Former presidency director-general Frank Chikane says SA should “not relent” in its battle against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges of genocide, which has elicited a polarised global response.
“We need to support government’s efforts but also put pressure on governments, business and universities to apply sanctions on Israel,” Chikane said in an interview with Business Day.
To this end, civil society organisations will launch the SA Chapter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) on Thursday.
This comes after some SA Christians were part of a global delegation that spent last Christmas in Bethlehem, in solidarity with Palestinian Christians from the conflict-ridden region.
The ICJ has thus far called for a ceasefire in Gaza and put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on notice as the Israel-Gaza war continues.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been reportedly killed and Gaza’s million strong population are living on the brink of humanitarian disaster, according to Gaza’s health officials.
The war began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel in the early hours of October 7 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking about 200 hostages.
A group made up of international clerics spent time in Jerusalem in December last year and also met released Palestinian prisoners, as well as the families of Israeli hostages.
The delegation includes SA clerics such as Chikane, general secretary of the Council of African Independent Churches Archbishop Thami Ngcana; Michael Weeder, dean of the St George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town; Ds Riaan de Villiers, a dominee of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, Groote Kerk, Cape Town; and Rev Rene August, an Anglican priest and a veteran of the anti-apartheid movement.
“For us to do this, to get anything lasting done, we need a movement. The US and Europe will not do the right thing, they supported apartheid until the last day. What is happening in Palestine is more than a tragedy, what that is happening there is genocide. Some are not prepared to do the right thing unless they are forced too. So, we launching this chapter, to try and help. It will be just like in the anti-apartheid movement that created the SA we have today. Justice will prevail,” Chikane said.
The decision to use the UN’s world court to advocate the Palestine cause has generated widespread support among global south countries and has ramped up pressure for a ceasefire.
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