In US, South Africa's foreign minister calls for solidarity with Palestine

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – During his visit to the US, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola on Friday called for global solidarity with Palestine.

“We continue to call on the collective conscience of the global community to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine… to call Israel to stop the genocide that is currently unfolding” in Gaza, Lamola said at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 53rd Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

“We will continue to do so, despite threats that come from across the globe, because we believe we are standing on principles,” he added.

“The future of the world depends on the rule of law being protected” by all nations, said Lamola, who is on his first trip to the US after being appointed in July.

He arrived in Washington on Thursday for a weeklong visit, amid reports that Israeli diplomats are lobbying US lawmakers to pressure South Africa into dropping its genocide case against Tel Aviv at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

His schedule during the trip released by his spokesperson Chrispin Phiri, however, did not indicate whether Lamola will have a bilateral meeting with his US counterpart.

After his appointment, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a phone call with Lamola to congratulate him.

The two had discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.

“We continue to champion human rights in Gaza. We stand with the people of Palestine,” Lamola told the audience in Washington, which included US lawmakers as well as prominent diaspora members of the African community.

“This has been a historic position of the South African government,” he said, recalling words of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, who had said: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

- ‘Disproportionate’ response from Israel

The “whole world was quiet” when South Africa took the decision to take the Gaza case to the ICJ, Lamola said.

Condemning last year’s Hamas attack, he, however, said: “The state of Israel’s response to the incident of Oct. 7 is disproportionate to the offense committed.”

A trained lawyer himself, Lamola said: “It is going beyond self-defense as predicated by international law and it is against this background that we went to the International Court of Justice to call for a cease-fire, to stop maiming of innocent women and children, to stop the destruction of Gaza.”

The court indicated that Israel “should cease its military operations, to cease the destruction of infrastructure,” Lamola, who served as justice minister in the previous term of President Cyril Ramaphosa, said, adding: “Despite the court’s ruling Israel continues to do so.”

Pointing to the conflict in Ukraine, he said South Africa’s non-alignment position was a “catalyst for peace and democratic engagements.”

“We are unequivocal about sovereignty and independence of all nations,” he said stressing that unlawful occupations “should not be allowed.”

Reminding the Global North about the impacts of wars, Lamola said Africans were "most affected" due to the impact on value chains, including in the supply of food.

- Mutually beneficial ties with US

Taking no qualms, Lamola acknowledged “differences of opinion” with the US on “certain issues.”

However, striking a positive note with a call for engagement “on the basis of constructive dialogue,” he said the bilateral relations “should not be based on threats but on mutual respect.”

“We believe our relationship with the US is mutually beneficial and we value this relationship,” he emphasized.

And Washington, he said, “also benefits from this relationship.”

“It is a relationship that must be preserved,” Lamola said.

“Let us engage on differences but we may agree to disagree,” he said, addressing the Joe Biden administration.

“We will not tell the US what to do and we expect the US not to tell us what to do,” the South African foreign minister said.

He added: “We will remain open to be persuaded and we are hopeful that we can also persuade the US on a number of issues in various multilateral platforms and this becomes a relationship of mutual respect.”