by Cynthia Rush (EIRNS) — Feb. 15, 2024
Outside the meeting of the African Union’s Executive Council in Addis Ababa, South African Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor told The Palestine Chronicle that her government is “horrified at what is happening and continues to happen to the people of Gaza, the West Bank, and now Rafah. We believe this conforms to the allegations we’ve tabled before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that genocide is underway in the Palestinian territories, in the occupied territories–clearly the actions of the Israeli government prove that what we’ve said is actually accurate.”
Mrs. Pandor told the media she is deeply concerned that “the world is allowing Israel to ignore the ICJ rulings; no one is taking any measures” to place a peace force in Palestine, whose purpose would be to protect innocent civilians—as “a peace enforcement force.”
Had 170 journalists been killed in an African nation, she pointed out, citing the number of journalists killed in Palestine, “the whole world would be talking about this,” and see it as “a terrible infringement on human rights and freedom of _expression_.” Why are no voices raised about this atrocity in Palestine, she asked? “The world seems unconcerned.”
Pandor was in Addis Ababa to attend the 37th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the 55-nation African Union, which begins on Feb. 16 and ends on Saturday, Feb. 17.