The Israel embassy in Pretoria may soon be closed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government announced it had recalled its ambassador to South Africa, Eliav Belotserkovsky “for consultations”.
The recall comes on the back of a series of tough moves by South Africa against Israel including:
- An EFF led push for SA to completely cut ties with Israel and expel the ambassador.
- Support by the ruling ANC of an EFF parliamentary motion for the closure of the Israel embassy.
- A formal approach to the International Criminal Court led by South Africa and supported by other countries to have Netanyahu and other Israeli key decision makers charged for committing war crimes.
With the ruling party’s already confirmed backing of an EFF motion calling for the expulsion of the Israel ambassador, Jerusalem sought to minimise embarrassment by recalling its ambassador ahead of the parliamentary vote.
The hard talking South African government is also pursuing criminal charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other key decision makers of the Israeli government.
“South Africa together with the Comoros, Djibouti, Bolivia and Bangladesh jointly referred the situation in Palestine and Israel to the International Criminal Court. While the Palestinian authority did ask the ICC to investigate crimes under the court’s jurisdiction in 2018 South Africa believes that current atrocities particularly in Gaza need renewed attention with the full backing of state powers,” said Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the Minister in the Presidency on Monday.
Palestine authorities put the death toll on the 46th day of the Israeli siege at 13 000 with 75 percent of the victims being women and children who were killed either in their hopes, hospitals and or places of worship.
Ntshavheni said Netanyahu in particular should be held accountable for the killing of Palestinian women and children.
“Given that much of the global community are witnessing the commission of these crimes in real time including statements of genocidal intent by mainly Israeli leaders we expect that warrants of arrests for these leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be issued shortly,” she said during a post cabinet media briefing.
Meanwhile in a weekly letter to the nation on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa noted that while the conflict in Israel and Palestine provoked strong emotions, South Africans must guard against it turning them against each other. He stressed that there was no place in South Africa for violence or threats of violence against those who held contrary views. Nor is there any place for any form of prejudice or racism.