Absurdities in the anti-Israel lobby

Isla Feldman

When Emma Daitz and those who went with her on a recent trip to Israel “apologised” on behalf of those who have donated trees to the South African Park in Lubya, they were by their own admission, only 14 people.

Who are they to try and undermine the good work of thousands of South African Jews who helped make the forest a reality? To try and turn an act of planting trees in the region for ecological reasons into something that is malevolent, is nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

The facts of the issue are plain: The Arab village itself was established on top of a Jewish town whose existence can be found far back in the Talmud. The village actively participated and supported attacks against Jews in 1948 and hosted a foreign invasion force to assist them in a strategically important area.

The IDF was forced to defend itself and was able to secure the village in the course of a defensive war as it had the moral right to do. The land on which the South Africa Forest stands is, according to international law, Israeli sovereign property. It was part of the entire general area that was reforested as part of a completely legal tree-planting programme started more than 20 years after the village had been abandoned.

The facts of history, however, don’t bother Daitz; what does is that Israel continues to exist and thrive.

While her group remains mired in the past, the JNF continues its tree planting, its agricultural work, its bird conservation activities, water saving measures and its work assisting farmers in African countries. 

The JNF is also responsible for creating many equal employment opportunities and growth for Arab-Israeli citizens and all Israelis who utilise and benefit from the parks as well as from the many other agricultural wonders. 

I wonder why she is not interested in Palestinian solidarity in countries like Lebanon and Egypt, where they cannot own land, become doctors or lawyers, or even become citizens. It is truly bizarre that she is more worried about a forest of 50 years and less about Palestinians dying in Yarmouk. Such are the absurdities that are abundant in the anti-Israel lobby within South Africa.

National vice chairman, Jewish National Fund of SA