International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor used her National Assembly executive statement to restate her demands that the International Criminal Court (ICC) immediately issue an arrest warrant for key Israeli decision makers, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for violating international law during the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
She said that Israel's massacre of women and children was an act that ought to have prompted the ICC to step in.
Pandor said the attacks and kidnapping of civilians by Hamas was also in violation of international law.
More than 10 300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory strikes following the Hamas October 7 attack which resulted in 1 400 people killed and more than 240 taken hostage.
“The actions that we are witnessing daily by Israel are a violation of international law including the UN Charter, Geneva Convention and its protocols,” Pandor said.
“The notion of Israel’s right to defend itself through military means has been used erroneously in international law by many and deliberately by others to justify the unlawful use of force by Israel on the people of Gaza and the West Bank,” she said.
Pandor stated that South Africa was among the two-thirds of member states in the UN General Assembly in October that called for an immediate cease-fire.
“This decision of the General Assembly has been ignored. It is impossible for us to continue to proclaim the importance of international law and the UN Charter for some situations and not for others as if the rule of law applies to a select few.
For international law to be credible it should be uniformly applied, not be selective. Let us be clear that Israel is an occupying power confirmed by the ICC.”
Pandor bemoaned the obvious flaws in the international organisation that the UN Security Council had become.
“The security council, due to aggravated politicisation, has not at the very least called for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow for much-needed humanitarian supplies for those who need it most.
This, once again, illustrates the urgent need for the reform of this body.”
She maintained that the Middle East conflict could only be solved through the establishment of two states with Palestinian people and Israelis living side by side in peace. “For this two-state solution, a peace process initiated by the UN needs to commence urgently,” she said, adding that all efforts aimed at creating two states should be reinforced.
The minister stated that the collective punishment Israel was exerting on all Palestinian people was an affront that has gone on for too long.
In her seven-step plan, Pandor said there should be the opening of humanitarian corridors for aid and basic services to reach those in need.
“All parties must exercise restraint and desist from fuelling this unjust war and human suffering, including ceasing supply of weapons to the various parties,” she said.
Pandor said there should be the release of all civilian hostages and the resumption of dialogue by Israel and Palestine facilitated by the UN, which should deploy a rapid UN force in Palestine to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities.
Speaking during the debate, DA MP Emma Powell said her party stood in solidarity with both Palestinians and Israelis who seek a two-state solution.
“We reject any sentiment that seeks to annihilate either Israel or Palestine. We embrace rationality, based on peaceful co-existence for both a secure Israel and a free Palestine.
“We seek the triumph of rational forces, committed to peaceful co-existence, on both sides of this terrible conflict,” she said.
EFF MP Mbuyiseli Ndlozi questioned why South Africa was friends with Israel for violating the values of the country’s constitution.
“We should fire the ambassador of Israel. We must not be friends of Israel until they establish a society in compliance with international law and recognise the right of Palestinians to co-exist,” Ndlozi said.
South Africa this week recalled its diplomats in Tel Aviv, Israel, citing that country’s refusal to respect international law and its continued undermining of the United Nations resolutions.
Reacting to this decision on Tuesday, the SA Jewish Board of Deputies called on the government to urgently reconsider its “ill-considered, immoral and ultimately self-defeating stance” on the conflict in the Middle East.
“Dirco’s most recent display of support for Hamas has been to threaten action against the Israeli ambassador in South Africa on the claimed grounds of his being ‘undiplomatic’. This is the same government department that has consistently refused to engage with the ambassador, even in the immediate aftermath of the horrors of 7 October.
It is the same Dirco that instead reached out to the perpetrators of those atrocities, most notably when Minister Naledi Pandor made a personal phone call to the Hamas leadership to pledge South Africa’s support.”
Cape Times