PRETORIA: More countries must recognise a Palestinian state and stand up to Israel to stop its “genocidal activities”, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said in an interview on Tuesday.

Pretoria has been a leading critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, bringing a case before the UN’s top court in December 2023 arguing that its war in the Palestinian territory amounted to genocide.

As some of Israel’s allies “are now also saying, no, this can’t continue, it means that it is bringing us closer and closer to the Israel regime (stopping) the genocidal activities”, Lamola said.

South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice argues that the conflict in Gaza breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Conv­ention.

Several nations have added their weight to the proceedings, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey, Chile and Libya.

The leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada have meanwhile said they plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September, and urged other nations to do so.

“We call for more countries to continue to recognise Palestine,” Lamola said. “This will put the pressure so that we can end up with a ceasefire.”

Lamola said that had the world acted when South Africa made its case at the ICJ, “we would not be where we are”.

“It’s clear starvation is emerging, famine, and all these are things we warned about in our ICJ case — that this will lead to famine, will lead to complete cleansing of the population,” he said. “It’s rather late, yes, but it’s better than never. So let them act, let them support, let them put the pressure.”

Relations at ‘a low’

South Africa-US relations have “reached a low” with Washington attempting to interfere in domestic issues, the minister said.

The two nations have been at odds over a range of domestic and international policies, including Pretoria’s ICJ case and debunked claims by US President Donald Trump that white South Africans face discrimination. Tar­iffs of 30 percent — the highest on any sub-Saharan African country — are set to hit certain South African exports in the absence of a trade deal.

“In the past we have not had this situation where another government would want to interfere on a domestic issue like it is now,” Lamola said. “Since the last 30 years, there have been disagreements with the US administration on a number of issues, but the diplomatic lines of engagement have always been open,” he said.

South Africa’s failure to reach a new trade deal has been criticised at home, including by parties in the coalition government which have accused President Cyril Ram­aphosa and his team of diplomatic missteps.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2025