Genocide against the people of Palestine: We can’t look the other way

7 November 2023

Honorable Speaker…

In a dynamic and complex world of shifting geopolitical power relations South Africa’s foreign policy must be guided by the same constitutional values and principles that guide policy at home.

On that basis, we can’t look the other way when Russia invades a neighbouring sovereign state, nor when Israel perpetrates genocide against the people of Palestine.

Honorable members…

We can’t maintain friendly relations with a state that has publicly committed itself to perpetrating unprecedented violence against innocent people to buttress unjust policies that trigger memories of our own experiences under apartheid…

A state that is holding millions of people collectively responsible for Hamas’ 7 October attack, despite the overwhelming majority of them having nothing to do with Hamas…

We can’t look the other way when images of dead and wounded Palestinian children dominate our screens and our consciousness.

As such, we regard the further review of diplomatic relations with Israel as a necessary and appropriate matter of principle. We further call on DIRCO to up the heat at the United Nations for a resolution calling for ceasefire. It’s the right thing to do.

That doesn’t mean we are anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas, or don’t believe that the people of Israel should have the same right as people of any other nation to live in safety. Were the tables turned, and Hamas was perpetrating genocide against the civilian population of Tel Aviv, we’d be equally condemnatory in our response.

To be clear, for as long as Israel illegally occupies Palestinian land, encourages its farmers to grab more land, and regards Palestinians as untrustworthy and deserving of contempt, it breathes fresh oxygen on a smoldering fire. It provides fresh daily provocation for people who are willing to do what Hamas did four Saturdays ago.

Palestinians have a generational duty to struggle for their freedom from occupation and contempt. Their actions, however, must comply with acceptable international practices with respect to the protection of civilian lives.

Neither the extremist leaders in Israel and Palestine, nor their backers across the region and the Atlantic, own solutions to the crisis. There aren’t any military solutions. Real solutions belong to ordinary citizens and civil society.

The people of Israel and Palestine must stand up against violence and hate, and elect leaders willing to engage in meaningful dialogue to develop an environment in which Jews and Muslims can live in peace, be it in two separate states or a single human community.

In the meantime, the only short-term solution is an immediate and unconditional ceasefire…

Issued by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament, 7 November 2023