{"id":117239,"date":"2024-03-20T09:35:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T14:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=117239"},"modified":"2024-03-20T09:35:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T14:35:20","slug":"south-africa-accuses-us-congress-of-adding-it-to-a-new-axis-of-evil-over-israel-genocide-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2024\/03\/20\/south-africa-accuses-us-congress-of-adding-it-to-a-new-axis-of-evil-over-israel-genocide-case\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Accuses US Congress of Adding it to a New \u2018Axis of Evil\u2019 Over Israel Genocide Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0 <\/span>South Africa seeks to limit the damage to its relations with Washington caused by its legal challenge to Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, a South African official said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Naledi Pandor, who is South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, is in Washington seeking to sway members of the U.S. Congress from a proposed law that would further strain U.S. ties to Africa\u2019s most vibrant democracy and a major mining, banking and manufacturing hub.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s an attempt to take up punitive action against South Africa, this sort of axis of evil notion that\u2019s very much part of the political culture,\u201d Pandor said in response to a question from VOA at South Africa\u2019s embassy in Washington.<\/p>\n

In December, South Africa\u00a0filed an application<\/a>\u00a0to institute proceedings against Israel at the United Nations\u2019 top court. Pretoria argues that Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza are \u201cgenocidal in character,\u201d and aim to \u201cdestroy Palestinians in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, South Africa requested further measures from the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of weaponizing starvation by preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the sealed-off exclave.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s government has denounced the case, and the White House told VOA in January it considers it \u201cmeritless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case has since inspired a bipartisan push in the U.S. Congress for legislation mandating a full review of the bilateral relationship with South Africa. The draft bill, filed by Republican Representative John James and Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz, claims that the actions of South Africa\u2019s long-ruling African National Congress \u201care inconsistent with its publicly stated policy of nonalignment in international affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa has been building ties to countries and actors that undermine America\u2019s national security and threaten our way of life through its military and political cooperation with China and Russia and its support of U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas,\u201d James\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>\u00a0when he introduced the bill in February. \u201cWe must examine our alliances and disentangle from those who remain willing to work with our adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pandor, who also met with think tanks and spoke publicly while in Washington, said she intended to remind members of Congress of the value of South Africa, on its own and as a gateway to the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that any action to diminish the relationship would be most unwise,\u201d she said, in response to another question from VOA. \u201cBecause these are two key democracies in the regions in which we exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she believes the relationship between the United States and South Africa can help to promote peace and democracy on the African continent \u2014 and to support the agenda of development in Africa \u2014 \u201cbecause I can’t imagine how initiatives directed at greater trade and development would become operational if the institutional capacity of South Africa is not utilized.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Africa is also a major beneficiary of the\u00a0African Growth and Opportunity Act<\/a>, which offers duty-free U.S. market access to 32 African nations. Congress must vote on whether to extend the program beyond 2025.<\/p>\n

VOA asked Pandor whether the high-stakes diplomatic pushback has been worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I do know is if there’s a struggle underway, the longer you take to address the demands of a struggle, the more violent and vicious the struggle becomes,\u201d she replied. \u201cSo, the sooner you address peace and negotiations, the greater the opportunity for everybody to enjoy peace and security. This is the lesson of South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

And VOA asked analyst Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, if South Africa\u2019s case had done anything to stop the conflict between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think South Africa has reframed this conflict. I don’t think South Africa has really changed the direction at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it’s a thread that runs through it \u2014 this concern that South Africa has history which makes it especially sensitive to issues of discrimination and genocide. \u2026 It certainly added an element to conversation that wasn’t there until South Africa pushed it as aggressively as it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pandor, a veteran member of the long-ruling African National Congress, stressed that Pretoria\u2019s problem is not with the White House. She told VOA she had not sought meetings with President Joe Biden or Secretary of State Antony Blinken during her Washington visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe executive understands [South Africa] far more than Congress,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When asked what she\u2019d tell Biden, Pandor\u2019s answer was short.<\/p>\n

\u201cCease-fire,\u201d she said. \u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0 South Africa seeks to limit the damage to its relations with Washington caused by its legal challenge to Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, a South African official said on Tuesday. Naledi Pandor, who is South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, is in Washington seeking to sway members of the U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117239"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117242,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117239\/revisions\/117242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}