FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Dear Fellow South African,
Like many people around the world, South Africans have watched with great anguish and pain the devastating violence and destruction in Israel and Gaza since Saturday last week.
It has never been our nature as South Africans to reserve our empathy only for those with whom we share an ethnic, racial, religious or cultural affinity. As South Africans we have made it part of our national DNA to stand firm against all forms of prejudice including racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of both Palestine and Israel as they go through these difficult times.
It has been traumatic to see the images of civilians killed, wounded and captured, of destroyed homes, and of entire neighbourhoods flattened by bombardment. The atrocities that we have witnessed since last week Saturday are the latest chapter in a painful history of suffering, oppression, occupation and conflict going back more than 75 years.
The harrowing deaths of Israeli and Palestinian civilians is a shock to our collective humanity. While international law recognises the right of oppressed and people who defend themselves to use arms as a means of struggle and defence, that right must be exercised within the bounds of the Geneva Conventions. The images of the killing of civilians in Israel by Hamas just over a week ago and the ongoing killing of civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces goes against the tenets of international law, which prohibits the targeting of non-combatants, especially women, the aged and children.