The South African government through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation(DIRCO) has warned all South Africans about severe consequences of joining foreign armed forces.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has issued an statement whereby warns South African about the danger of fighting foreign armed forces,that call follows a numerous media reports about South African Jews who are secretively joining Israel in an ongoing war against Palestinian armed resistance groups.
"South African nationals to avoid joining foreign armed forces which may contribute to the violation of domestic and international.
"The South African Government is gravely concerned by reports that some South African citizens and permanent residents have joined or are considering joining the Israeli Defence Force(IDF) in the war in Gaza and in the other Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Such action can potentially contribute to the violation of international law and the commission of further international crimes,thus making them liable for prosecution in South Africa,"said DIRCO.
The department emphasised that anybody who is willing to fight for a foreign army must comply with the laws of the Republic to avoid any severe consequences which might be taken against him/her.
"In terms of the Regulation of the Foreign Military Assistance Act,1998(Act No. 15 of 1998),any person wishing to render foreign military assistance in Israel must first apply to the National Conventional Arms Control Committee(NCACC) who will make a recommendation to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans that such an application be granted or refused.
"Any person joining the IDF without the necessary permission of the NCACC is breaking the law and can be prosecuted.
In addition,the South African Citizenship Act,1995(Act No. 88 of 1995) provides that any person who obtained South African citizenship by naturalisation in terms of that Act shall cease to be a South African citizen if he or she engages under the flag of another country in a war that the Republic does not support or agree with,"the DIRCO statement clarified.
DIRCO concluded that it is in this context,that South African citizens should be made aware of the consequences of joining the IDF or any foreign armed forces involved in conflicts with a view to preventing inadvertent complicity in international crimes or violations of domestic law.
South African government is the only country in the world which has spoken out against the danger of fighting a foreign armed forces even if that person hold a dual-citizenship.
In an ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian resistance fighters emerged pictures and videos of soldiers from European countries and U.S fighting for Israeli Defence Force(IDF) and that made those countries complicit to the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians.
South Africa is a home of more than 50,000 Jews who immigrated to the country nearly a century ago and most of them were coming from Eastern Europe where were persecuted and not welcomed.