The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be arrested for genocide and war crimes against Palestinians.
International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor made a similar call during a ministerial statement in the National Assembly on Tuesday last week.
The trade union says government needs to go further by campaigning for the total isolation of what it calls “Apartheid Israel”.
Israel says it is continuing with its ground offensive and air strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel last month.
Numsa’s national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says, “Numsa is demanding an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be urgently sent into Gaza. For the crime of genocide, Israel must be isolated and treated like the pariah state that it is.”
She adds: “We demand that its embassy must be closed and its diplomats and the ambassador must be expelled. We also demand that sanctions must be imposed. Numsa also demands that Israel must return every square inch of land that it stole from Palestine. We demand a single, unified, free and autonomous state of Palestine.”
VIDEO: Pandor addresses the National Assembly on Israel’s war with Hamas:
