Zille drew sharp criticism regarding genocide in response to a question about Israel's war in Gaza.
The ANC has condemned the DA’s defence and “continued support of the apartheid State of Israel”, after the party’s federal chairperson, Helen Zille, sidestepped a question about whether genocide was being committed in Gaza.
Zille, the DA’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, evaded questions during an interview about Israel’s attacks on Gaza, where widespread destruction and mass civilian deaths have led international observers and rights groups to label the assault as genocide.
Helen Zille
“Genocide is a very big word. I haven’t been to Gaza, and I don’t know. But I certainly do know that Hamas has spent all its energy trying to obliterate the state of Israel,” Zille said.
Pushed to answer if Israel was committing genocide after the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which does not speak for the main body, found that a genocide was being committed, Zille sidestepped the question.
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“The DA has not discussed that particular issue. What we do discuss is the issue of what we propose to solve the problem, and that is a two-state solution.”
Genocide
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry is not a legal body, but its reports can exert diplomatic pressure and serve as evidence for later use by courts. It has been providing information to International Criminal Court prosecutors in the case against Israel. Its latest report has been criticised by Israel and labelled as “distorted and false”.
However, ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the report confirmed that what is happening against the people of Palestine is “genocide”.
“The DA has come out guns blazing to justify and support the annihilation of the Palestinian people by Israel.
“Whilst the latest UN inquiry, headed by South African judge Navi Pillay and through their own investigations, confirmed that Israel is intentionally destroying the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, imposing measures intended to prevent births as well as to inflict conditions of life deliberately designed to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians as a people, these acts have been defined as genocide by the Rome Statute and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” Bhengu said.
Palestinian state
Bhengu said a number of states, amongst others, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Mexico, have recently recognised the State of Palestine, lending support to the two-state solution.
“However, in South Africa, we continue to see this recognition of the State of Palestine and support for the two-state solution being undermined by the DA, through its Federal Council chairperson, Helen Zille.”
South African Muslims
The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) (Council of Muslim Theologians) secretary-general Moulana Yusuf Patel said they are “deeply appalled” by Zille’s recent remarks.
“This shocking statement suggests that one must physically ‘visit Gaza’ before recognising genocide. Such a view is both factually baseless and morally indefensible.
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“It trivialises the suffering of millions, undermines established international law, and seeks refuge in semantic evasion while the world watches atrocities in real time,” Patel said.
Gaza
Patel said the scale of death, destruction, displacement, and deliberate deprivation of essentials in Gaza leaves no room for doubt that a genocide is allegedly being committed.
“One does not need to walk Gaza’s shattered streets to reach this conclusion; the evidence is documented by the United Nations, humanitarian agencies, journalists, and satellite imagery.”
Israel under pressure
Israel has come under huge international pressure over its retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza, following an attack that resulted in the deaths of a reported 1 219 people in Israel, most of them civilians.
Diplomatic pressure has ramped up on Israel as it continues its war on Gaza, where more than 65 300 Palestinians have reportedly been killed and the enclave has been turned into rubble.
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