Higher education minister lauds new anti-Israel book

Dr Blade Nzimande, South Africa’s minister of higher education, science, and technology, publicly endorsed a new anti-Israel book via his personal Facebook account on 8 January. Using his given name, Bonginkosi Nzimande, he praised Thomas Suárez’s Palestine Hijacked: How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea.

Anti-Israel lobby Africa4Palestine gleefully reposted the minister’s musings to its 50 000 followers on Facebook and 57 000 on Twitter.

Is this appropriate behaviour for a sitting minister of education, and how is Nzimande furthering the prospects for peace in the Middle East?

Nzimande, who is also general secretary of the South African Communist Party, wrote on his Facebook page, “A real tour de force, and it definitely already comes across as one of the most well researched books on the Palestinian struggle. Although pricey, but for serious readers and Palestinian solidarity activists it is well worth reading or having this book for reference purposes … As we celebrate the 111th anniversary of the ANC today, let us commit to deepen our solidarity with the just Palestinian cause against the Israeli apartheid regime!” He attached several screen shots of the cover and contents.

In a review of Palestine Hijacked on the left-leaning Mondoweiss.net website, Jonathan Ofir said, “Terrorism has always been a means through which the Zionist movement has achieved its goals. Using compelling and detailed historical documentation, Suárez shows how the Zionist movement has consistently applied terrorist methods from the pre-state years [against both Palestinians as well as British forces, including international operations and including senior ministers] to the years following the state’s establishment in the form of state terror.”

The book’s title should leave no doubt where the author is coming from. In a linguistic reversal, decades of high-profile airplane hijackings by Palestinian terrorists are superseded by what Suárez sees as state-terrorism by Zionists. It is they who have “hijacked Palestine”, not the Palestinian terrorists. His use of the term “apartheid state” makes plain where the author stands politically. And again, reversing language, the phrase “from river to sea” evokes the oft-heard Palestinian chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” This slogan asserts that the whole of the land – from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – is historical Palestine, with no room for a Jewish state. Anyone expecting a detached, balanced examination of the subject should look elsewhere.

But are the minister’s comment appropriate? Of course, our Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and anyone can express his or her opinions on a book. But Nzimande uses his elevated status to spread slogans about a distant, complex conflict far away from South Africa. This has nothing to do with his portfolios of higher education, science, or technology.

Perhaps there is a clue in the timing. He released his comments on 8 January, the 111th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912. He uses his endorsement of the book as a prop to support ANC solidarity with “the just Palestinian cause against the Israeli apartheid regime”. There is no subtlety here, no attempt at even-handedness, just a clear delineation of whom the minister sees as victim and villain. It’s all in the timing and word choice.

A long-time critic of Israel, Nzimande’s dislike for the Jewish state was further fuelled in 2015 when he was refused a visa. He has frequently spoken out against Israel, including on university campuses during the so-called “Israeli Apartheid Week”. He’s clearly using this book as opportunity to besmirch Israel. Solidarity with the Palestinian cause is a populist issue regularly rolled out in a desperate attempt to garner support in the moribund Tripartite Alliance. Nzimande’s utterances on Israel are, by this stage, entirely predictable.

Nzimande and his supporters may argue that he used his personal Facebook account rather than his ministerial one to express his views and that there’s a clear distinction between the individual and the government. The enthusiastic reposting of the comments by Africa4Palestine puts paid to that. They were put into the public domain, and have been disseminated. As they say, “The internet is forever.”

It’s obvious from history that the Zionist struggle for independence and security for the state of Israel has been a bloody one. Zionist leaders have had to fight many implacable enemies for the past century, and this has entailed the use of force. Thousands have sadly lost their lives on both sides of this enduring conflict. Gushing on social media about a one-sided account that confirms biases does nothing to further the process towards peace, as distant that may seem under the new Israeli government and the long-time Palestinian leadership.

• Steven Gruzd is an analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs. He writes in his personal capacity.