Dlamini-Zuma stands behind BDS but not anti-Semitism

ANT KATZ

She said this in addressing a Rustenburg audience in Northwest Province in solidarity with BDS and Israel Apartheid Week at UCT this week.

“As we debate tactics towards the ANC policy conference in June,” she said, “we must ensure that we are disciplined, inclusive and principled.”  

Wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh over her shoulders, she maintained that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “not a religious conflict”, but a political one. However, she was unwavering in her total support and belief in the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, as a South African and a pan-Africanist.

She insisted that the plight of the Palestinians had “very specific ramifications for South Africa”.

Despite serious attempts of the international community, she said, “genuine negotiations have not been on the agenda for more than a decade”. She was careful not to attribute blame to one side or the other, but her audience did – and they cheered her on.

Bring it home, was her message. “This country gave refuge to many Jewish people who faced persecution throughout the tumultuous 20^th century,” adding that many Jewish immigrants joined the struggle against apartheid because they saw in it the similarities between their own people’s history and the oppression and persecution of black South Africans.

Dlamini-Zuma heaped praise on BDS and said that it was because the normal means of resolving conflicts in the world were not working, that the international community had caused BDS to “have decided to look at other tactics”. She said BDS has looked to other less conventional means of pressurising Israel to “end the occupation and act against human rights abuses against Palestinians”.