By Thys Khiba
The opposition party, Land Party has called on South African government to stop supplying weapons to and cut all ties with Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Land Party spokesperson, Avela Sithonga said the decision to close the Israeli Embassy is a step in the right direction. On Tuesday, the MPs in the National Assembly voted on the motion that was introduced by EFF leader Julius Malema to close the Israeli Embassy in South Africa.
“The Land Party is the first political party to call for the immediate expulsion of Israel embassy and the party welcomes the decision of South Africa’s parliament to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa,” said Sithonga.
Amongst other requests made by the party is that they want the government to suspend all flights from and to Israel with immediate effect.
Sithonga suggested that South African government should declare MOSSAD and IDF members as terrorist organisations and he claims “by doing so the South African government will be putting the safety of its citizens from Israel operations to sabotage South Africa and to plan terrorist activities in our country.”
The MPs have voted in favour of closing the Israeli embassy to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Gaza. This decision paves the way for the cutting of diplomatic ties between the two nations and the suspension of the Israeli ambassador to South Africa.
The ANC chief whip, Pemmy Majodina moved for an amendment to the motion, in relation to the following would be added to the (9) point: “until a ceasefire is agreed to by Israel and Israel commits to UN facilitated negotiations which leads to a just, sustainable lasting peace.”
Some of the political parties in Parliament, namely the DA, IFP, FF Plus and ACDP opposed the notion saying that closing the Israeli embassy would leave South Africa without influence as a potential peace broker.
ACDP leader Steve Swart said the scriptures read “blessed be the peacemaker. We need to be part of that solution as peacemakers.”
Meanwhile, the State-owned defence and security acquisition company Armscor has confirmed that it has not supplied weapons to Israel.
In response to the allegations, including from the SA Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) coalition and a public representative, that Armscor was supplying weapons to the IDF, Armscor Senior Manager: Corporate Communication Liziwe Nkonyana said it has “no contact” with Israel.
“The buying and selling of, or possession of controlled items (armaments and/or items or services with military application) is subject to the very strict control regime implemented by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NACC),” said Nkonyana.
Nokonyana said Armscor “executes its mandate in accordance with the national security interest of the Republic [of South Africa] and applicable government policy in this regard.”
Advocate Ezra Jele, Head of Secretariat of the NCACC, told media that export “applications for countries that are in conflict will not meet the criteria of the [NCACC] act since this is proscribed and, therefore, would not be eligible to be considered by the cabinet committee. Further to that, the NCACC abides strictly by the amended National Arms Control Act (Act 41 of 2002) and the regulation and control lists from the Framework of Arms Prevention Control.”
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