The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas said that granting Israeli occupation observer status in African Union (AU) is a disgrace, calling on African states to reject colonialism and apartheid and rescind accreditation to the Israeli occupation.

In a shocking move that surprised many Africans and Palestinians, the African Union Commission announced that it had accepted the credentials of the Israeli occupation's ambassador to Ethiopia on 22 July, effectively granting Israeli occupation observer status at the AU. Israeli occupation officials also proclaimed their victory. The Israeli occupation was trying to become an observer status at the AU since 2002 when the continental body was formed.

Immediately after the announcement, several African states officially objected to the decision of the AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat. Subsequently, a total of 23 states including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc have lodged official objections to Mahamet’s decision to allow Israel into the AU.

Meanwhile, Hamas saluted the states who objected to the decision as well as the other states who haven't lodged official objections but will oppose Israel’s entry into the AU.

"Our friends in Africa emphasize the reality of why Israeli occupation was denied observer status at the AU for almost two decades as it represents much that has been horrific and is painful for Africans," said the movement in a statement.

"Israeli occupation entity is a state built on occupation and colonialism; Israeli occupation, in the twenty-first century, continues to be a colonial state, stealing the land of indigenous Palestinians and building and expanding colonial settlements all over it," it added.

"The Israeli occupation, as Palestinians have asserted for years, as South African and Namibian friends constantly remind us, and as many human rights organizations such as B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch have recently acknowledged, is an apartheid state, continuing to perpetuate the worst atrocities associated with apartheid: racial/ethnic discrimination, forced removals from people’s homes, denial of rights based on one’s ethnicity, preventing people of an ethnic group from living where they want, controlling the movement people, denial of basic rights and freedoms of certain people."

In addition, Hamas said that the Israeli occupation, while it claims to be a democracy, practices apartheid, discriminates against the Arab population in favor of its Jewish population.

"The Israeli occupation, while claiming to be a democracy, imposes military rule over the lives and lands of more than five million Palestinians. These practices are the horror and pain that had tormented African people for centuries. Today, it continues to torment Palestinians. We know that Africans know and understand our pain and our struggles very well," it stressed.

"Even with international law declaring colonialism and apartheid to be crimes against humanity, the Israeli occupation continues its injustices with impunity, as if such international law does not exist. Israel is, in fact, a criminal state. It is, therefore, a shock and grief for us that some officials and member states of the African Union are willing to accredit and open its doors and its meetings to such a criminal state. This august body, created to overcome the legacy of colonialism and apartheid and to chart a new era of liberation and development, should not be tainted by embracing an apartheid state," the statement underlined.

"We call on all AU member states to consider the stain on its history and the glorious history of the struggle of the AU and the Organisation of African Unity, the OAU, by this act. We urge them, when they participate in the AU’s Executive Council meeting in mid-October, to reject any idea of Israeli accreditation with the contempt that it deserves, to highlight, once again, the African aspiration for justice, liberation, peace, and equality of all people, and to rescind the decision to accredit Israeli occupation. We further urge African states to end all security, military, intelligence, trade, and diplomatic ties with the apartheid state."

"We continue looking to Africa and its peoples for support and succor as partners in our struggle and the struggles of all oppressed people. The pain of African people is our pain; our pain is theirs; our liberation will be their liberation," it concluded.