Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
01 November 2023 | 16:44 CAT

Image: BNN

Civil society group Defend Our Democracy reiterates the call of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people across the globe for an immediate end as the aerial bombardment of occupied Gaza continues.

By Sunday afternoon, the total death toll in Gaza had risen to 8,005 people, according to a statement released by the health ministry in Gaza.

For the past days and weeks, marches have persisted across the country. Defend Our Democracy, officially launched as a civil society movement this year, has weighed in.

It said in a statement, “we lend our voice to that of the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, calling for humanitarian aid – food, water, medicine and fuel – to be allowed into the Gaza Strip immediately and on the scale that is required.”

The United Nations Security Council – after the US, Israel and 12 other countries voted against a resolution – failed to reach an agreement on getting aid to ordinary Palestinians.

And Defend Our Democracy called this “simply unconscionable”.

“Watching the distressing visuals on our television screens and on social media daily, we are appalled at Israel’s bombardment, for over two weeks, of hospitals, one of the oldest churches in the world, mosques, shopping centres and residential buildings in Palestine,” Defend Our Democracy said in the statement.

Defend Our Democracy condemned what it called the “racist rhetoric of some Israeli officials”.

“It is not so long ago that the vast majority of people here lived under apartheid, occupation and colonialism. We believe that the first step to a just peace and negotiated settlement for both Palestinians and Israelis is an end to Israel’s apartheid policies, occupation and settler colonialism.”

Listen to the full interview with host Annisa Essack and her guest Reverend Moss Ntlha, National Committee Chairperson for Defend Our Democracy.