Former President Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, has issued a powerful call for the South African government to intensify its response to Israel following the troubling abduction of South African Global Sumud Flotilla activists. This urgent appeal comes in the wake of the activists’ return from Jordan, where they were detained by Israeli forces while on a humanitarian mission to Gaza aimed at delivering aid and protesting the ongoing blockade.
Speaking passionately at a press conference held at OR Tambo International Airport, Mandela denounced the continued support for Israel among various entities and called for immediate action against any party complicit in what he termed the “genocide” perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
He stated, “We call on our government, which has been able to take apartheid Israel to the ICJ and ICC … We call on you to arrest all those who are complacent in fueling the genocide and selling coal to apartheid Israel.”
Mandela’s remarks reflect a growing sentiment among activists committed to standing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. He demanded that the government discontinue coal exports to Israel, asserting the need to hold accountable those who facilitate the ongoing violence.
“We call on the government to ensure that all those who participated in the genocide in apartheid Israel, who have enabled the IOF to carry on its genocide and systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, to be arrested and prosecuted,” he added.
“Echoing Mandela’s somber sentiments, Dr Fatima Hendricks, an activist who was among those detained, shared her harrowing experience at the hands of Israeli forces, whom she described as brutal. “These are Zionist forces that know nothing but brutal violence,” Hendricks recounted emotionally.
“They came into our room, attacked two women outside our door—we were trying to get mattresses into our rooms. They came back with approximately 35 soldiers. We had rifles pointed at our foreheads, backed against the room to take out, forcibly, two of our comrades to solitary confinement.”
Despite their traumatic ordeal, fellow activist Zaheera Soomar expressed unwavering determination.
“I don’t think any of us has a single regret joining the Global Sumud Flotilla. It doesn’t mean it was easy; it was a very difficult journey. It’s nothing in comparison to what the people of Gaza face every single minute of every day. Even at our hardest moments, this is exactly where we wanted to be in the moment and this was the mission we wanted to be on. We will commit to another mission again. Because until the genocide has ended, we will not stop,” Soomar said.