SADTU statement on the Israel’s attacks at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and planned forced removals of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah/East Jerusalem

12 May 2021

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) strongly condemns Israel’s attack at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the planned evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah/East Jerusalem. We condemn the Israeli military attacks against Palestinian protesters in occupied East Jerusalem, and airstrikes into Gaza that killed dozens of people including nine children.

We send our unwavering message of solidarity to the Palestinian people. We commit to continue to support the BDS and all other efforts to ensure that the Palestinians are free. To echo the words of world statesman Nelson Mandela, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

SADTU fully supports the Palestinian people on their call for the Israeli occupation authorities to end their month-long aggression against Muslim worshippers in Al Aqsa Mosque; refrain from evicting Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah; and release Palestinian prisoners detained since the start of the latest increase in tensions in mid-April which also saw the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

We see the United Nation’s failure to implement the two-state solution resolution and to declare sanctions against Israel for gross human right violations as being complicit in perpetuating this war against the Palestinians. The two-state solution envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River.

SADTU further calls on the United States President Joe Biden to immediately rescind former President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Statement issued by the SADTU Secretariat, 12 May 2021