Mandela's grandson joins Freedom Flotilla to Gaza

Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, has compared the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories to apartheid-era South Africa, calling it “a far worse form of apartheid” and urging the international community to take action.

Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday at Johannesburg Airport before traveling to Tunisia, the 51-year-old Mandela said he would join the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian mission delivering food and aid to Gaza despite an 'Israeli' naval blockade.

“Many of us who have visited Palestine have come back with one conclusion: that Palestinians are experiencing a far worse form of apartheid than we ever experienced,” Mandela said. “The global community must continue supporting them, just as it stood side-by-side with us.”

The flotilla includes dozens of boats and hundreds of participants from 44 countries, among them Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Mandela is traveling with a group of ten South African activists, and the African National Congress said the mission “echoes our own struggle for liberation.”

'Israel' rejects comparisons between Palestinian life and apartheid South Africa and defends its restrictions on Gaza, citing security concerns and the need to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas. Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has warned that starvation is widespread in Gaza.

Reflecting on South Africa’s own history, Mandela noted that apartheid ended only after international pressure, sanctions, and isolation. “They isolated apartheid South Africa and finally collapsed it. We believe the time has come for that to be done for the Palestinians,” he said.