While Gaza faces a humanitarian aid crisis and famine, the GOOD Party wants Members of Parliament from the Democratic Alliance (DA), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) to publicly state their position on Israel.

GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron pointed out that in April, MPs from the DA, ACDP, and PA travelled to Israel on a “fact-finding” mission.

The party wants the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach, Emma Louise Powell, Katherine Christie, Bridget Masango, Nicholas Myburgh, Bonginkosi Madikizela, the PA’s Ashley Sauls and Millicent Mathopa, as well as the ACDP’s Steve Swart to state whether they still believe that Israel is a paragon of human rights.

“That visit, organised by South African Friends of Israel, included MPs from the DA, ACDP, and PA, all of whom have since parroted propaganda that blatantly contradicts the findings of respected human rights organisations. Now, as the world bears witness to what United Nations agencies describe as ‘deliberate starvation as a method of war’, those MPs owe the public an explanation. Do they believe Israel’s siege of Gaza and the blockade of aid are consistent with a ‘vibrant, multi-ethnic democracy’ with ‘no evidence of Apartheid’,” Herron questioned.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have now killed about 60 000 people and wounded more than 145 000 others since the war began in October 2023, with about 147 killed owing to starvation, and more than 80 of those being children.

“Silence in the face of children dying from hunger is evil. Silence in the face of bombed hospitals, displaced communities, and dehumanising occupation is evil,” highlighted Herron.

He further noted Sauls’s declaration that she is a friend of Israel, and she stands with Israel “unapologetically”.

“…but now that prominent Israeli human rights organisations, including B’Tselem, have concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, for the first time, Jewish-led groups within Israel have publicly made such allegations. According to B’Tselem: ‘Israel is deliberately destroying Palestinian society in Gaza’. Does Sauls still stand unapologetically with Israel,” he questioned.

Herron said silence now from MPs who used their platform to “deny and diminish” the situation in Gaza was not just “cowardice, it is complicity”.

“History will remember who spoke up and who chose silence. No fact-finding mission can erase this reality,” he said.