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Nationwide rallies are being organized across South Africa in protest against the recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have claimed at least 19 lives including that of 6 children. The first two take palce today in Durban and Cape Town.

The South African protest rallies add to the growing number of international protests in response to Israel's recent attacks on the Gaza Strip. At the last count, there were over 57 protests scheduled to take place across the globe in cities including: Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, Hong Kong, London, New York, Oslo, Perth, and San Francisco (http://tinyurl.com/btqfkx8)
 
In protest against Israel's recent attacks on the Gaza Strip, BDS South Africa (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel in South Africa) has called on the South African government to:
 
1. Immediately recall our South African ambassador from Tel Aviv;
2. Expel the Israeli ambassador from Pretoria;
3. Sever all diplomatic ties with the Israeli regime;
4. And, impose broad-based boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until Israel ends its violence against the Palestinian people, abides to international law and respects human rights.

Meanwhile, world-famous linguist and long-time critic of Israel, MIT's Professor Noam Chomsky, together with others  have published a hard-hitting open letter saying that: "the fact that casualties have overwhelmingly been civilians indicates that Israel is not so much engaged in 'targeted' killings, as in 'collective' killings, thus once again committing the crime of collective punishment…[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is currently garnering Western diplomatic support for additional operations in Gaza, which makes us worry that another [2009 Operation] Cast Lead may be on the horizon." (http://tinyurl.com/at7flvs)

The recent Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip are a harrowing reminder of similar Israeli attacks on Gaza back in 2009, in which more than 1400 Palestinians were killed, including over 300 children. Israel was accused of committing War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in a subsequent UN Fact Finding Report.
 
South Africa was one of the few countries, back in 2009, that recalled its ambassador in protest of Israel's attacks and violence in the Gaza Strip.