A large billboard has gone up in Johannesburg, South Africa – calling Israel out for what has been called by many its genocide, occupation and ethnic cleansing. South Africa has long been a stronghold of Palestinian solidarity within the African continent. The situation in Gaza and the West Bank resonates deeply with South Africans, who see parallels between Israeli military law and apartheid in South Africa. Many South African activists have participated in delegations to Palestinian territories and continue to raise their voices. From Nelson Mandela to Desmond Tutu to Julius Malema to Mandla Mandela – some of South Africa’s most prominent and admired figures have spoken out consistently against Zionism and Israeli settler-colonialism in Gaza and the West Bank.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has said that Israel cannot claim the right of ‘self-defence’ under international law because Gaza is a territory which it occupies. Her comments came in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia.
Shortly after the start of the war against Gaza, Palestinian trade unions appealed to their colleagues worldwide for a boycott of arms supplies to Israel. That appeal is being heeded in many countries. That list of countries is growing every day.
When Benjamin Netanyahu boasts of “hellfire” being rained down on Gaza, he is correct. “Hellfire” has rained down on Gaza creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory. But what Israel’s prime minister gets wrong is that this crisis dates back long before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Hell on earth has been the reality in Gaza since 2005 when the territory’s population of more than 2 million had its movement and freedom restricted as the Israelis began a blockade of the land that limited the amount of fuel, food, medicine and water that the Gazans could access.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown has expressed concern that Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians will help Hamas recruit more militants and cautioned against a long war in Gaza.
Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan is a British Egyptian pediatric neurologist who is confounder of Gaza Medic Voices and has been travelling to Gaza and West Bank to teach since 2011 with a delegation of oxford based medics and surgeons.
Iran has urged the BRICS group of nations to intervene in an active, constructive and responsible manner to stop the Israeli regime’s war crimes against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
It’s the most 2020s thing in the world that there’s an active genocide currently underway and it’s the people who oppose it who are being called Nazis.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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