ANT KATZ

Darren Bergman, DA MP, reported that he was decidedly unimpressed at seeing the majority of ANC MPs wearing Palestinian scarves at the President’s debate

Darren (Bergman) later posted on his Facebook page that “President Zuma was surprisingly balanced today amidst some ministers wearing Palestinian support scarves. President Zuma called on Israel to stop their on-ground offensive and for Hamas to stop their rockets.

“He said that war won’t solve the Middle East issue, only talks will. He said at a time like this it was not right to apportion blame to anyone but to rather seek a quick and lasting solution. Give that man a Bells…” posted Darren.

First mezuzah

Not to be outdone, our other Jewish MP is just as much the joker. Michael Bagraim became the first person in the country’s history to hang a mezuzah on the door of his Marks Building office at Parliament.

Bagraim had his son, Rabbi Eitan Kagan, go down to Cape Town especially for the mezuzah ceremony.

Pictured Right: Michael Bagraim MP, his mezuzah and his sons Eitan and Jaques

“This was a very exciting event, and most of the parliamentary honourable members who are housed in Marks Building were absolutely intrigued,” says Bagraim, who had to explain the significance of the mezuzah to them all.

After the formalities, Bagraim, his wife Patsy and sons Rabbi Eitan Kagan and Jacques Bagraim, had a tea party with donuts to celebrate.

Did he get permission SAJR asked the honourable MP? “Nope,” said the immediate past national president of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, “I just wrote and said I was going to do it, heard nothing more, asked no more and went ahead.”

When the affair was originally discussed, Eitan pointed out to his dad that there was no point in putting up a mezuzah on his office door if there wasn’t one on the door of the main building. True, said Bagraim, and with all the chutzpah that has made him such a success in life, he has bought the one for the main doorway and applied to the building management hang it.

One wonders if the delayed reply could have anything to do with the building management trying to figure out just what the heck a mezuzah is!