DTIC Energy Embargo Palestine Solidarity

CJC joins BDS Coalition protests demanding a coal embargo on Israel

On 21 August, the Climate Justice Coalition joined the South African BDS Coalition’s energy embargo campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Coordinated protests took place at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) offices in Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town, demanding that the South African government uphold its international legal obligations by cutting trade and implementing a coal embargo against Israel. South Africa has become Israel’s largest coal supplier in 2025, with exports rising from 16.6% of Israel’s coal imports in late 2023 to 48% in the first half of 2025. This coal directly fuels Israel’s electricity grid, which powers the machinery of genocide in Gaza and entrenches apartheid across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Activists stressed that continuing coal exports to Israel makes South Africa complicit in grave violations of international law. Protesters called on on DTIC Minister Parks Tau to show leadership by committing to a coal embargo and aligning South Africa with international law, justice, and the global movement to end fossil colonialism and apartheid.