South African ex-top judge apologizes for pledging Israeli occupation
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South Africa's former Chief Justice apologizes for his 2020 pro-Israeli occupation remarks, following an order of the country's Judiciary Conduct Committee.
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South Africa's former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng
South Africa's former Chief Justice apologized Thursday for comments he made in 2020, pledging support for the Israeli occupation.
The apology came nearly a year after Mogoeng Mogoeng was ordered to apologize for misconduct by getting entangled in political controversy, "criticizing and proposing changes to the official policy of the South African Government towards Israel."
At the time of the offense in June 2020, he claimed during an online conference organized by the Jerusalem Post that South Africa deprived itself of "a wonderful opportunity of being a game-changer in the Israeli-Palestinian situation."
The country's Judiciary Conduct Committee, which probed Mogoeng's comments after a complaint last year, found the remarks "offending" and "particularly aggravating", ordering him to apologize, but he appealed that decision.
The earlier decision, however, was upheld, and on Thursday Mogoeng said in a statement: "I am now forced by the law... to apologize unconditionally."
The appeals panel found him to have involved himself in "extrajudicial activities".
South Africa supports Palestine
The South African government supports the Palestinian cause, and in 2019, it downgraded its embassy in "Tel Aviv" to a liaison office.
In November 2021, the South African government announced that it had "withdrawn its support" from the current Miss South Africa (SA) pageant due to fruitless attempts to persuade the pageant to reconsider its plan to participate in the Miss Universe event set to take place in "Israel", according to the South African Government News Agency (SA news).
Similarly, South Africa condemned the unilateral decision taken by the African Union (AU) Commission to grant “Israel” an observer status in the AU.
