South African opposition leader blasted over Israel visit

South Africa’s opposition leader visited Israel this week, raising the ire of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), whose leader Mmusi Maimane recently called on South Africans to refrain from visiting Israel.

Maimane, who heads the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) visited Israel this week, where he met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog, according to South Africa’s News 24 website.

A spokesman for Maimane said he had also requested to meet with Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

However, the meeting with Abbas was cancelled because of a "scheduling issue" and Maimane instead met with other PA officials, the spokesman told News 24.

News of Maimane’s visit angered the ANC, which said DA was endorsing the Israeli government instead of condemning its alleged “violations of international law.”

"The allegations that the Democratic Alliance is funded and controlled by Apartheid Israel sympathizers seem to be true," the ANC said in a statement on Thursday, according to News 24.

It said the opposition party never stood in solidarity with the Palestinians, and failed to challenge the Israeli government on what it says are human rights violations.