A former mayor of Johannesburg, in South Africa, Thapelo Amad, posted a picture on X of himself holding an assault rifle and declaring support for Hamas. It has since been deleted, but screenshots captured Tuesday have since gone viral on the platform.
The post read: “We stand with Hamas, Hamas stands with us, together we Palestin [sic] and Palestin [sic] will be free. Without souls, without our blood, we will conquer Al AQSA.”
Al-Asqa is a mosque in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City that has been at the center of the Israel-Palestine conflict for decades.
Amad was the first Muslim to serve as mayor in Johannesburg. His mayorship only lasted three months before he resigned to avoid being defeated in an upcoming election.
He is now a city councillor and the provisional chairperson of Al Jama-ah, a party that seeks to uphold Sharia law.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Lior Haiat, told The Times of Israel: “This is a despicable show of support for a terror organization. It’s making me sick to my stomach. This is a pure antisemitism of the worst kind.”
Amad did not respond to The Times of Israel on a request for comment.
The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, accused Israel of "genocide" on Tuesday while he chaired a BRICS summit.
“The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime. The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide,” Ramaphosa said.
