The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) host a morning vigil for those currently being held hostage in Palestine by the internationally proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas.
Embassies of the USA, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Thailand, Portugal in South Africa joined prayer vigil for Victims of Hamas Massacre & Abduction.
The prayer vigil was held at Hebrew Congregation in Pretoria on Thursday. They light a candle as a sign of memorial to those who dies and remember those kept hostage.
They mourn the abduction of their citizens, which have remained captive since 7 October 2023.
South African Zionist Federation Benjil Shulman told the Tshwane Talks that they held this event to honor all those who have died and those who have been taken hostage and we call up on their release from all these different countries of the world. We have ambassadors around the world supporting these initiatives.
And they are here to express their solidarity with Israeli and to ask for hostages to be release.
“As Jewish community we reach out to those countries and say we are with them and we are thinking about their citizens who are captured hostage and our government should be involved in getting the hostages release,” Shulman.
He said In Jewish tradition when someone dies, we light a candle on the anniversary of the death, and it is a sign of a memorial and a light represent to those who are still captured.
This event as a symbolic platform for all nations to mourn this tragedy, as we come to terms with the true impact on innocent civilians affected by the Hamas Massacre on October 7th.
Spokesperson of South African friends of Israeli Bafana Modise said we are here to stilly solidarity with the hostages and calling for hostages in Gaza to be release. Some of them are South African, Germany, USA, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Thailand and Portugal.
“As South African we still make our call very clear we don’t support terrorism and freedom fighters are not terrorist and we have to make sure that we become the voices of unity between these people,” Modise said.
He said we embolden by the spirit of Nelson Mandela of dialogue, bring two people together resolving conflicts and bringing peace and not necessarily choosing side in this battle. We are not party to what we have seen in the country as South African by the ANC and EFF calling for the closure of the embassy of Israeli.
“We are not going to close the embassy of Israeli; we are not going to boycott Woolworths and it an employer of thousands of South Africa in this country.
We have high unemployment rate, and we are not going to be pushed as South African.
Modise added that Palestine and Israeli must find each other. Hamas is not the government of Palestinian and they are not representative of Palestinian.
These are people that re terrorist organization committed to annulation and destruction of Jewish across the world and Jewish in Israeli.
“I pledge to do my part as your Ward Councilor to engage and encourage our South African government to prioritize its efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East to ensure that all innocent people can live in harmony.
I believe South Africa should engage in diplomatic initiatives, seek ways to mediate the conflict, and support international resolutions that aim to address the root causes of tensions in the region,” ward 59 councilor Shawn Wilkinson said.
