The activist has called for increased efforts to ban Israel from the Paris Olympics

Speaking in Paris, Mandela urged the international community, solidarity movements, and grassroots organizations to rally against what he called “Apartheid Israel.”

“We [pro-Palestinian demonstrators] are here in Paris today to make a call to the entire global community, the international solidarity movement, and all grassroots movements to call for a ban of Apartheid Israel from the Paris Olympic Games,” he said.

Mandela said there were growing protests with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in support of Palestine.

“We are readying ourselves for the biggest protests in front of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which will be on July 26,” he stated. The activist called on all civil society groups, labor formations, faith-based organizations, and grassroots movements to converge on the opening ceremony to support Palestinian marchers.

Mandela noted that more than 400 Palestinian athletes who would have participated in the Olympics had been killed, along with their training staff and coaches. He also pointed to the destruction of sports facilities in Palestine.

“We therefore call on the IOC to ban the Zionist usurping entity from participating, particularly in light of the fact that over 30 of their athletes serve in the IDF and have been participating in the genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity,” he stated.

The grandson of Nelson Mandela also expressed support for the Houthis. “We would say in the international solidarity movements and grassroots movement that the Houthis must remain steadfast and intensify the fight in liberating our brothers and sisters in Gaza and all over occupied Palestine,” he said.

In a previous interview with RT, he compared support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to that of former UK PM Margaret Thatcher and former US President Ronald Reagan for the Apartheid regime in South Africa.

In 1997, during a visit to Gaza, Nelson Mandela expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, stating that Africans’ freedom was “incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” 

Israel declared war on Hamas following a surprise attack on October 7, in which militants killed approximately 1,200 people and took over 200 hostages. Since then, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing military operation, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.