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Fetterman says South Africa should focus on its own continent as it brings case of genocide against Israel

2024-01-15 00:00:00.0 独立报-美国政治原网页

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John Fetterman criticised South Africa for bringing a case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war on Gaza and its treatment of the Palestinians.

The Pennsylvania senator suggested that South Africa “ought to sit this one out” at an event hosted by the Orthodox Union at Capitol Hill on Wednesday. He added that it was “appalling” that South Africa had brought the case, which began at The Hague on Thursday, “given the history there.”

In response to a request for clarification of those comments, Mr Fetterman said in a statement given to The Independent: “The entirety of my point was this: South Africa should instead focus on the spiraling humanitarian crises on its own continent—like Sudan where more than 7 million people have been displaced with widespread atrocities.”

It is unclear precisely which part of South Africa’s history Mr Fetterman was referring to in his original comments, but the country existed under a system of apartheid, or the rule of a white minority over the country’s Black population, from 1948 until the early 1990s. The case against Israel was brought by South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, which successfully fought against and ended apartheid rule. The party, once led by Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist and first post-apartheid president of South Africa, has long compared the policies of Israel with the conditions of apartheid Black South Africans endured.

Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s justice minister and head of its delegation at The Hague, told the New York Times that his country’s history was precisely the reason why it had brought the case.

“We do believe that it is important for a state like South Africa that has experienced apartheid discrimination to stand firm with the people of Palestine,” he said.

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Several human rights organisations have also made the comparison between apartheid South Africa and the situation in the occupied Palestinian Territories. In recent years, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Israeli rights group B’Tselem have all accused Israel of committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.

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