Jewish Report Letters Page – Week 35

Nothing ‘alleged’ or ‘purported’ about destroyed village of Lubya

 An article featured in the Jewish Report suggested that the ceremony held by South African Jews for a Free Palestine in Weinberg Family Park was illegal. In fact, we had written permission from Johannesburg City Parks with us at the event and showed it to a number of officials and community representatives who were there.

The only condition for the September 1 ceremony at Weinberg Family Park was that it did not include erecting a plaque. We thus proceeded from the park to Constitution Hill where another tree-planting ceremony was held and the plaque “in honour of the people of Lubya and all destroyed Palestinian villages” was erected. Constitution Hill now features a permanent memorial to the Naqba.

The Jewish Report article also claims that it is merely “alleged” or “purported” that the South African Forest was planted over Lubya, a destroyed Palestinian village. Lubya was a village with a population of 2 730. It was occupied in an operation called “Dekel” that was part of Israel’s “War of Independence”. The exact date of occupation was July 18, 1948.

The South African Forest is part of the Lavi Forest, planted over and concealing Lubya’s remains. The uncertainty about events that is implied by such words as “alleged” and “purported” are unwarranted and misleading.

The Weinberg Family Park was chosen as the location for a ceremony in memory of Lubya and other destroyed Palestinian villages because the Weinberg family which fully supports the SAJFP initiative, is well known for the sacrifices it has made in pursuit of social justice.

The site was also chosen because we as Jewish South Africans were brought up with an extremely partial version of Israel’s history and on the basis of this version we were persuaded to contribute to a fund which actually works to conceal evidence of past crimes and to appropriate land.

We take it as our duty to expose our own communities to these facts and thus to give members the ability to make an educated choice regarding the causes they wish to support.

“The Palestinian Village Under the South African Forest”, a series of meetings between a Palestinian delegation and a variety of other groups in Johannesburg and Cape Town, was an SAJFP campaign. It involved the tree-planting ceremony and several other public events. Neither BDS nor Media Review Network were partners in these events as has been suggested.

Merlynn Edelstein (on behalf of SA Jews for a Free Palestine)
Johannesburg

ANT KATZ who wrote the article in question, responds:

1. City Parks’ Jenny Moodley was clear in the LotusFM podcast referred to in the story and published on our website that there was no written permission;
2. (ii) It is often said that “history is written by the victors” and that may be the case here, but, that differing accounts exist is a fact;
3. (iii) both BDS and MRN advertised the SAJFP’s events extensively; and
4. (iv) SAJFP’s own web presence is on the BDS-SA website which still carries the ad on their home page that their “friends from SAJFP are hosting a visiting delegation of Palestinian activists” and lists the events.

Andrew Dunn’s Jewish Achiever speech acknowledged

I salute Andrew Dunn, CEO of Richmark Holdings, for his speech at the Jewish Achiever Awards banquet.

His acknowledgement and praise of what is undoubtedly the greatest Diaspora Jewish community was a privilege to read.

As a former South African living in Israel, his sentiments are so welcome and appreciated.

To Dunn I would like to say: It is my fervent wish that your words resonate within the broader, non-Jewish sector and help foster a deeper sense of understanding, appreciation and tolerance of our community and their significant contribution to the prosperity of the Republic of South Africa.

Clive Chitiz (former SA National Campaign Director IUA/UCF)
Ra’anana, Israel

To say that ChaiFM removed a particular broadcaster because of their political views (or pressure from some with differing political views) is speculation. ChaiFM is interviewing many people to fill their afternoon spot.

The truth is that there is criticism of Israel, just like there is criticism of any country because countries are made of people, and people are flawed and therefore all countries are flawed to a greater or lesser degree.

In addition to people being flawed, there are so many differing opinions that one government, one ideology, etc cannot satisfy everyone. So we know and accept that Israel is not “perfect”.

It’s the dictatorships that hush their critics; and there are so many of those in the Middle East that Israel stands out as a beacon of democracy.

There can be discussion of the many ways that we can think of to improve Israeli society, but it’s just so glaringly obvious that this is a double standard when one considers Israel’s neighbouring dictatorships, where there is constant violence and lack of human rights.

Personally, I was a fan of Steve Marks and would prefer him to return to the Afternoon Drive.

Michele Engelberg
Johannesburg

Really, are some people just looking for more and more glory and publicity and want to be seen as the protectors of the Jewish people and the laws of Torah in South Africa? Is this not the domain of the Chief Rabbi and the Beth Din?

Gilad Stern and Sarah Goldstein live in Cape Town and might seem to have the needs of the Cape Town Jewish community under their control. How dare they go to other Jewish communities and dictate to those communities what they want.

I don’t interfere in the affairs of Cape Town and they must keep out of the affairs of Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria and elsewhere.

Stern and Goldstein are trying to hold the Jewish community hostage and at ransom.

There was an agreement and out of court settlement. Why did Stern and Goldstein then feel the need to go back to the courts to make the agreement legal. Do they not trust the SAJBD who they negotiated with? Obviously they did not trust the SAJBD.

