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The Media Review Network calls for immediate investigation into the DA and PA’s  clandestine trip to Apartheid Israel.

By Mariam Jooma Carikci

The MRN slams the treacherous visit of Democratic Alliance and Patriotic Alliance MPs to Israel. The visit was not   sanctioned by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and is a direct affront to South Africa’s long-standing policy in support of the Palestinian people and in opposition to Israeli apartheid.

The MRN supports calls by the Good Party for the MPs to disclose their reason for travel, who sponsored the trip, who the delegation met in Israel and what the outcomes of the meetings were. The MRN also calls for a parliamentary ethics investigation into whether MPs have violated codes of conduct by engaging with a state currently under international scrutiny for human rights abuses and war crimes.

The DA has said that the travels were taken on individual basis and not monitored by the party – a ridiculous assertion considering that one of the delegation, Nicholas Myburgh, is a member of Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence.  The Patriotic Alliance’s Ashley Saul’s gave the game away with his Facebook posts saying,

“We’ve already met a governor; we’re going to meet the president. We’re not going to meet the prime minister, [Benjamin] Netanyahu, but we are going to meet the president, so keep your fingers crossed.”

When South Africa, which has formally accused Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has consistently called for accountability, justice, and an end to the occupation the visit is not only irresponsible but immoral. It is indeed an echo of the same tactics used by AfriForum and Solidarity in their quest for a US nanny state to preside over South Africa.

At a time when Palestinian civilians are enduring unimaginable suffering, for public representatives to cosy up to the perpetrators of these crimes is a betrayal of South Africa’s anti-apartheid legacy and indeed state foreign policy.

The DA and PA have often called South Africa’s pro-Palestinian liberation policy an ANC one, when in fact it is the policy of several political parties that make up government.

Moreover, the Israel lobby in South Africa that uses local politicians as pawns in their Zionist games must be fully investigated and those involved in providing incentives to visit the genocidal state prosecuted for abetting a state that is under investigation for war crimes.

Issued by:

Mariam Jooma Carikci

Media Review Network

South Africa

Johannesburg

082 225 2333

Mariam Jooma
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