South Africans gather outside US consulate
Hundreds of pro-Palestine South Africans protested outside the US Consulate in Johannesburg on Wednesday, voicing opposition to what they called Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and expressing disapproval of Washington’s decision to send weapons to Israel, which is currently fighting Hamas in Gaza.
Demonstrators were seen waving Palestinian flags and carrying banners that read “Free Palestine.” They stressed their view that US aid has long given Israel the means to oppress Palestinians.
Iqbal Jassat, a protester and executive member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network, told Anadolu news agency: “It is insane for the US to be an integral part of Israel’s relentless savagery and brutality while millions of innocent civilians in Gaza are being slaughtered.”
The administration of US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday that Washington would prepare a package of weapons to aid Israel.
One person at the Johannesburg march told RT that “what’s happening to the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli and at the aid of Americans and its allies is apartheid.” And according to Lesogo Makhubela, the spokesperson of the African National Congress (ANC), the protesters “want a peaceful end to the conflict in the Middle East.”
He is convinced that the US is “literally financing the suffering of the Palestinians,” motivating people to come out in support of Palestine.
Speaking to RT, another demonstrator said that the US “finances Ukraine against Russia, why do they do it?” commenting on another raging conflict in which Washington is indirectly involved.
Protesters also called on the government to cut ties with Israel. However, on Thursday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was ready to help mediate the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The secretary general of the Ex-Political Prisoners Veterans Association, Mpho Masemola, who was also at the rally, stated that “the two-state solution must be enforced now and then by the Arab League and by… Palestinian factions and the Palestinian people.”
On Saturday, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’, which involved firing rockets and sending commandos into Israeli territory from Gaza. Israel retaliated with intense bombardments.
