A demonstration brought together several hundred people in the streets of Cape Town this Saturday, marking the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. Protesters, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans, marched to Parliament in a show of support for Gaza.
The event, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, saw participants display signs accusing Israel of “genocide” and “racism.” Some demonstrators wore keffiyehs, a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, while others brandished slogans such as “We are all Hamas” or “Zionism is racism”.
Several protesters expressed support for South Africa’s complaint to the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Linelle Arendse, a participant, told News24: “I am appalled by Israel’s actions, the genocide and the attack on innocent people, children… and now the extension to Lebanon.” The protest also highlighted the parallel many South Africans draw between the Palestinian situation and their country’s past apartheid, a comparison rejected by Israel and some international legal experts.
Organizers delivered a memorandum to Parliament demanding that the government implement the 1973 United Nations Apartheid Convention, which would allow actions such as boycotts against Israel.
