South African MPs have voted to close Israel’s embassy in Pretoria and suspend all diplomatic ties.
The ruling African National Congress, which dominates parliament, has long been critical of Israel and supported the bill in parliament.
The motion called for the embassy to be closed and communications suspended until Israel agreed to a ceasefire and committed to binding negotiations.
It was adopted with 248 votes in favor and 91 against. As this happened, some members chanted “Freedom, free Palestine!”
Ahead of South Africa’s vote, Israel recalled its ambassador “for consultations”, a move it said was a response to “South Africa’s recent statement”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently referred Israel to the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes and summoned South African diplomats to Israel.
He chaired a virtual summit of the BRICS group of countries on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza.
His words were blunt, condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza and calling it collective punishment for Palestinian civilians.
Israel says its actions in Gaza were an act of self-defense and that its goal is to destroy Hamas.
Source-BBC
