Al-Qalam 
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There are dozens of extremely good reasons to register to vote for the 2024 elections purely for domestic issues.
However, now there is another very good reason to register to vote, too. We are not immune from what is happening in Gaza and occupied Palestine.
The unapologetic and unbridled support of a few South African political parties for the continuing massacre of Palestinians (Democratic Alliance, Action SA, ACDP, Freedom Front Plus, Build One SA) is another extremely important reason for you to register to vote. It is quite clear that should the alliance (Moonshot pact) of these parties come into national power and form a new government after the 2024 elections, there will be a 100% reversal of our present foreign policy towards Palestine, support for the “war on terror” in its different forms and increased Islamophobia.
We will see a Zionist-aligned foreign policy come into effect. The support of the present South African government for the Palestinian cause will be reversed. The DA coalition government will stop all prosecutions of SA citizens who go to Israel to kill Palestinians and will undoubtedly allow more South African Zionists to go to Israel to commit war crimes.
The DA coalition government will facilitate more transfer of funds and arms sales from South Africa to Israel. The DA coalition government will increase trade with Israel and increase importation and usage of Israeli spy software, etc., to spy on us.
The DA coalition government will hasten the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, support more land grabs and ensure that organisations like AU, etc., become Zionists friendly. The DA coalition government will make it more difficult for pro-Palestinian organisations and speakers to come to South Africa and limit, if not stop, Palestinian organisations from coming and working in South Africa. The DA coalition government will put barriers to Palestinians entering our country and make it difficult for South Africans to send funds for Palestinians, even humanitarian aid.
The DA coalition government will no doubt enact legislation similar to laws in Europe, criticising Israel and Zionism as equivalent to anti-Semitism and hate speech and use this to stop any anti-Zionist activity in SA, making us criminals in our own country.
We do not doubt that spying on mosques, Muslim NGOs, pro-Palestinian NGOs, monitoring of collections of funds, etc., will increase under any Zionist-influenced and controlled government.
The SABC will become just like CNN, BBC, etc., who are nothing but mouthpieces of Zionist propaganda. All of this makes it incumbent for us to register to vote. We should look at political parties that are going to stop this pro-Israeli movement.
The very heavy and extreme use of the SAPS, metro police and heavily armed private security by the DA in Cape Town on the weekend of 12 November 2023 against Muslims and pro-Palestinian supporters is a clear indication of what we can expect should the DA coalition come in power next year. Any benefit of any doubt anybody had about democratic rights and liberal values being respected by the DA has now been cleared up.
Just like in occupied Palestine, for the DA and its partners, some people have much more rights and value than Muslims and pro-Palestinian supporters. Zionism Apartheid is alive and thriving in the DA. The time for talking is over as the Zionists use their wealth to buy off politicians and support genocide; however, we can use our numbers to bring about change.
Dr Faisal Suleman
