The Take: How are Palestinians from Gaza ending up in South Africa?

A charter flight of Palestinians landed in South Africa, but how ‘voluntary’ was their escape from Gaza?

Hanan Jarrar, Palestinian ambassador to South Africa, smiles for a picture on a plane in a location identified as Johannesburg, South Africa, in this handout image released on November 13, 2025 [Handout/Embassy of the State of Palestine - South Africa via Facebook/Reuters]

More than 150 Palestinians from Gaza landed in Johannesburg on a mysterious charter flight run by a little-known group called Al-Majd Europe. South Africa says it was blindsided, but Israel calls the move “voluntary emigration”. The journey is raising fears that these flights are becoming a new way to push Palestinians off their land.

In this episode:

Recommended Stories

list of 2 itemsend of list

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Noor Wazwaz, Haleemah Shah, Sarí el-Khalili, Marcos Bartolomé, Tracie Hunte with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Diana Ferrero, Tamara Khandaker, Farhan Rafid, Fatima Shafiq, and our host Malika Bilal. It was edited by Kylene Kiang. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on XInstagramFacebook, and YouTube


Advertisement