Jew-hater gets his comeuppance, apologises

ANT KATZ

Isaac Mangena, head of communications for the SA Human Rights Council, urged South Africans to use social media responsibly last week in the wake of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies’ acceptance of an apology from Ziyaad Kayat for criminal anti-Semitism.

“The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has found against Mr Ziyaad Kayat following his anti-Semetic comments in the social media,” said Mangena on Monday.

“In July 2014, Mr. Kayat sent a message to the inbox of the Facebook page of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) that read: ‘All Jews are pigs’ and ‘I think we should kill you SA Jews and kill your kids and let you feel what the Palestinians are feeling’.

“The SAJBD thereafter laid a complaint about this message with the SAHRC.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLAINT ON THIS WEBSITE (PDF).

“The SAHRC viewed the comments made by Mr Kayat as a contravention of among other laws, Section 16 of the Constitution which prohibits expression that incites violence or advocates hatred based on religion or ethnicity and constitutes incitement to cause harm,” said the HRC’s Isaac Mangena.

“Following a number of engagements by the SAHRC with Mr Kayat, onSeptember 26, 2014, signed an unequivocal apology to the SAJBD, the SAHRC and the South African public.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE APOLOGY & ACCEPTANCE (PDF).

“In this apology,” said Mangena, “Kayat retracted the comments and acknowledged the comments were wrong and uncalled for. He expressed his commitment to the Constitution.

“On October 2, 2014, the SAJBD expressed its acceptance with Mr. Kayat’s apology, which the SAHRC also accepts and welcomes.”

“Ziyaad Kayat is an individual who threatened our community as a direct post on our (SAJBD) Facebook page,” the Board’s national executive director, Wendy Kahn told Jewish Report on Tuesday. “It was sent from his Facebook page and we were able to ascertain his details from his profile.”