Muslim man extends a hand of friendship to SA Jews

NICOLA MILTZ

Last week, Houghton resident Solly Hattia sent an email to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) in the spirit of friendship and unity.

In his very personal letter to the community, he told of his close and warm association with numerous Jewish people throughout his life. He said, “As fellow South Africans… we need to find a forward thinking approach, and show respect and dignity to each other, regardless of our differences.”

He said both communities would “naturally take sides” because it was in “our DNA to do so”. But he added, “how we relate to these issues is what is paramount for an all-inclusive understanding towards peace and togetherness”.

The email was shared on the board’s Facebook page, and received hundreds of responses from the community. It took no time for the post to reverberate in the Muslim community as well.

Hattia, a father of five, waited in anticipation for a backlash from his own community, expecting to be hauled over the coals. Instead, to his delight, he has been supported in his bid to cultivate goodwill between the two communities.

“I was surprised. I was expecting to be attacked. The news travelled fast, and it was not long before I was inundated with calls. I’ve yet to hear anything negative. I was not shunned, quite the contrary,” he said.

Speaking to the SA Jewish Report this week, he cautioned, “Let’s not pretend things are hunky dory. There is an elephant in the room which needs to be addressed, we can’t ignore it.”

Hattia said he would speak out against all forms of injustice perpetrated by all countries, and implored his community to show balance in its criticism, not just of Israel, but all countries.

“If Saudi Arabia steps out of line, we must be there to criticise, the same with any country perpetrating injustice,” he said.

He reiterated what he said in his email. “Let’s debate, let’s argue, let’s agree to disagree, but let’s do so without profanity, let’s do it with respect and dignity.

Most importantly, he urged people on both sides to create dialogue from a position of knowledge, and educate each other about the harmfulness of hate speech.

Asked why he had decided to put himself out there now, he said there was no such thing as a good time to show humanity and compassion.

“There is so much negative sentiment out there, so much hatred on both sides. It’s all we read about on social media. It is so disturbing and troubling for our youth. We need some sanity, some positive, good news. It’s refreshing. It’s time to start injecting positivity into our lives by sharing real, honest human stories with one another.”

Hattia was prompted to reach out because of the ever-increasing amount of hate speech and disrespect relating to the Middle East shown on social media, he said.

Earlier this year, his nephew, a 19-year-old law student at the University of the Witwatersrand, was involved in an anti-Semitic incident, which resulted in him and another Muslim teenager apologising for their hate-filled posts on a WhatsApp chat group.

The two teenagers belonged to a WhatsApp group called Sneakerheads which sells takkies online. In June, a chat on the group – made up of teenagers, many of whom are Jewish – turned ugly when the conversation touched on events surrounding TV personality Shashi Naidoo.

The two showed genuine remorse during a meeting with communal leaders on both sides, and their apology was accepted.

The incident shook the community and the Hattia family to its core. It is one of the reasons why Hattia feels so strongly about the dangers of social media, and the importance of moving forward in a spirit of peace and conciliation.

He said he wrote his email without telling anyone about it.

“No one knew I was doing this. It came purely from the heart. I felt I needed to do it. I think I’ve done the right thing, and I’m chuffed with the response so far.”

SAJBD National Director Wendy Kahn said, “We have received the most glowing and heart-warming feedback to the Solly Hattia letter. Our community has embraced the warmth that he displayed in his letter to us. It provided a glimpse of what is possible when our communities focus on what unites us, and not on what divides us. There are so many moving stories between Muslim and Jewish South Africans – let’s celebrate these.”

Hattia said he would be thrilled if something good came out of this, “something bigger”.

Let’s wait and see.