South Africa’s parliament votes in favour of closing Israeli embassy

South African Parliament has voted in favour of the closure of Israel’s embassy in Pretoria and the suspension of diplomatic ties with the country amidst the siege of the Gaza Strip.

The votes in favour were 248 and 91 against the motion. The action is actually symbolic because it will be up to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to implement it. The President has already maintained that Israel is committing war crimes and genocide in the Gaza Strip. In a recent statement on X, President Ramaphosa, “We urge the international community to agree on urgent and concrete actions to end the suffering in #Gaza and establish a path towards a just and peaceful resolution of his conflict.”

We urge the international community to agree on urgent and concrete actions to end the suffering in #Gaza and establish a path towards a just and peaceful resolution of his conflict.

As South Africa, we call for:

1) An immediate and comprehensive ceasefire.

2) The opening of… pic.twitter.com/HmcNfZwMLT

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) November 21, 2023

Relations between Israel and South Africa have deteriorated over the years because of the former’s apartheid of Palestine. The country has not had an ambassador in Israel since 2018.

In the BRICS summit on Tuesday, South Africa called for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” in Gaza.

South Africa is the most recent country to suspend ties with Israel over the Gaza war. Others include Turkey, Bahrain, Jordan, Colombia, Chile and Honduras.