactic of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and other groups supporting Israeli apartheid to dismiss any criticism of Israel as “anti-Semitic” has been debunked by South Africa’s Constitutional Court, and has proven to actually do more harm to the legitimate battle against anti-Semitism.

The ConCourt has decisively ruled that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. Some Zionists have gone as far as to suggest that Minister Pandor, a stalwart of our freedom struggle, made these statements because she did not understand what apartheid was. Such racism is not unexpected from the supporters of an apartheid state, and should be rejected forcefully by all South Africans.

Issued by SABDS Coalition, 28 July 2022