- Fatima Seedat advocates for Palestine
- South Africa pursues Israel for genocide
- Support for Palestine widespread
Fatima Seedat has dedicated the last two decades to advocating for Palestine. She joined the Palestinian Solidarity Committee during her first year at Witwatersrand University.
At 39, the Johannesburg-based social worker and counselor continues to attend pro-Palestine rallies occasionally as a member of Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine (HCW4P South Africa), an organization that has organized vigils in Cape Town and Johannesburg in support of Palestinians, raising over 100,000 rand ($5,000) to purchase ambulances for Gaza.
HCW4P South Africa has also called for “a permanent cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic resolution that ensures enduring peace,” along with “an end to the deliberate targeting of healthcare personnel, facilities, ambulances, and civilians, including children and women.”
“I have consistently been aware of the daily atrocities that the Palestinian people endure,” stated Seedat.
Global Outcry Against Israel
However, she maintains that further action is required to assist Gaza. Seedat expressed her dismay, similar to the millions of demonstrators worldwide who have taken to the streets in opposition to Israel’s assault on the besieged enclave, at the images captured from the Palestinian territory since October 7. Since then, over 23,000 people, including nearly 10,000 children, have been killed in this territory.
“Israel ought to be held responsible,” she stated. “They have misled individuals into believing they are fighting for their safety.” “However, it has been they who have persistently infringed upon the fundamental human rights and freedom of the Palestinian people.”
As the South African government prosecutes Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, this sentiment is pervasive throughout the nation.
In Pretoria, the Israeli occupation is compared to apartheid, which ruled South Africa from 1948 to 1994. The case has garnered support from lawmakers affiliated with the governing African National Congress (ANC), veterans of the apartheid struggle, and the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). Arguments in The Hague commenced on Thursday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Other South Africans who were not raised during apartheid support the Palestinian cause. Sthabile Mthethwa claims to have been completely uninformed about the Israel-Palestine conflict prior to its outbreak on October 7. She is convinced that the slaughter of innocent children must cease.
“Genocide has been committed if people have been intentionally murdered,” says the 31-year-old isiZulu instructor from Dainfern, located just outside Johannesburg.
“Interned in a crossfire”
South Africa asserts in its 84-page filing, which is centered on the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention. It claims that Israel’s indiscriminate murdering of civilians violates the convention.
The case designates as acts of genocide the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza, particularly children. The destruction of their homes, expulsion, and blockage of food, water, and medical aid to the strip. The destruction of key health services for pregnant women and infants is also considered genocide against Israel.
Israel claims that the airstrikes and ground invasion of Gaza were meant to eliminate Hamas, not genocide. Whose assaults in southern Israel on October 7 claimed the lives of 1,139 individuals.
Undoubtedly, a minority viewpoint exists in South Africa that is more tolerant of Israel. This minority consists primarily of the small white population. “In South Africa’s charged atmosphere surrounding the war, the comparison to apartheid is wholeheartedly embraced by some but rejected by others,” said Mark du Plessis, a 28-year-old multimedia producer based in Cape Town. He requested that his actual name not be used. “The traumatic memory of the Holocaust, the persecution of Jewish people, which is conflated with Israel the state, which is currently committing abhorrent acts with U.S. support, significantly complicates the situation.”
The Palestinian people, who are entangled in the crossfire, have Israel and Hamas to blame.
Why was a lawsuit submitted at this time?
Concerns arise at the outset regarding South Africa’s genuine motivations for pursuing the case.
Ahead of this year’s elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa has encountered significant domestic pressure, as the ANC, which is 108 years old, is at an all-time low. Corruption in the party and failing to address poverty, massive power outages, and rising costs have eroded popularity.
Thus, two years ago, former President Thabo Mbeki expected Arab Spring-like protests at any time.
Some South Africans believe that Ramaphosa’s stern posture on Israel is an element of the ANC’s strategy to shore up support prior to the general election, as the Democratic Alliance and EFF, the principal opposition parties, draw closer.
Dale McKinley, a spokesperson for the advocacy organization Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia, endorses the argument but harbors doubts regarding South Africa’s current motivations, given the nation’s contentious non-aligned position regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
McKinley argues that South Africa had an opportunity to respond. He suggests a comparable approach to the ongoing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the Syrian civil war.
Nkanyiso Ngqulunga, a human rights attorney, disagrees. He states that the ANC-led South African government has maintained a consistent stance on Palestine.
“Since [Nelson] Mandela’s presidency, South Africa has frequently taken a stance in support of Palestinians opposing settler colonialism, indiscriminate bombing, occupation, and genocide on Palestinian territory,” the 29-year-old told.
Regarding human rights, he is optimistic about South Africa’s prospects at the International Court of Justice and claims that a ruling against Israel would expose the double standard of its allies, such as the United States, which has yet to support calls for a ceasefire.
Palestine supporters in South Africa are eagerly awaiting the court’s long-awaited ruling.
Following seventy-five years of Palestinian resistance and international indifference, Seedat asserts that the South African government is acting appropriately.
She declared, “The world has at last witnessed the truth for the very first time.”
Younger partners bring fulfilling relationships for cougar women
