Broad support for South Africa's downgrade of relations with Israel
Johannesburg - Cosatu has accused the Jewish Board of Deputies of attempting to divide the ruling party and the South African government in its decision to downgrade relations with Israel by trying to isolate Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
The ANC has hit back at the SAJBD’s statement saying, “The ANC lauds the decision by the Minister of International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu to downgrade the South African Embassy in Israel. The ANC resolved to downgrade its embassy, and these conference resolutions are binding on all of its members including those deployed to Cabinet. Both the President and Minister are ANC deployees who are bound by the decisions of its highest organ which is the conference.
Dangor has referred to the President’s response to a question posed to him in the National Assembly on March 7th on progress in implementing the ANC resolution to downgrade relations with Israel. “Since the passing of the resolution in December 2017, instead of seeking to comply with international law, the Government of Israel has continued to act contrary to international human rights law and various UN Resolutions including UN Security Council resolutions.
The SAJBD has responded robustly to the recent developments calling on the South African Government to “reject politically biased and discriminatory calls to break off ties with Israel and instead find ways to re-engage in the region through maintaining open channels of communication with all parties.”
While there has been no official Israeli reaction, following Sisulu’s statement that plans to downgrade the South African embassy had already started, according to the Middle East Monitor Israeli radio reported that Israel is planning to withdraw its ambassador to South Africa. Israeli radio also allegedly reported that the Israeli embassy in South Africa will be downgraded to a representative office which would deal with consulate issues.
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