Pandor holds line against pressure to cut ties with Israel

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Dr Naledi Pandor brought a sense of calm in the midst of the recent feverish anti-Israel rhetoric in South Africa by refusing to commit South Africa to cutting ties with the Jewish state.

Responding to a parliamentary question on 7 June 2021, she said, “South Africa has recently issued a number of media statements strongly condemning the actions of the Israeli government, where casualties have been mostly innocent civilians, children, women, and the elderly.

“South Africa recalled its ambassador accredited to the state of Israel, Mr Sisa Ngombane, in May 2018. The government remains seized with the modalities related to its diplomatic relations with the state of Israel. The department will communicate any further actions still under consideration.”

She was responding to a question by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Thembi Portia Msane who wanted to know South Africa’s “response to the criminal and indiscriminate killing of Palestinians by the State of Israel”.

Then, at an online event hosted by DIRCO titled “Justice for the Palestinian people” on 8 June 2021, Pandor made statements that were more extreme. She called it an “unbalanced power equation between an occupying power and a people resisting occupation” and said that “the Palestinian narrative evokes experiences of South Africa’s own history of racial segregation and oppression”.

South Africa welcomed “the initiative to convene a special session of the Human Rights Council on the grave human-rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem which was held on 27 May 2021,” Pandor said. “South Africa supports the recent adoption of the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution which establishes an international commission of inquiry to investigate violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.”

At the same time, she acknowledged Israel’s right to exist in peace, saying, “We, along with many in the UN membership, have long accepted and supported a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace.”

Pandor could potentially have descended into worse rhetoric during the event, which consisted of more than two hours of Israel-bashing. It’s clear that she’s under enormous pressure from various quarters to cut ties with Israel, but she has held the line. Where is this pressure coming from, and what will she do about it?

“South Africa is under tremendous pressure to further reduce her relations with Israel – there’s not much left frankly, other than to cut full diplomatic relations,” says local political analyst Daniel Silke. “BDS [the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement] has certainly entrenched itself within the thinking of the ANC [African National Congress], but I do think there’s an element within the ANC that pushes back against the more extreme or radical view of reducing relations. Pandor may well spearhead that more moderate view.”

Silke believes that “in the end, South Africa is unlikely to cut full diplomatic relations. South Africa will keep a mission in Israel in spite of there being all sorts of rhetoric and rumblings, and perhaps even some sort of other kind of minor downgrade, if it’s still possible.”

He thinks this is because South Africa still has to think of its relationship with other countries – especially the United States and in Western Europe – and cannot act “as an island unto herself”.

“There will be ramped up rhetoric against Israel as we’ve seen, from President [Cyril] Ramaphosa down,” Silke says, “but I expect that in order to at least keep South Africa within the broader community of nations – including with a view to improving relations with the US – we will fall short of what would be a full downgrade of diplomatic relations”.

“In spite of an apparent lack of empathy with the South African Jewish community, it does remain a prominent community within South Africa, and from President Ramaphosa’s understanding, a downgrade would clearly affect relations between the government and the community. This includes business entities that are important for economic growth in South Africa via private-sector initiatives,” Silke says.

Silke says it’s also important to look at the African context. “We’ve seen a shift from some African countries towards close relations with Israel. Ramaphosa is head of the African Union, so South Africa has to balance her role with greater co-operation between African countries and Israel. Those factors also help to keep the channels open, albeit under difficult circumstances.”

Local political analyst Steven Gruzd agrees. “There’s definitely political pressure from BDS to take even further measures against Israel to the extent of cutting ties,” he says. “As Pandor noted, we withdrew our ambassador from Tel Aviv in May 2018, and that ambassador hasn’t been replaced. As we’ve seen, whenever there’s a flare-up in the Middle East, the pressure to cut ties increases.

“It’s difficult to know how great that pressure is, but BDS has certainly been putting pressure on the government. Also, there’s pressure coming from political parties like the EFF, and many within the ANC itself, who portray what’s happening in the Middle East very much through a South African prism.

“But the ANC still believes in a two-state solution. That’s still official policy and it hasn’t gone back on that,” Gruzd says. “So there will be more condemnation in the weeks and months ahead, but I strongly doubt there would be a physical cutting of ties. I hope I’m proved right.”