‘We Know What Apartheid Looks Like,’ South Africa’s Delegate Tells Third Committee amid Mounting Calls for Justice for Palestinians – Press release (excerpt)

23 October 2024

(Excerpt)

Seventy-ninth Session,
26th & 27th Meetings (AM & PM)

Amid a climate of systemic impunity, aggressors and their accomplices must be held accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide, delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today during a continued discussion on human rights.

It has been 11 months since the Hamas attack killed 1,200 people and hostages were taken, recalled the representative of South Africa. In response, Israel embarked on collective punishment on Gaza.  The torment of the people in the Strip continues unabated, with over 40,000 Palestinians killed, homes, schools and hospitals destroyed, and famine and disease stalking the streets.

“This cannot but shock our collective humanity,” he asserted, underscoring that the violence against the Palestinian people is a grim continuation of over half a century of apartheid.  “We South Africans know what apartheid looks like — we have lived through it, suffered and died under it,” he stated, adding: “We cannot remain silent and watch as apartheid is perpetrated against others.”  This motivated South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice, whose orders make it clear that there is a plausible case of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

International humanitarian law is under threat due to the ongoing abuse committed by Israel against the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Syrian Golan and Lebanon, echoed Kuwait’s delegate, adding that “the country is yet to be held accountable”, including for attacking the UN forces in Lebanon.  Its aggression against Lebanon has resulted in the internal displacement of over a million people — 22 per cent of the population, he noted, calling on all countries to help stop the criminal war against the Palestinian people, including by blocking arms transfer to Israel.

Israel’s representative stated that the protection of human rights stands at the core of her country’s democratic values, declaring that this commitment has not been shaken by the 7 October 2023 massacre and the security challenges her country faces from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Iranian regime.  Yet, many countries singled out Israel and tarnished its name, she added, vowing to continue efforts until all the hostages safely return home.

“It is a demonstration of self-denial when a genocidal State targeting civilians in an atrocious war of aggression claims adherence to human rights,” observed Egypt’s delegate, noting that Israel denies the Palestinian people the right to life and self-determination.  Categorically rejecting the forcible displacement of Palestinians and “attempts to erase the question of Palestine”, she spotlighted her country’s efforts to end this war and ensure guarantees for civilians and humanitarian workers.

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