ANT KATZ

“Disregarding all standards of basic decency, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) today chose to send an ugly message to the Jewish community of South Africa,” said the SAJBD this afternoon. “This morning, as a protest against Woolworths for stocking Israeli products, Cosas members in Cape Town deposited a pig’s head in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths food store (in Sea Point).”

Cosas provoked anger on social media when its members decided to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza by placing the heads of pigs in the kosher section of Woolworths stores.

In a statement released by Cosas, the body said it supported the call by BDS-SA, the SA incarnation of the US NGO Boycott Divest and Sanction (Israel) not to buy from Woolworths. 

RIGHT: This photo was tweeted by ANC_BRANCH and shows a man with a pigs head, apparently in the kosher and halaal section of a Woolworths branch in Sea Point, Cape Town

“The SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) is appalled by this hate-filled demonstration,” said the Board’s national executive director Wendy Kahn this afternoon.

“We have seen ‘Shoot the Jew’ being chanted at public gatherings and explicit threats made to carry out revenge attacks against the Jewish community for events taking place in Israel and Palestine. Now we have been presented with yet another case of anti-Israel activism crossing over into blatant anti-Semitism.

“A press statement issued by Cosas Western Cape chairperson Siphakamise Ngxowa, inter alia declared that Cosas ‘will not allow people who will not eat pork to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children’,” said a clearly disgusted Kahn.

BDS distanced itself from action

An unrepentant Cosas spokesman in the Western Cape told News24 today that the students stood by their actions. “We are not being bombastic when we say we will bring the supporters of Israel pigs – we are being revolutionary,” said Cosas’ Ngxowa.

However, BDS-SA distanced itself from Cosas’ actions. “We believe that the methods used, namely placing pigs heads in South African Woolworths stores, are very controversial and may not have been properly thought through,” said BDS’ Kwara Kekana in a media release this afternoon.

“It may be argued that the placing of pigs heads is a form of militant human rights action, however there is a great amount of sensitivity surrounding halaal and kosher food.

“The pigs heads have now effectively made various Woolworths stores a complete no-go zone for those who buy kosher or halaal, as those areas are now contaminated,” said Kekane.

SAJBD: This is a hate crime

“It is common knowledge that pork is strictly forbidden according to Jewish dietary laws. This is why depositing pigs heads at places associated with Jews and their religion, has long been a tactic of those wanting to offend and intimidate the Jewish community. In the past, however, such acts were carried out anonymously,” said Wendy Kahn this afternoon.

“By contrast, Cosas has not only done so in full public view, but has gone about widely publicising this gross act of bigotry. It is further noteworthy that BDS-SA, which is heading up the campaign to boycott Woolworths, not only failed to condemn the incident but have assisted Cosas in publicising what it had done.” 

Kahn, pictured left, said: “The SAJBD regards this incident as a hate crime and is investigating its options regarding taking the matter further.”

“Cosas’ actions have nothing to do with human rights activism. They are acts of racial and religious hatred aimed at causing maximum offence to Jewish people. They are also completely at odds with South Africa’s proud tradition of tolerance and decency and have crossed the moral divide.”

Woolworths has previously said that less than 0,1 per cent of its products are sourced in Israel – and none from disputed territories. Woolworths said it would be releasing a statement on the matter and last month said it was considering legal recourse against the leaders of the protests.

• Meanwhile, BDS’ Tasneem Essop said yesterday that “this month’s National Day of Action against Woolworths, alongside Cosatu, the ANC Youth League, the National Coalition 4 Palestine and other civil society organisations,” would take place by disrupting trading at 40 Woolworths stores around the country on Saturday October 25.