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The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, on Monday urged its leaders and members to not travel to Israel as the party has expressed its solidarity with the Palestinian people, the party’s secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said.
“(We are) joining the call for (a) cultural, academic and education boycott of Israel, including travel bans for members and leaders of the ANC, the alliance, members of Cabinet, Members of Parliament and government officials. Companies that do business in the occupied territory, such as Cape Gate, G4Security and Caterpillar, must not be allowed to do business with the state. Goods manufactured in the occupied territory should be boycotted”, Mantashe told journalists in Johannesburg.
Mantashe was speaking to the press after a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), held over the weekend.
He also said that the NEC had agreed to support several initiatives of the South African government and the appointment of special envoys to facilitate peace processes in Sri Lanka, South Sudan and Lesotho.
A few days earlier, South African President Jacob Zuma had spoken to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, with both parties expressing their support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Earlier in the month, South African retailer Woolworths had become the target of a boycott campaign by several groups after reports of the retailer stocking food sourced from Israel and foods which had been made in Palestine but labeled “Made in Israel”. The ANC had called Israel “a nation founded on apartheid” and called its establishment “a crime against humanity” before the boycott campaign intensified.
In August, President Jacob Zuma ended his keynote speech to several US businesses with a strong disapproval of Israeli use of military force in the Gaza Strip.