Palestinian conditions worse than South African apartheid: Mandela
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Mandla Mandela compares the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli aggression on Gaza to conditions “far worse” than South African apartheid.
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Basem Naim, second right, speaks to journalists as Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, center, watches on during a march to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the death of former South African president Nelson Mandela at the Union Building in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 (AP)
Palestinians are enduring harsher conditions under Israeli aggression on Gaza and occupation than Black South Africans did under apartheid, stated Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela.
Speaking to Reuters at Johannesburg Airport before boarding a flight to Tunisia to join a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, Mandela urged the international community to stand with Palestine.
“Many of us that have visited the occupied territories in Palestine have only come back with one conclusion: that the Palestinians are experiencing a far worse form of apartheid than we ever experienced,” he told Reuters.
Mandela (51) stressed the parallels between the decades-long struggle against South African apartheid and the Palestinian cause, saying that global solidarity must continue as it once did for his grandfather’s generation.
“We believe that the global community has to continue supporting the Palestinians, just as they stood side-by-side with us,” he added.
Read more: Israeli bombs tear through Gaza City, killing displaced families
Call for global Palestine solidarity
Mandela’s remarks come as humanitarian activists prepare to challenge the blockade of Gaza by sending food and essential supplies via sea. He emphasized that solidarity with Palestinians is not only a moral duty but also a continuation of the anti-apartheid legacy.
The flotilla he joined aims to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza despite "Israel’s" naval blockade, which has further deepened the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
"Israel" has long rejected comparisons between the occupied Palestinian territories and apartheid-era South Africa. Officials argue the situations are fundamentally different, despite decades of military occupation, economic blockades, and systemic restrictions faced by Palestinians.
Read more: Gaza aid flotilla 'Sumud' sets sail from Barcelona
Echoes of ICJ ruling
On February 20, 2024, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, said at the International Court of Justice that Palestinians faced a "more extreme" form of apartheid.
"We as South Africans sense, see, hear, and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against black people in my country," Madonsela said
He added that Israeli apartheid is simultaneously and fundamentally the settler colonialism that South Africa felt obliged "to call out and end."
