ISIS warning hits home with SA Jewry

ANT KATZ

The Ministry of State Security has acknowledged the danger and is on the lookout, according to Brian Dube, spokesman for State Security Minister David Mahlobo this week. As far as the Ministry is concerned, however, “there is no need for a heightened state of security”, says Dube.

Director of operations for Gauteng at the Community Security Organisation (CSO), Jevon Greenblatt, says that this is obviously a concern for his organisation. “It stands to reason that returning ISIS fighters may pose a threat to South Africans and all its citizens, as has been seen across the globe.” ISIS, says Greenblatt, has itself said that returning fighters should continue their jihad at home.

“Terrorism has become a feature of modern life and while South Africa has been spared the full brunt of a successful terrorist attack in recent times, it is important to remember that no country is immune to this reality, including our own,” he says.

However, by spelling out his warning directly to the media, Ambassador Kindeel incurred the wrath of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). Their senior spokesman, Clayson Monyela, told the SA Jewish Report that the ambassador had no right to make such statements to the media without first consulting the South Africa authorities.

Kindeel was told as much, said Monyela, who said he was to be summoned to DIRCO on to be rebuked. 

The Department of Home Affairs says that there are no known terrorist groups operating in South Africa, but that recruitment was taking place and had resulted in arrests.

The Hawks had not been alerted to the situation, according to spokesman Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi.

“This is not a new story to us, it forms part of the ongoing work that we are doing,” said State Security’s Dube.

Dube said he was unaware of another newspaper’s claims of media reports having “ widely listed and mentioned South Africans who have been killed in ISIS clashes” and that the South African government “has been monitoring – and found – ISIS links locally”.

The Jewish Report could not corroborate this claim.  

State Security, while being vigilant regarding this potential threat, had “no evidence of it happening”.

Dube repeated the Ministry’s position, as laid out by Mahlobo in his budget speech earlier this year, that the government had a counter-terrorism strategy. Mahlobo said in his budget speech that he was seriously concerned about the “sustained attempts by South Africans travelling to the conflict zones, especially the youth being the most vulnerable group” to join terror groups.  

Dube confirmed that State Security has been tracking the “sustained attempts” the minister had spoken of, but said that for security reasons the ministry would not release any numbers.

The South African Jewish community is fortunate “to have a well-established and robust system of securing ourselves”, says CSO’s Greenblatt. “If we continue to empower ourselves, and all play our part and commit our resources and time, Jewish life and the Jewish way of life will continue to thrive in this country. Security is the responsibility of everyone,” he says.

“We are continuously building infrastructure and resilience to ensure that our community is safe and secure, regardless of the terrorist threats we face in our environment.”

The most high-profile arrests in South Africa has been that of the Thulsie twins, Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee, who were arrested at their homes in Johannesburg last year. They had advertised on the dark web looking to buy detonators which they allegedly wanted to use to blow up the American embassy and a list of Jewish installations in the country. Among these were King David School in Linksfield.

The arrest last week of an organised and sophisticated group of suspected ISIS terrorists in Australia, who were planning to bring down a passenger aircraft, further fuelled the flames of concern that organised returning fighters could pose a far larger threat than the proverbial lone wolves.