Again I ask the question: Why is the Jewish community allowing Stern and Goldstein to hold us hostage and to ransom and acting to put the Jewish community into disrepute in an open forum for ALL our enemies to see. Have we not got enough enemies that we need more enemies from within?

Sydney Kanichowsky
Savoy Estates, Johannesburg

Palestinian claims on Mideast lands are spurious

With the hysterical and venomous anti-Israel hate culture that has swept the world over the last 16 years, it is important to confront the truth of the situation.

The vast arsenal of evil propaganda spread in South Africa by BDS, the Media Review Network, the ANC/SACP/Cosatu, SA Jews for a Just Peace and SA Jews for a Free Palestine and others needs to be challenged with the plain truth of the history of the conflict

Israel is not and never has been guilty of settler colonialism.

Firstly, there was no distinctive Palestinian national identity before the adoption by the PLO of the Palestinian National Covenant in 1966. The Arabs of Palestine were never seen as distinct from the Arab nation. At no time before the 1960s did any grouping of Palestinian Arabs come to recognition as a separate nation either by themselves or by other Arabs.

In his book “Israel and Palestine: Assault of the Law of Nations”, expert on international relations Julius Stone reminds us: “The myth of the 1966 Palestinian Covenant” that “the Palestinian people” was unjustly displaced by the Jewish invasion of Palestine in 1917 is widely disseminated and unquestioningly and dogmatically espoused in these ‘studies’ from the United Nations Secretariat.

“Furthermore it is also necessary to recall, not only the Kingdom of David and the succession of Jewish polities in Palestine down to the Roman conquest and dispersion at the turn of the present era, but that Jews continued even after the conquest, and were in 1914 a well-knit population there.”

The 1937 Peel Commission pointed out: “Always or almost always since the fall of the Jewish State, some Jews have been living in Palestine. Under Arab rule there were substantial Jewish communities in the chief towns.”

We must remember that the original Palestine promised to the Jews in 1917 by the Balfour Declaration included what is today Jordan. In 1922 Britain cut off 78 per cent of Palestine, granting it to the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan, and forbidding Jews from living there. The Arabs now had a state in 78 per cent of Palestine, leaving the Jews 22 per cent of Palestine and less than a fraction of the Middle East.

After the 1947 UN partition vote and the re-establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, five Arab armies attacked Israel and Tranjordan illegally occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

After the Arabs forced the Six Day War on Israel in 1967, Israel seized back these lands and is under no legal obligation to hand it back to the Arabs. Indeed, it was part of the lands promised to the Jews under the original mandate.

The pressure by the UN and the international left on Israel to give up lands without recognition first by the Arabs is illegal.

Gary Selikow
Johannesburg

Weinbergs proud of six trees planted in their park

As the grandson of Violet and Eli Weinberg and son of Sheila Weinberg, I was deeply honoured that the South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) recently chose to plant six trees in the Weinberg Family Park to commemorate the Israeli forces’ ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinian villages in 1948.

We Weinbergs have always stood for equality and justice – against oppression and exploitation the world over.

The planting of trees in the Weinberg Family Park reminds us that the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the struggle against Zionism in Palestine are one and the same.

As the trees grow strong, we hope so too will the struggle for justice in Palestine so we can all live together in peace.

Mark Weinberg
Johannesburg

SAJFP and JVJP… same few names crop up all the time

 Two fringe groups, South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) and Jewish Voices for a Just Peace (JVJP), have featured in last week’s Jewish Report. Like all fringe groups they believe they punch far above their fighting weight. In truth one sees the same two or three names appearing time and again.

SAJFP don’t even have a website, which must speak volumes for their grandiose claims of support. If they were to hold community meetings I wonder just who would show up – other than members of the BDS and Media Review Network, and judging by the company they keep, one can guess how balanced and impartial such a gathering would be.

At a time when our country is embroiled in much political turmoil and when recently announced crime statistics topped 17 000 deaths in a year in a country at peace, these fine ladies waste time resources and energy on trying to destroy the only Jewish State – what a futile endeavour.

Allan Wolman
Rosebank, Johannesburg

Looking for information on Moziek (Morris) Seidel

Barry Seidel from Norcross, Georgia in the US is looking for information on a family member – Moziek Zaidel or Seidel – and any other surviving family.

“Moziek, possibly Morris, my father’s brother, was born in Konin, Poland in 1878. He was the son of Jozef Zajdel and Mindla Trauman. He had four sisters, Jehudas, Estera, Bajla and Malka and one brother, Juda Majloch (my father, who later changed his name to Max Leopold Seidel). All were born in Konin, Poland.”

Moziek – or Morris – immigrated to South Africa, either from Poland or Germany, in the 1920s to the early 1930s. It is not known where he settled.

“He might have changed his name to ‘Seidel’, which is the name my father adopted in Germany in the 1920s.”

Barry Seidel’s e-mail address is barrysei@gmail.com

In last week’s edition of Jewish Report we ran a story on the kol isha matter in which we said the applicants (Gilad Stern et al) had the Equality Court case settlement made an order of court. In fact, it was the respondents (the Cape Board) who took this course of action. We regret the error.