The Democratic Alliance’s Emma Powell is among the politicians who went to Israel on a fact-finding mission to try to establish that there is no apartheid there. Powell, a DA Member of Parliament, has been in hot water since the news came out and recently, she has been accused of whitewashing apartheid.
At an event where Powell was speaking on Wednesday, Ayesha Bagus of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) disrupted the talk.
“Have you seen the pictures (in Gaza)? The children are f***ing dying. Have you seen them? I voted for the DA. What was I thinking?”
Bagus went on to explain that she disrupted Powell’s talk because “silence in the face of genocide is complicity”.
Powell was part of the trip organised by the South African Friends of Israel. The mission was kept secret and included members of the DA, Patriotic Alliance, and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
“I stand here as a South African who knows the brutal reality of apartheid, who has seen the consequences of injustice being ignored, and who refuses to stay quiet while the same horror unfolds in Palestine,” he said.
Bagus accused Powell of being biased.
The activist said she stands with all South Africans who understand the pain of displacement and discrimination and called for them to stand in solidarity with Palestinians.
Delegates of the Israel trip visited the sites of Kibbutz Aza and the Nova Music Festival, where they heard testimonies from survivors of the October 7 attack.
“They also engaged in high-level meetings with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, senior Foreign Ministry officials, and visited communities in Bethlehem, Judea, and Samaria,” the group said in a statement.
According to Powell, the disruption was caused by “violent protestors”.
“Members of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) disrupted the event, making patently false allegations designed to harass and intimidate myself and attendees. A group of violent protestors surrounded the venue and later attacked the car of a diplomat trying to evacuate the premises,” she said.
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