Closing the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and cutting ties with Israel is not a priority, especially as famine stalks the war-ravaged Gaza.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Thursday that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet is yet to consider parliament’s resolution to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa and cut all diplomatic ties with that country.
In November, the National Assembly adopted an EFF motion in this regard and referred it to the executive for consideration.
Our primary concern is not the closure of embassies where there is nobody. Our primary concern is that the people of Gaza must have peace, the people of Rafah must be safe, and there is no threat that gets extended to the West Bank
— Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister in the Presidency
“The National Assembly has taken a resolution which the executive will consider at its appropriate time. As things stand, there is no point ... All the South African diplomats have been recalled for consultation from Israel. There is no South African diplomat as things stand in Israel,” said Ntshavheni.
“Equally, the ambassador of Israel to South Africa was recalled to go back to Israel for consultation.”
The focus was on the continuing killing and starvation of the people of Gaza, Rafah and the West Bank by the Israeli government, which is blocking aid from entering the occupied territories, she said. Even when the aid is airdropped, Palestinians become victims, she said.
The South African government is continuing with its call for cessation of hostilities so that aid can reach the people, said Ntshavheni.
“Our primary concern is not the closure of embassies where there is nobody. Our primary concern is that the people of Gaza must have peace, the people of Rafah must be safe, and there is no threat that gets extended to the West Bank.
“The people of Gaza, Rafah and West Bank must have access to food, much-needed health care and medical attention. That is the focus.”
She reiterated the government’s position that the only lasting solution to the conflict is a two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians coexisting.
South Africa approached the International Court of Justice in December, asking it to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
The South African government accused Israel of state-led genocide in its offensive, which began after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 and kidnapping more than 240 people on October 7.
The ICJ ruled that Israel should take immediate steps to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.
Motivating for the cutting of diplomatic ties with Israel in parliament in November, EFF leader Julius Malema said the call was based on the “brutal and inhumane violence that the apartheid state of Israel has unleashed on the people of Gaza over the past several weeks”.
The EFF on Thursday repeated its call for the Ramaphosa administration to close down Tel Aviv's embassy in Pretoria, as per the resolution adopted by the National Assembly last year.
“The resolution was adopted with a majority and remains to be enacted by the president. In this way we will continue to send a message to apartheid Israel that we will not stop fighting until they end their occupation of Palestine,” said the party in a statement.
The EFF also welcomed an undertaking by international relations minister Naledi Pandor that South Africans taking part in the war at Gaza would face arrest upon their return to the country.
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