PRESS ALERT: Protest Vigil for Gaza in Pretoria calling for Expulsion of Israeli Ambassador [Friday, 11 July]

PRESS ALERT: Protest Vigil for Gaza at SA Department of International Relations calling for Expulsion of Israeli Ambassador

The South African Palestine solidarity and human rights organisation BDS South Africa will be holding a solidarity and protest vigil at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) head office in Pretoria/Tshwane tomorrow (Friday, 11 July starting from 13h30). BDS South Africa calls on fellow organisations, peace and justice loving peoples and members of the media to join this protest and solidarity vigil.

The solidarity and protest vigil (which will be supported by various partner organziations) will be calling on the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and the South African government to immediately withdraw the South African Ambassador in Tel Aviv (Israel) as well as expel the Israeli Ambassador in South Africa (Ambassador Arthur Lenk) - these two actions are the least that our government can do to protest the wanton killing of innocent Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Apartheid regime. Furthermore, South Africa must impose full diplomatic sanctions against Israel until Israel ends its illegal siege on Gaza and its apartheid policies.

As of 10 July 2014 at 08h00, over 60 Palestinians including 12 children, an 84 year old grandmother and 1 journalist have been killed by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip (click here). Human rights activists are describing the Israeli attacks as a "massacre". In one of the most deadliest attacks, Israel killed 7 members of the Kaware family home in Khan Younis (click here) including a two Palestinian children under the age of 5 (click here). In another deadly Israeli attack, 6 members of one family including the father, daughter, two uncle, aunt and grandmother. Two Palestinian brothers, Mohammed Aarif (13) and 12-year-old Amir Aarif were killed in an air strike on Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, while another Israeli air strike in the nearby Zeitun district killed Amina Malaka (27) and her 18-month-old son Mohammed Malaka. Further north, another missile hit Beit Hanun, killing 40-year-old Sahar al-Masri and her 14-year-old son Ibrahim al-Masri (click here).

The Palestinian Gaza Strip is the world’s largest open air prison with over 1,5 million Palestinians caged in and cut off by Israel from the rest of the world. The Palestinian Gaza Strip is the world’s most densely populated piece of land on this earth making the Israeli bombing of the Palestinian Gaza Strip all the more horrendous. The collective punishment and illegal siege by Israel of the Palestinian people of Gaza must immediately end. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has described the Israeli siege and blockade on the Gaza Strip as an: "abomination".

ISSUED BY MUHAMMED DESAI ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL in SOUTH AFRICA (BDS SOUTH AFRICA)
11th Floor | Braamfontein Centre | 23 Jorissen Street | Braamfontein | Johannesburg
PO Box 2318 | Houghton | 2041 | Johannesburg
T: +27 (0) 11 403 2097 | M: +27 (0) 84 211 9988 | F: +27 (0) 86 650 4836
W: www.bdssouthafrica.com | E: administrator@bdssouthafrica.com
www.facebook.com/bdssouthafrica | www.twitter.com/bdssouthafrica

BDS South Africa is a registered Non-Profit Organization. NPO NUMBER: 084 306 NPO
BDS South Africa is a registered Public Benefit Organisation with Section 18A status. PBO NUMBER: 930 037 446