Thursday, 15 May 2025

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) reaffirms its solidarity with the people of Palestine today  on the 77th commemoration of the Nakba, which marks the beginning of Israel’s violent colonisation and apartheid regime.

May 15 marks the founding of the Zionist state of Israel in 1948, which resulted in the mass expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their ancestral land and the destruction of more than 500 Palestinian villages. Today, the very same violence continues, with hundreds of thousands more dead, and millions more displaced, facing hunger and slowly dying from lack of access to medication.

It is clear that Israel’s genocidal project aims to permanently erase Palestinian life, history and identity, using military force, land theft, siege and apartheid laws to deny Palestinians the most basic right: the right to exist. The acts of desecration against worshipping sites over the past years, for both Muslims and Palestinians, confirms that Israel’s violence is not just territorial but it is cultural, religious, and deeply racist.

The EFF joins Palestinian resistance movements, and all progressive organisations in affirming that Israel is an apartheid state committing crimes against humanity. This is not an opinion, it is a matter of law, morality, and conscience. We salute the historic role played by South Africa in taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023, holding the apartheid regime accountable for genocide in Gaza, and for consistently exposing Israel’s crimes at the African Union and the United Nations.

However, words alone are no longer enough. The South African government must act decisively by investigating and prosecuting South African citizens who serve in the Israeli Defence Force or who support Israeli apartheid in violation of the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act. We must also prosecute and deregister South Africanbased organisations such as the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the United Jewish Campaign, which raise funds for the continued colonisation of Palestinian land. Finally, we must sever all diplomatic, trade, cultural, sporting and academic ties with Israel, because there is no meaningful solidarity without consequences.

To ordinary South Africans: your power lies in economic and political resistance. Continue to boycott companies and products linked to Israel and its illegal settlements, and continue to boycott the political parties in South Africa that defend or ignore the brutalisation of the Palestinian people.

The EFF calls on all peace-loving South Africans to intensify their support for the liberation of Palestine and join the global movement for justice, equality, and freedom from colonial oppression. Let us unite to bring an end to the genocide and apartheid confronting the people of Palestine since 1948. Their freedom is our freedom.

ISSUED BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581