The South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) is set to host a delegation of Patriotic Alliance (PA) party members on an upcoming study tour to Israel.
This comes as two million Palestinians face starvation and suffer attacks at the hands of the state’s military force.
“This imminent trip follows a request from the PA for SAFI to organise the tour so that its political leaders can learn from Israel for the good of a future South Africa,” said SAFI’s national spokesperson, Bafana Modise, in a statement released on Monday.
Modise added that South Africans and political leaders can “Israel’s experience in social and economic development, particularly in delivering services that improve quality of life for all.”
“The trip is further supported by the fact that the ANC’s foreign policy decisions do not represent the will or the interests of the South African people,” Modise added.
Modise added that Israel can also gain valuable lessons from South Africa’s experiences in nation-building, particularly in nurturing unity and common purpose among diverse communities with differing interests and concerns.
Palestinians starve
As politicians go on yet another trip to Israel, Palestinians continue to starve. According to the World Health Organization, the entire population of Gaza—approximately 2.1 million people—faces prolonged food shortages. Nearly half a million people are in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death.
It is worth noting that famine has not yet been declared, but people are starving now at an alarming rate. Three-quarters of Gaza’s population are at “Emergency” or “Catastrophic” food deprivation, the worst two levels of IPC’s five level scale of food insecurity and nutritional deprivation.
Since the aid blockade began on March 2, 2025, a total of 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition, according to the Ministry of Health. This number is likely an underestimate and is likely to increase. If the situation persists, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next eleven months, according to the IPC report.
MPs ‘fact-finding’ mission to Israel
This is not the first trip to Israel that raised eyebrows and sparked outrage.
In April, members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and PA embarked on what they called a “fact-finding mission” to Israel.
This has raised significant concerns regarding the MPs’ adherence to South Africa’s established foreign policy and ethical guidelines.
The PA defended its members in the backlash, insisting that the trip was not a “secret”.
DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp told IOL that the journey was arranged and attended by individuals in their private capacity, distancing the party from the implications of the visit.
However, DIRCO spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said the department was unaware of the trip.
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