Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor; (Photo by Michelle Polo/Getty Images)
IMinister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently ruled that Israel's actions may amount to genocide, and that such harm against Palestinians should be prevented. The order prompted Israeli intelligence to accuse Israel of trying to blackmail Israel.in Gaza
Speaking on the sidelines of President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address on Thursday night, Ms Pandor said she feared for her family's safety after being targeted on social media.
Ms Pandor said she had spoken to Police Minister Bheki Cele about beefing up security after receiving the threatening messages.
“That's how I felt [it would] Additional security would be better. But what I'm more worried about is my family. This is not surprising since some of my social media messages mention my children. Israeli intelligence agencies, intelligence agencies, [this] That's how they try to intimidate you, so we shouldn't be intimidated either. There are ongoing causes. ”
She said the government was determined to see the ICJ case through to its conclusion, just as the Palestinian people had fought South Africa's apartheid system.
“There's no turning back now. We have to be with them. And I think one thing we can't allow ourselves to do is lose courage. If we continue to do this… “It's very important. We talked to people in South Africa. They understand why we took this moral lesson,” she said.
Mr Pandor's claims came after Mr Ramaphosa spoke of a possible backlash against South Africa, which could be focused on domestic politics and election results to bring about “regime change”.
South Africa's decision to bring the case to the ICJ and its subsequent judgment polarized the world, with Western countries supporting Israel's right to defend itself in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas, while others, including the Arab League, countries support South Africa's case.
Mr Pandor said South African lawyers would work hard over the coming months in collaboration with the South African Ministry and the Ministry of Justice to finalize the case for next hearing before the ICJ.
“We must not stand still. We must not be afraid. With the support of the people of Cape Town and all of South Africa, we will have the strength to carry out this very important mission.” I believe that.”
South Africa is scheduled to host the G20 summit in 2025. Pandor said his country would consider using his term as chairman to ensure development issues are on the agenda and shift focus away from narrow economic interests to broader development issues, including multilateral ones. world system.
“Working concretely on real reform of the United Nations and its various structures and mechanisms is one of the key tasks that I believe we all need to address, because what we are seeing in Palestine is Because the situation we are in would not have proceeded if we had a stronger United Nations' nation with the ability to enforce peace. I therefore think that the UN reform agenda should form the basis of a strong foreign policy for South Africa over the next five years,” she said.