South Africans protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza, Lebanon

November 10, 2024

Protesters with Palestinian and Lebanese flags gather at Embassy of Israel in a show of solidarity demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israeli attacks continue in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa on November 09, 2024. [Ihsaan Haffejee – Anadolu Agency]

South Africans on Saturday held a protest outside the Israeli Embassy in the capital Pretoria to condemn Tel Aviv’s continued attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Anadolu Agency reports.

Waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags, protesters carried placards demanding justice, peace, and the call for an end to Israel’s attacks in the Middle East.

“Boycott apartheid Israel,” “Freedom for Palestine,” “Your silence will be studied by your grandkids,’’ read some of the posters.

Massarah Rejeb, who organized the protest, told Anadolu that they went to the Israeli mission to request and demand an immediate and irrevocable ceasefire in Palestine and Lebanon.

About 300 people, including members of trade unions, Lebanese people born in South Africa, and Palestinians, joined the demonstration.

“We came to the Israeli embassy to protest the ongoing genocide in Palestine that is now spilling over into Lebanon and threatening a regional-wide carnage,” Mametlwe Sebei, the head of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa, told Anadolu.

Sebei said they gathered to express their solidarity with the people of Lebanon and their resistance, as South Africans have with the Palestinians.

He said it was vital to send a message that South Africans will continue holding the line, intensifying their solidarity with the heroic people of Lebanon, Palestine, and the Middle East, who continue to resist “Zionist colonialism.”

The protesters’ demands included the call to the South African government, which has filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, to close the Israeli embassy in Pretoria as a firm stance against its ongoing aggression in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

They also requested South Africa to stop all trade relations with Israel, particularly in coal.

Israel has continued its offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last year, killing more than 43,600 people, mostly women and children.

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel continuing deadly strikes across the country since late September, an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war.