The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's ruling party, has expressed its unwavering support for the Palestinian people amid renewed violent tensions in the Middle East region.
In a show of solidarity, the ANC plans to organize a protest outside the Israeli embassy in Pretoria on Friday.
Fikile Mbalula, the ANC's secretary general, reiterated the party's commitment to stand with the Palestinians and stressed that no one should ask the ANC to abandon its support for the Palestinian cause. Drawing parallels with the party's history of fighting apartheid, Mbalula condemned the current situation in Palestine, describing it as "evil".
"We've got a democracy today that is flourishing, we’ve got everything in this country, because somebody somewhere had to stand at the United Nations to say no apartheid, apartheid is an evil. What is happening today in Palestine is evil, and the ANC will be in the trenches and will be on the side of the Palestinian people," Mbalula told journalists on Thursday.
The recent escalation of violence in the Palestinian-Israeli region, triggered by Hamas on October 7 in response to Israeli provocations, has resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. In response, Israel declared a state of war the following day and launched retaliatory strikes against the Gaza Strip. Israel later ordered a complete blockade of the Strip, cutting off supplies of water, food, medicine and fuel to the region's two million people and ordering them to leave.
Mbalula also criticized the United States for its continued support of Israel in the ongoing conflict, questioning the notion of peace in light of the actions of the US government.
This came in the wake of US President Joe Biden's visit to Israel on Wednesday, where he expressed US government's support for Israel's efforts against Hamas, while over a dozen thousand American protesters, including Jewish individuals, demonstrated at the US Congress at the time of Biden's visit to Israel, demanding that US lawmakers pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"There is a problem, there is a challenge in the Middle East and all of that, we will give you arms… that’s what happens. Where does the notion of peace come in from a state and a superpower like America?" Mbalula said.
Biden's visit to the Israeli capital came one day after a strike on a Gaza hospital killed more than 500 Palestinian civilians, most of them children and women. Palestinian authorities and Hamas blamed Israel for the attack. Israel denied involvement, while Biden defended the Israel Defense Forces IDF, saying the strike was carried out by the "other team."