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South Africa's Parliament Calls on Govt to Cut Ties with Israel

A motion calling on the South African government to close the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and cut diplomatic ties was carried in the country's National Assembly on Tuesday November 21, 2023. Writing for the Daily Maverick, Marianne Merten notes that the motion was carried with an amendment by the governing ANC, which introduced conditions. The motion call on the government to close the embassy and suspend all diplomatic relations "until a ceasefire is agreed and Israel commits to binding UN-facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace".

Presiding officer and House chairperson Cedric Frolick said the resolution was "politically persuasive rather than instructive". Merten writes that this effectively means the government may decide to simply note but not act on this resolution.

Earlier, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the nation had recalled Ambassador Eliav Belotserkovsky "for consultations". Previously, Pretoria announced that it was recalling all of its diplomats from its embassy in Tel Aviv. A démarche - a very stern form of diplomatic rebuke - was also issued to Belotserkovsky.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the government has taken steps towards laying a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government over its war with Hamas.

The Daily Maverick reports that leaders of the Brics-Plus bloc skirted potential disagreements over members' differing positions on the Middle East conflict in a meeting on November 21.

InFocus

GovernmentZA / Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Pesident Cyril Ramaphosa, left, receives the Ambassador of the State of Israel, Eliav Belotserkovsky, January 25, 2022

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