BREAKING: South African Parliament Votes to Close Israel’s Embassy in Pretoria
The motion calling for the closure of the embassy, and suspension of all diplomatic relations until a ceasefire is reached, passed on Tuesday with 248 votes in favour and 91 votes against. This action is largely symbolic as it will be up to President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s government whether to implement it.
The vote comes amid soaring tensions between South Africa and Israel over the recent Israeli assault on Gaza. President Ramaphosa has said that his country believes Israel is committing war crimes and genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The motion was introduced by the leftwing opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), backed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and opposed by members of the centrist, white-majority, largely pro-Israel Democratic Alliance (DA).
This decision by South Africa is further exacerbated by the recent announcement by Israel that it was recalling its ambassador from Pretoria “for consultations”. The African country has not had an ambassador in Israel since 2018 and has long felt a sense of kinship with the Palestinians, drawing parallels between the Israeli occupation and South Africa’s decades-long apartheid regime.
The vote also follows a virtual summit of BRICS nations, where the group of emerging economies called for an “immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” in Gaza.
President Ramaphosa expressed the need for combined efforts and strengthened actions to end the historical injustice in the region. He called for a just, peaceful, and secure future for both Palestine and Israel. This vote marks a significant shift in South Africa’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and will undoubtedly have diplomatic repercussions between the two nations.