South African lawmakers have voted in favor of closing the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending diplomatic relations until a ceasefire is agreed in its war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. The resolution is largely symbolic, as it will be up to President Cyril Ramaphosa's government. Ramaphosa and senior foreign ministry officials have been vocally critical of Israel's leadership during its devastating military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate them for potential war crimes. The Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The parliamentary resolution was brought by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party last week when the governing African National Congress pledged to support South Africa's central diplomatic stance since Nelson Mandela became the country's first democratically elected president in 1994. The chief whip of the ANC, Pemmy Majodina, amended the last point of the EFF draft resolution calling for the embassy's closure and diplomatic suspension to include the words "... until a ceasefire is agreed to by Israel and Israel commits to binding United Nations-facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace."
