South African lawmakers visit Israel, back Judea & Samaria annexation

Defying their government’s staunch support for Palestinian statehood and criticism of Israel, over a dozen South African MPs visit Israel and tour Samaria with settlement leader, expressing support for Israeli sovereignty.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

A delegation of South African lawmakers visited Israel this week, and toured Israeli towns in Samaria in a show of solidarity with Israel’s settlement movement.

A total of 15 South African MPs were hosted by Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan, who noted that the lawmakers show of support for the Jewish state came in sharp contrast to the South African government’s staunchly pro-Palestinian position.

“I was pleased to host a delegation of 15 South African MPs for a tour in Samaria,” Dagan said.

“The South African government recently chose to take the most extreme line against the State of Israel and even filed the petition in the genocide case at The Hague. That’s why this visit is so significant.”

During their visit to Samaria, Dagan took the delegation to the Israeli town of Peduel in Samaria, home to a lookout point called the “National Balcony,” which overlooks Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport, and much of central Israel. Dagan highlighted Israel’s need for strategic depth, noting how narrow the country’s pre-1967 borders were.

By the end of the tour, Dagan said the South African lawmakers had endorsed the extension of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria

“At the end of the tour, the visiting MPs expressed a different voice — clear and unequivocal:
For the first time, a clear and official expression of support for sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”

MP Ashley Sauls of the right-wing Patriotic Alliance party declared that “When there is sovereignty – there will be hope for coexistence.”

Steve Swart, an MP for the African Christian Democratic Party, said Israeli sovereignty would increase security in the area.

“It’s important that you have security — and that there is sovereignty over this land.”

In addition to Peduel, the MPs visited the Israeli towns of Har Bracha and Mitzpe Yosef, overlooking the Palestinian Authority-administered biblical city of Nablus (Shechem), as well as the Tomb of Joseph inside Nablus.