Israel On South Africa Downgrading Ties: 'Shameful And Disgraceful'

South African parliament voted to downgrade its ties with Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians. However, Israel slammed South Africa for their decision, noting that it is "shameful and disgraceful."

The Foreign Ministry of Israel issued a statement on Wednesday, "The symbolic resolution taken yesterday by the South African Parliament calling for the downgrading of relations between South Africa and Israel is shameful and disgraceful," JPost reported.

It added, "Even as a symbolic resolution, it does not contribute in the least to the promotion of any viable solution in the Middle East."

South Africa's symbolic move came after Israel signed peace agreements with several Muslim and Middle Eastern states.

Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel, Eli Cohen signed a peace agreement with Sudan, which is a country in North Africa. Sudan consists of 91% of the Muslim population.

Foreign Ministry further said in the statement, "At a time when many African and Muslim countries are strengthening and deepening ties with the State of Israel for the benefit of everyone's common interests, it is unfortunate that South Africa continues to adhere to anachronism and the deterioration of relations, a move that will only harm South Africa itself and its standing."

South African Parliament already took the action of downgrading their ties with Israel four years ago as they called their ambassador back from Israel in May 2018. At that time, South Africa's African National Congress party delegation accused the Israeli military of being as cruel as Hitler.

However, South Africa cemented their action by voting on Tuesday.

"This is a historic moment for our country and a demonstration of our unwavering commitment to justice, human rights, and freedom," South Africa's National Freedom Party (NFP) said after casting the vote. "This is a moment [Nelson Mandela] would be proud of. He always said our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of Palestinians."

Nelson Mandela was the former President of South Africa. He served his first term from 1994 to 1999.

South African Zionist Federation, which advocates Israel and Zionism in South Africa, also shared a statement following the vote.

The federation claimed that the government should take a position against Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine rather than vote for conflict between the Palestinians and Israel.

"The ANC government has created a foreign policy that aims to befriend dictatorships and bash democracies," the federation stated. "It obsesses over Israel, which is the size of our Kruger National Park, and at the same [time] hosts navy war drills with Russia, responsible for horrific war crimes and the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainian civilians over the past year."

Zionist Federation went on to share that in 2023 alone, several political parties and public representatives from Angola, Chad, Papua New Guinea and Sudan have all made moves to grow their diplomatic relations with Israel, adding that South Africa should do the same.