Image: SANDILE NDLOVU
EFF leader Julius Malema has sparked a row with Israel after he called on South Africans not to visit the Middle Eastern country.
Malema also called on the business community, universities and academics to cut ties with Israel.
Addressing EFF members during the pro-Palestine march next to the Israeli embassy in Pretoria yesterday, Malema said: "We are saying to all South Africans, do not visit Israel until the land is returned back into the hands of the rightful owners.
"We are not friends with people who derive pleasure out of pain of other people. The people of Palestine, they get jailed without trial by apartheid Israel."
The boycott would force Israel to enter into genuine negotiations with Palestinian authorities, Malema said. "We want the Palestinian and Jewish communities to live under [a] democratic country. We are living with Afrikaners. It does not matter how much we hate them. We have to live with them because they have been naturalised here."
Wendy Kahn, the national director of South African Jewish Board of Deputies, reacted angrily, saying calls for a boycott of Israel did little to solve the situation between Israel and Palestine. "Boycott calls were polarising the situation," she said, noting that a solution for the two countries could be found through dialogue and negotiations.
Malema also tore into police who were monitoring the march for failing to take action against white farmers who blocked roads during their "Black Monday" protests.
He said the EFF will organise a counter-march when the white farmers decide to take to the streets again.
"This is our land. We must not be pushed to a limit by these Afrikaners because they take advantage of our tolerance. Why sing Die Stem? Why bring the apartheid flag [to their protest]?"
Buoyed by the audience, he added: "Can you imagine what Israel and Jews [would say] if [we] were to come here and do a Hitler [Adolf Hitler a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi party] salute. They will not be happy."