THE Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust has issued a scathing condemnation of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, with chairperson Dr Mamphela Ramphele declaring that “Israel is burying Jewish humanity in the rubble and hunger of Gaza.”
In a hard-hitting statement released, Dr Ramphele drew stark parallels between current conditions in Gaza and historical atrocities, describing emerging images of famine as “reminiscent of the pictures of emaciated Jews who survived concentration camps during the Second World War.”
The prominent South African activist and former World Bank managing director accused Israel of implementing “a mass starvation strategy on top of a genocidal military strategy” while the international community remains a passive observer.
“That, within a few generations, the descendants of concentration camp victims can perpetrate such actions represents an indictment on all of humanity,” Dr Ramphele stated.
Netanyahu Branded “Rogue Prime Minister”
The Trust’s statement specifically targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, characterising him as “a rogue Prime Minister presiding over a rogue state that regards Palestinians as lesser human beings.”
Dr Ramphele warned that Israel’s current actions would fuel anti-Semitism globally, despite the majority of world Jewry not associating with Zionism and most not residing in Israel. She argued that these communities would nonetheless be “scarred by the slipping of the mask of cultured and resilient humanity that Israel has sought to symbolise and project for nearly 80 years.”
The statement noted Netanyahu’s reportedly declining domestic support and weakening international backing, but emphasised his continued security through successive US administrations’ use of UN Security Council veto powers to protect and arm Israel.
Call for Israeli Action
Rather than relying solely on international pressure, Dr Ramphele issued a direct appeal to Israeli citizens to “remove Netanyahu from power and re-assert Jewish humanity, themselves.”
The Trust called for Israel to chart “a new course of inter-dependency based on a recognition of collective and separate histories, on the principles of human rights and just war” – one where “apartheid policies, military skirmishing, hostages, genocide and famine are unthinkable.”
Tutu’s Prophetic Words
The statement concluded by invoking the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s words from an article published in Israeli newspaper Haaretz eleven years ago, where he pleaded with Israelis to “see beyond the moment, to see beyond the anger at feeling perpetually under siege, to see a world in which Israel and Palestine can coexist.”
Dr Ramphele declared these words “ring even truer today” than when originally written.
The Trust’s intervention adds South African civil society’s voice to growing international criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, building on South Africa’s government case at the International Court of Justice alleging genocide.
The statement represents the latest example of South African organisations drawing on the country’s anti-apartheid experience to critique Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
