South African lawmakers voted to shut down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and stop all diplomatic ties.
The African National Congress, which controls parliament, has always disapproved of Israel and it backed the decision in parliament.
The plan asked for the embassy to be shut down and for ties to be stopped until Israel agrees to stop fighting and starts serious talks.
248 people said yes, while 91 people said no. As it happened, some people shouted “free, free Palestine”.
Before the vote in South Africa, Israel asked its ambassador to come back home for discussions. They said they did this because of the recent statements made by South Africa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa sent Israel to the International Criminal Court for possibly committing war crimes. He also called back South Africa’s diplomats from Israel.
He led an online meeting of the Brics countries on Tuesday to talk about what’s happening in Gaza.
He said that Israel was killing a lot of people in Gaza and punishing all the Palestinian people.
Israel is saying it’s protecting itself and trying to get rid of Hamas in Gaza.
Date:
MPs in South Africa vote to sever ties with Israel
