Proof of BDS’ toxic motives

MARY KLUK
That the DUT incident was related to Khaled’s visit is undeniable. It is hardly coincidental that the “Juden raus” call followed immediately on her speaking at DUT. It was just the latest in a growing number of outrageous threats being made against our community as a direct result of BDS incitement.

Two especially serious incidents were the chanting of “Shoot the Jew” by BDS supporters at Wits and the depositing of a pig’s head in a Woolworths store in support of the BDS boycott by the Congress of SA Students, but there have been others.

Increasingly, radical anti-Israel groupings are not even making a token distinction between “Zionists” and “Jews”. It only serves to confirm what we believed from the start to have been BDS’s toxic motives in inviting a speaker like Khaled in the first place.

It was nevertheless heartening to see the outpouring of support and sympathy for our community following the DUT call, both locally and from our Jewish counterparts abroad. I commend our Council for KwaZulu-Natal Jewry, in particular their president, Ronnie Herr and Vice-President Alana Baranov, for the strenuous, but always measured and dignified manner in which they dealt with the matter, in the media and in their interactions with the university itself.

Over the weekend, Denmark, experienced something very similar to what took place in Paris last month, with the murder of someone adjudged to have offended Islamic sensibilities being quickly followed by a lethal attack, in this case by the same individual, on a Copenhagen synagogue.

In both cases, avenging a perceived slur against Islam was combined with an attack on people solely on account of their being Jewish. It shows how deeply rooted has become the notion in radical Islamist circles that Jews are in some way responsible for the myriad ills being experienced by the Muslim world. Such a mindset puts Jews everywhere at risk.    

In taking to the streets to protest against Khaled, we were sending a forthright message that we are proud Jews and proud South Africans, and that we will not be intimidated, whether by BDS, SRC students or any other lobbies who seek to deny us our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association.

As events around the globe, and particularly in Europe, show, the hostility we are experiencing is not new to South Africa but part of an international trend. Looked at in this perspective, we can take heart from the fact that despite the virulent nature of much of the rhetoric we are dealing with, acts of violence against our community have been virtually nonexistent, even during the overheated atmosphere generated by last year’s Gaza conflict.

A few days ago, our community in Umhlanga took to the streets to participate in a rousing Hachnasat Sifrei Torah ceremony. It demonstrated our ability in this country to live a full, unfettered Jewish life, regardless of the efforts in certain quarters to make us feel unwelcome.

With this reassurance, we must be careful not to overreact when those wishing us harm presume to threaten us, but rather deal with each case as it arises in a considered, proportionate manner.  

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