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Finding likeminded Africans
Nothing impressed the South African representatives to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference last week more than an African president taking the podium.
SHELLEY GLASER
Rwandan President Paul Kagame drew parallels between the Rwandan and Jewish people and claimed that “the survival and renewal of our two nations testifies to this truth”, said Benji Shulman, chairman of the South Africa Israel Forum, one of the South Africans in New York for the conference.
Shulman explained that in 2014 Rwanda used its position to stop a United Nations anti-Israel resolution that called on Israel to withdraw to pre-June 1967 lines by late 2017. It also abstained from the 2011 Unesco vote to make Palestine a state.
“It is very rare for a non-Israeli or American politician to speak at AIPAC,” Shulman pointed out. “Mr Kagame will receive the Adelson Prize for Outstanding Friendship with the Jewish People. He is credited with ending the Rwandan genocide in 1994.”
Shulman also attended a panel discussion where Karim Keita, chairman of the Security and Defence Commission of the National Assembly of Mali, spoke. Shulman said Keita talked of “Israel’s booming ties with Africa” and added that he believed that the rise of jihadist militancy in Mali may have resulted in a possible change of policy towards Israel.
Shulman said he attended the AIPAC conference because he believes that it is a way South Africans can learn to “strengthen the South African and Israel connection”. AIPAC, he says, “can teach us these lessons as it is an example of a highly successful model for civil and political engagement.”
Shulman expressed his admiration for Nikki Haley, America’s newly-appointed ambassador to the UN, calling her “the unequivocal star of the AIPAC conference”. He pointed out that “she filled a hockey stadium with Israel supporters and got a long and enthusiastic standing ovation”.
Shulman was also struck by the willingness of many people across the political spectrum, to be at AIPAC and to “support Israel as part of a natural aspect of being American”. He was amazed at the diversity of attendants.
“I met Democrats, Republicans, African Americans, LGBTQ and feminist activists.” He was fascinated that “these diverse people consider it to be part and parcel of their political work, to be at AIPAC, and to work with the pro-Israel community”.