South Africa's parliament votes in favor of downgrading the country's relations with the Israeli regime in solidarity with Palestinians.
The legislature voted on a relevant draft resolution on Tuesday, the London-based Middle East Eye news and analysis website reported.
The draft resolution had been introduced by the National Freedom Party (NFP) mandating the downgrading of the country's embassy in the occupied territories given the regime's ongoing abuses against Palestinians.
The NFP released a statement, saying such a move would have been supported by the country's late anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.
"This is a moment [Mandela] would be proud of. He always said our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of Palestinians," read the statement.
The Israeli regime "was built through the displacement, murder, and maiming of Palestinians. And to maintain their grip on power, they have instituted apartheid to control and manage Palestinians," the statement noted.
"As South Africans, we refuse to stand by while apartheid is being perpetrated again."
The Israeli regime claimed existence in 1948 after occupying huge swathes of Palestinian territories during a Western-backed war.
It occupied more land, namely the West Bank, including East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip, in another such war in 1967. The regime withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but has been keeping the coastal sliver under routine deadly attacks and a crippling siege.
Ever since 1967, Tel Aviv has built hundreds of settlements upon the overrun territories and deployed the most aggressive restrictions on the movements of Palestinians there.
South Africa established close ties with the Israeli regime during the apartheid era, but after the collapse of the discriminatory system, the African country began to lean towards Palestine.
In 2019, South Africa downgraded its relations with Tel Aviv in reaction to the regime's deadly atrocities against the people of Gaza. The move saw Pretoria demoting its diplomatic mission in the occupied territories into a liaison office with limited functionality, returning its ambassador, and refusing to send the envoy back for four months.
In February, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor expressed hope for a "direct action" against the regime in Tel Aviv for its "well-documented apartheid practices."
Also last month, South Africa’s governing African National Congress party welcomed the "encouraging" expulsion of a senior Israeli diplomat from the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa.
The incident saw an Israeli observer delegation at the African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital being expelled from the opening ceremony after representatives from South Africa and Algeria reportedly objected to the presence of diplomats from the apartheid Tel Aviv regime in the event.
The Israeli regime showed a fiery reaction to the incident that has gone viral across social media showing security guards approaching the Israeli delegates and escorting them out after several minutes of argument.
The regime accused what it called a "small number of extremist states like Algeria and South Africa" of being behind the move.
South Africa, however, roundly rejected the claim, saying Tel Aviv's application for observer status at the AU had not been decided upon by the bloc.
"Until the AU takes a decision on whether to grant Israel observer status," it cannot have the regime "sitting and observing," Clayson Monyela, head of the public diplomacy in South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told Reuters at the time.
"So, it's not about South Africa or Algeria, it's an issue of principle," he added.
The African Union later said Israel's observer status at the 55-nation bloc had been suspended, adding that the regime had not been invited to the union's summit from which its delegation was kicked out.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/03/07/699487/South-Africa-relations-Israel-downgraded
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...
