Article source: www.sazf.org
Hundreds of Pastors will gather outside the Israel Embassy in Pretoria, to offer prayers for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and its minister Naledi Pandor, to support peace in the Middle East. This comes as the South African government has repeatedly endorsed hostile statements against Israel and peace and engagement efforts on the African continent.
The pastors, gathering under the banner of the South African Friends of Israel (SAFI), are praying for South Africa to turn away from its ruinous foreign policy that doesn’t serve the interests of peace or the South African people. To this end, they will be launching the Tshwane-Jerusalem Declaration for Harmonious Relations Between South Africa and Israel – a declaration of support for improved relations between South Africa and Israel.
The launch of the declaration will be the start of rolling prayer rallies from church groups and civil society organisations around the country and will culminate in a mass prayer rally in Johannesburg in November.
The declaration reaffirms the support Israel has amongst millions of South Africans. It calls on South Africa’s government to recognise the central importance of the South Africa-Israel relationship in the lives of South African Christians and demands that their constitutional rights to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief, and opinion, be protected. It rejects our government’s encroachment on religious beliefs, expression, and values through its partisan position on the Holy Land of Israel, including its support of groups, organisations, and countries that support an agenda of hate. It further rejects the appropriation of the suffering of black people under colonisation and apartheid by the enemies of Israel as a tool to delegitimise the Jewish State whose citizens deserve to live in peace with their neighbours.
It recognises that a nation’s foreign policy is primarily to advance the just aspirations of its citizenry. Israel is known the world over for its expertise in areas such as energy, agriculture, water, health care, innovation and entrepreneurship. No one can be in doubt that South Africans are desperately in need of the developmental innovations that Israel offers. It calls for South Africa to fulfil its obligations to create a better life for all South Africans and embrace Israel as an important partner in our country’s development.
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Date published: 26/09/2022
Feature image: www.sazf.org
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