SACC defends billboard protesting Israeli annexation

A billboard hangs over the highway on the way to OR Tambo International Airport loudly proclaiming: “Churches Against Israeli Annexation of Palestinian Land.” It displays the logos of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and Africa4Palestine (formerly the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) South Africa movement).

“The SACC is committed to social justice in South Africa and other countries, and annexation is injustice in our eyes,” SACC general secretary, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, told the SA Jewish Report. The billboard has been up since June.

The SACC is made up of about 30 churches and church bodies that have between 23 and 25 million followers in South Africa, and six non-governmental organisations. The organisation has an activist history, and was founded in 1968 as a way for Christian South Africans to have a united front against apartheid. Mpumlwana and his wife were active in the Black Consciousness Movement.

“While the SACC is made up of many different churches, our common cause is that we don’t do doctrine, we do social justice. So we need to respond to that commitment,” he says. “International law governs global relationships, and Israel is no exception. Our observation is that the 1 July decision to annex parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley virtually obliterates a future of two states living side by side with internationally recognised peace and security.”

To him, there are three options for Israel and the Palestinians, but only one is fair and sustainable. “The first – which we support – is that two states exist alongside each other, with peace and security for all. The second is that there is one state that’s democratic, which Israelis don’t want, as there will be a Palestinian majority. The third option, which is the option pursued by the Netanyahu government, is Israeli sovereignty over all the land.” This would lead to a minority ruling over a majority, he said, “and South African Jews cannot have it both ways: abhorring apartheid here, but supporting it there.”

The SACC chose to erect the billboard to protest annexation, not Israel’s existence, Mpumlwana says. However, his statements in the general media and the SACC’s past actions sometimes conflict with this line. In an official statement on 25 June, he called on the international community to “consider comprehensive sanctions against Israel should it continue with the illegal annexation of Palestinian land”. In addition, the SACC has taken part in and endorsed Israel Apartheid Week for many years. Writing in City Presson 28 June, Mpumlwana stated, “The world must prevent Israel’s brand of apartheid, which will make Verwoerd’s designs look like a Sunday school play.”

When the SA Jewish Report pointed out that in its rhetoric, Africa4Palestine makes it clear that it doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist, the bishop said he was unaware of this when he asked the organisation to join him in erecting the billboard. “We walk the path of justice. Even if we disagree with others who choose to walk it, we don’t abandon it,” he said. “We defend Israel’s right to exist with the same vigour. We believe a Jewish state should exist, and we believe in a two-state solution.”

The billboard was part of a larger campaign on social media and to lobby organisations to oppose annexation, he said. Although the annexation was put on hold thanks to the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, the billboard remains up, and the bishop is unsure when it will be taken down.

Contrary to what one might expect, the SACC doesn’t support the idea that all of the Biblical land of Israel should belong to the Jewish state. “That’s like saying because white people aren’t indigenous to South Africa, they should all be driven out. We can’t use 4 000-year-old scripture to define the boundaries of our modern world. We need to respect international boundaries and law,” he said.

He believes that the Nation State Basic Law of 2018 and the notion of annexation are “in stark contrast to the basis on which Israel was founded and its declaration of independence. This says that Israel will ‘foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture; it will safeguard the holy places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the charter of the United Nations’.”

He notes that there are Christian followers who disagree with his perspective, and they are given ample opportunity to make their voices heard and debate the issues at hand. An example, as one blogger pointed out, was that at the same time the billboard went up, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was fighting for his right to express his unconditional love of Israel. The South African Friends of Israel has thousands of supporters, and when the Anglican and Methodist churches adopted resolutions to support BDS, many church members expressed disagreement and disappointment.

The bishop laments the fact that resolution of the conflict is in the hands of politicians, and envisions leaders of the Abrahamic faiths “making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem” to sit down together and resolve it. “The SACC is ready to work with others in South Africa, in the Holy Land, and the world, on a quest for peace in the Holy Land,” he says. “This is a call I’d like to make as loudly as possible.”

Since 2006, Mpumlwana said, the SACC had sent Christian South Africans to the region, where they live with Israeli and Palestinian families for three months. He has spent a lot of time in Israel, and has also been to the West Bank and Gaza. As recently as last year, SACC leaders went on a pilgrimage to the region, visiting Yad Vashem and studying the Bible with rabbis, as well as visiting Palestinian communities.

“We work with Israelis, Palestinians, and Israeli Arabs, so we know how painful the conflict is,” he said. “We are committed to a peaceful solution, but annexation isn’t sustainable.”