Palestine/Israel: Lessons from South Africa

Note: Bags and backpacks will not be allowed inside the venue. A storage space will be provided on site. Media are invited to attend. Photography and videography recording are strictly prohibited by all attendees at this event.

As the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate and settler violence in the West Bank continues, calls among religious and political leaders for an immediate ceasefire have grown. In the Global South, where the devastating effects of colonialism, apartheid, genocide, and extractive capitalism are never far from memory, these calls are resounding. South Africa’s referral of Israel to the United Nations’ (UN) International Court of Justice (ICJ), petitioning for a plausible case of genocide in Gaza, is the most public example of such global appeals for a ceasefire to date.

Rev. Allan Boesak was the global face of the South African anti-apartheid movement alongside the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Prize and leader of the freedom struggle. In this lecture, Rev. Boesak will describe how South Africa interprets Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Drawing from his own experience, Rev. Boesak will address the role of Christian and interfaith values of justice and human dignity in confronting this extraordinary catastrophe in the Middle East. Ebrahim Moosa, Mirza Family Professor of Islamic Thought and Muslim Societies, will chair the event, which is organized by Contending Modernities.

This event is cosponsored by the Notre Dame Initiative for Race and Resilience.