South Africa’s parliament passes a resolution that urges the government to shutter the embassy of Israel, which the resolution calls an “apartheid state.”

A majority of 248 members of the National Assembly vote in favor of the non-binding resolution titled “Closure of the Israel Embassy in South Africa and suspension of all diplomatic relations with Israel” by lawmaker Julius Malema of the EFF opposition party.

The ruling African National Congress voted in favor of the resolution. But 91 lawmakers from opposition parties voted against it.

That government is not legally obligated to act on the motion. The vote follows a significant deterioration in Israel’s bilateral relationship with South Africa, whose president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide.” Pretoria is hosting a virtual meeting of BRICS — a group of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — aimed at drawing up a common response to the Israel-Hamas war.

AFP