Protests in South Africa to demand ban coal shipments to “Israel”

SANAA, Aug. 23 (YPA) – Protests were held in South Africa demanding that the government impose a ban on all coal shipments to Israel. Slogans and banners read, “Glencore fuels genocide. No to sending coal from South Africa to Israel. Ban coal exports to Israel because of genocide.”

Iqbal Jasat, an executive at the Johannesburg-based research organization Media Review Network, said in a statement that “it is appalling that tons of coal exported from South Africa to the settler-colonial regime are fueling the regime’s massacre of Palestinians.”

He noted that it is unfortunate that South Africa is dragging its feet rather than being decisive and principled in stopping supplies.

Protesters marched to the offices of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town to demand that the government ban coal mining companies from exporting to Israel.

It is noteworthy that South Africa filed a case against Israel in late 2023 before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing it of failing to fulfill its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.