In his address to the ANC’s final election rally at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday Cyril Ramaphosa led the audience in a chant of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine shall be free”.
This is a chant that is widely understood to be a rejection of a two state solution and involves an implicit call for the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel (or “Zionist entity”, as Iran calls it).
Earlier in the week the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated, at a meeting in Tehran with a Hamas delegation, that “The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea.” The Hamas officials replied: “God willing we will see that day together.”
God's promise to free #Palestine from the river to the sea will be realized pic.twitter.com/cRbUAStK0q
— Khamenei Media (@Khamenei_m) May 22, 2024
The chant did not appear in the prepared text of Ramaphosa’s remarks. Conversely, a call for the release of the “hostages held in Gaza” that appeared in Ramaphosa’s prepared remarks, did not appear in his final speech.
The two versions of the relevant section of the address appear below the video:
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Spoken remarks for ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the ANC’s final Siyanqoba Rally, Soweto, 25 May 2024 The ANC shares the horror that the vast majority of South Africans feel when they see the death and destruction and starvation that has been unleashed on the people of Palestine by an apartheid Israel. There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza particularly following the decision of the International Court of Justice just yesterday which, after South Africa approached the court, has now ruled that, yes, Israel must stop the attack against the people of Palestine and Rafah in Gaza, and we say we want a ceasefire now, we want Israel to enable humanitarian aid to go into Gaza right now. The whole world is appalled at the genocide that is being committed against the people of Palestine. For us as the African National Congress we will continue to stand with the people of Palestine because our freedom is intricately linked with the freedom of Palestine and we say: Free Free Palestine Palestine shall be free. We must continue to exert pressure so that the people of Palestine also must enjoy the peace that all of us, we are enjoying. |
Prepared remarks for ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the ANC’s final Siyanqoba Rally, Soweto, 25 May 2024 The ANC shares the horror that the vast majority of South Africans feel when they see the death, destruction, starvation and genocide being unleashed on the Palestinian people by Apartheid Israel. There must an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The hostages held in Gaza must be released. The people of Gaza must receive all the food, fuel and other essential goods they need to prevent mass starvation. Yesterday, the International Court of Justice ruled on an application made by South Africa that Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah. The court also ruled that Israel must enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance through crossing points and in particular the Rafah crossing. We must continue to exert pressure to end the genocide. South Africa recently hosted the launch of the global Anti-Apartheid Israel movement in Johannesburg, which agreed on several measures to keep up pressure. Our sporting fraternity is discussing the call for Apartheid Israel to be out of international sports under the battle cry: ‘No Normal Sport with an Abnormal Society’. |
