Motion to downgrade SA embassy in Israel

The National Freedom Party (NFP) has submitted a motion to the National Assembly to allow the South African embassy in Israel to be downgraded to a liaison office. The motion comes after the killing of at least 60 Palestinians in the past few days by Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border and follows SA’s withdrawal of its ambassador from Israel. NFP leader Ahmed Shaik Emam said the National Assembly would vote on the motion at the next available sitting of the House, according to a Mail & Guardian Online report. ‘The endless barbaric acts of terrorism perpetuated against the Palestinians by the apartheid Israel regime, the mass murder of innocent Palestinians, including women and children, are done with absolute impunity,’ Emam said. ‘Countries, including South Africa, have been far too patient while people are killed and international law is ignored.’