Religious leaders from different faiths have called on Capetonians to march against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.
On Wednesday‚ the Christian‚ Muslim‚ Jewish and civil society leaders will lead a march to Parliament to call for the downgrading of South Africa’s embassy in Israel.
Trump announced last week that he was officially recognising Jerusalem as the capital‚ defying global opposition. He also promised to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
At a press briefing in Cape Town on Tuesday‚ the Rev Simon Kortjass of St Paul’s Anglican Church in Philippi said: “Israel is a notorious violator of endless and numerous international laws and regulations.”
Al Quds Foundation SA director Moulana Ihsaan Hendricks said the matter was not only about Jews and Muslims but about human rights and justice.
“We hope we will be able to intensify our activism in South Africa‚ appeal to our government and appeal to the international peace-loving community to move very quickly for the freedom and the liberation of the Palestinian people‚” he said.
Heidi Grunebaum‚ from the South African Jews for Free Palestine‚ said they condemned Trump’s declaration.
“[It] is in contempt of international law and of the international community’s consensus‚ which sees Israel’s occupation and annexation of eastern parts of Jerusalem as illegal‚” she said.
“The claims of religion [or] theology as an alibi for oppression‚ segregation‚ dispossession and occupation are spurious.”
Grunebaum said land in the Middle East was not Trump’s to give away and his move would lead to instability.
The group will also hold a picket on Thursday outside the US embassy in Sandton‚ Johannesburg.
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