Politician’s antisemitic rants raise alarm about safety

It’s rare to encounter openly antisemitic sentiment in South Africa, but self-styled politician Mehmet Vefa Dag, who has Turkish roots, delves into anti-Jewish tropes on a daily basis, sharing his hate-filled thoughts across social media.

While his nonsensical rants are often not taken seriously, alarm about his Jew-hatred has increased, with concern that he could put his words into action or incite others to do so.

“As premier of the Western Cape, the first thing I will do is shut down Herzlia school,” wrote Dag on Instagram, about his Land Party, shortly before South Africa’s national elections in May 2024. This is one of Dag’s frequent refrains. On 1 June, he wrote, “We are coming to eliminate the development of Zionists in South Africa. There will be no Zionists left in South Africa. We will close Herzlia High School.”

Tim Flack, an ally of the Jewish community who has been tracking Dag, told the SA Jewish Report that the way “he talks about Herzlia, I’m worried about people’s safety”.

He believes that Dag himself is the danger, and that he doesn’t have a wide following on social media. He has noticed that Dag has shifted his language from talking about “Zionists” to openly talking about “Jews”. For example, he posted that “68% of black South Africans are living in shacks, because of Jews”.

Advocate Mark Oppenheimer, who has appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court in cases that seek to determine the boundary between freedom of expression and genuine hate speech, says, “The test for hate speech hinges on whether the words uttered propagate hatred against a protected group. These groups could include Jews or Zionists, based on religion, belief, or ethnicity. It must also be shown that the words are either harmful in themselves or incite harm against the group.

“Dag has uttered a range of statements which revile Jews and Zionists, even calling for the elimination of Zionists from the Western Cape and the closure of Herzlia school,” says Oppenheimer. “If litigation were initiated against him in the Equality Court on the grounds of hate speech, harassment, and unfair discrimination, there would be reasonable prospects of success.”

Daniel Bloch, the executive director of the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies, says, “We are aware of Dag’s comments. They are antisemitic and totally unacceptable. We are exploring our options at this time.”

Dag often delves into antisemitic tropes of Jews being after blood; stealing land and assets; secretly taking over society; being responsible for societal ills; and being white supremacists and Nazis. When a building collapsed in George, killing builders on the site, he said “Zionist Jewish owners [have] stained George with blood.” He refers to Israel as “the devil nation” and Herzlia as “the devil school”.

Dag also recently burned an Israeli flag outside the Cape Town Jewish community campus housing the Gardens Shul, South African Jewish Museum, the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, the Gitlin Library, and a kosher restaurant.

Milton Shain, the author of Fascists, Fabricators and Fantasists: Antisemitism in South Africa from 1948 to the Present, said, “Dag’s language and his use of well-worn antisemitic tropes betray a Nazi-like mindset.

“Many of his ideas come straight out of the Nazi playbook,” says Shain. “To close down Herzlia school, for example, would be in line with the abolition of Jewish human rights under the Nazis, while to talk of a ‘Zionist mafia’ controlling the economy replicates Nazi propaganda in the 1930s. The trope of a Jewish man sexually harassing a black man’s wife fits perfectly with the smut of Julius Streicher’s Der Stürmer. Similar is the claim that ‘Zionism is a cancer.’

“In his political adverts, Dag even warns of ‘expropriating Zionist land’,” notes Shain. “He makes it absolutely clear that he wishes to ‘remove Zionists’ and claims that Sea Point is ‘in the hands of Israeli real estate’.

“We have heard this all before,” says Shain. “Clearly, Dag is obsessed with the so-called Zionist presence in the Western Cape. Put simply, he has a mind poisoned by Jew-hatred. The real question is to what extent the voice of this clearly disturbed man resonates beyond his tiny circle.”

Dag has often called for the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) to be closed down, stating, “The problem is the Zionist mafia controls the entire economy, which is where we finance the Israeli war. Zionists are terrorists. Netanyahu has reached a level of genocide that would make Hitler jealous.”

He also stated, “Zionists hate black people. Come to the streets and fight for your rights. Zionists must leave. This is Cape Town, not Tel Aviv. They must f**k off from our country.” On the day of South Africa’s national elections, 29 May, he said, “Zionists are going to leave from tonight.”

SAZF spokesperson Rolene Marks, believes that Dag’s comments, which are “often nonsensical, absurd, and hateful”, deserve to be ignored, just as voters ignored him. His Land Party, which competed provincially in the Western Cape, received only 1 865 votes, or 0.09%.

“Dag’s comments are anti-constitutional, discriminatory, and border on hate speech or incitement to violence against Jews,” she says. “His election promises, such as shutting down Herzlia and ridding the country of Jews who support Israel, thankfully found no resonance with voters. Moreover, even if he had won a seat, he couldn’t legally shut down a school. That would be unconstitutional.

“Many of his comments, while antisemitic, are also absurd, such as suggesting that Zionists control the South African economy, that all Jews are rich, powerful, and dominant, and implying that no other South Africans have a stake in the economy. They are disturbingly reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The SAZF condemns antisemitic hate speech, the targeting of Jewish people, false claims, and divisive rhetoric.”

From analysing his social media posts, Flack says Dag sees being a Jew as the worst insult, and that Dag called him “Jewish Tim” when lashing out at him. “He sees everyone who is white as being Jewish,” says Flack. Asked why he has come out in defence of the Jewish community in this way, Flack says, “During the Holocaust, the King of Denmark wore a Star of David on his clothes. So, at this time, I figured I should too.”