EFF STATEMENT FOLLOWING SUCCESSFUL BILATERAL MEETING WITH HAMAS AT WINNIE MADIKIZELA MANDELA HOUSE

Wednesday, 06 December 2023

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is pleased to have held a productive and successful bilateral meeting with the Palestinian Resistance Movement HAMAS, led by Dr. Basem Naim, who leads International Relations for the movement, along with Emad Saber, and the EFF delegation led by Commander In Chief and President Julius Malema and the EFF leadership, at the EFF Headquarters, Winnie Madikizela Mandela House.

Today, the 6th of December 2023, the CIC was apprised by the HAMAS leadership of the dire situation in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where the people of Palestine have been subject to massive bombardments, forced removals, the annexation of their lands, the destruction of their religious sites and hospitals, the genocide of women and children, and the continued illegal imprisonment of resistance fighters and civilians alike.

The EFF was given a first-hand account of the gruesome conditions confronting the Palestinian people at the hands of the racist, Zionist, and Apartheid-Israel and its allies, namely the United States of America (USA).

The first-hand account from the HAMAS leadership, which is at the frontlines of the struggle in Gaza, revealed a chilling humanitarian crisis, including the destruction of hospitals and, critically, the lack of medical supplies, water, and food in the hospitals that remain intact in Gaza. The people of Palestine have been effectively cut off from the world, as telecommunications have been disrupted, resulting in them being bombed in shelters, hospitals, and their homes, without any means to communicate their plight.

As things stand, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of whom are women and children, while civilians and freedom fighters are detained for long periods and given life sentences without a fair trial. The Apartheid-Israeli State is effectively involved in the mass-scale kidnapping of Palestinian people.

The HAMAS leadership emphasized to the EFF the complicity of Israeli civil society and professionals in the genocide of Palestinian people, including the active involvement of medical professionals in calling for the bombing of hospitals, including Al-Shifa Hospital.

These doctors, who signed a statement supporting the bombing of Al-Shifa hospital, where injured civilians and ambulances were present, belong to a group named Doctors for the Rights of Israeli Soldiers, and they must be isolated by the global community, including having their work permits revoked by all nations of the world.

The EFF appreciated HAMAS's acknowledgment of the organization's support for the struggle of Palestinians, which has included pickets at the Israeli Embassy and, most recently, the sponsoring of a successful motion in the Parliament of South Africa for the removal of the Israeli Embassy in our country.

The Commander in Chief and President Julius Malema emphasized our support for the resistance against the genocidal Israeli State and commended the resistance movement for pursuing their land, freedom, and self-determination.

The EFF calls for the immediate allowance of the provision of medication, water, and food to all hospitals in Gaza, and for shelters and hospitals to no longer be targets of bombings by Israel and its allies, who have declared patients, women, children, and civilians as terrorists. There is no military strategy that ought to involve the killing of women and children, as this only reveals a determination to commit genocide.

The EFF will continue to build strong relations with all freedom fighters in Palestine and calls for the international community to stand together and isolate Israel economically, in terms of research, and all trade and academic relations, to ensure that the freedom of Palestinians is secured.

From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free!

Statement issued by the EFF, 6 December 2023