South African Jewry under fire

NICOLA MILTZ

Forcing the community to take sides in a seemingly unresolvable conflict has been described by communal leaders as “outrageous and dangerously divisive”, bordering on anti-Semitism.

Zev Krengel, vice-president of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), said: “There’s this veiled threat by the ANC that if we don’t condemn Israel, then we will be condemned in our own country.”

The ANC told SA Jewry to reject “Nazi-like” Israel, sparking outrage by communal leaders.

The ruling party also slammed Israel’s actions at the Gaza border this week, comparing the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF’s) efforts to prevent Palestinian protesters from breaching the border fence with Nazi Germany’s cruelty against Jews. The ANC went on to call Israel a “blight on humanity” that must be treated like a pariah.

It called on all South Africans, including those “of Jewish faith and culture”, to also “stand up and reject” the Jewish state.

In a strongly worded response, the SAJBD wrote to ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule on Wednesday, accusing the ruling party of using the tragedy of the loss of lives in Gaza to “indulge in a sustained outburst of unbridled vitriol against the Jewish State”.

The letter reads: “Not only has it defamed and demonised Israel to an extent that bears no relationship to reality, but it has sought to taunt and wound Jewish people in general in the most malicious way possible.”

The board said it was unacceptable that the ANC likened the recent deaths of the Palestinian protesters “in confrontations that their own leaders were responsible for engineering” to the systematic mass murder of millions of Jews solely for the “crime” of being Jewish.

It said the ANC was well aware that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were not being deliberately exterminated by Nazi-like Israeli death squads, “yet it brazenly asserts this to be the case”.

In the ANC’s statement on Tuesday, the governing party said: “We watched in complete disbelief as a people, who continuously remind us all about the hate and prejudice Jews went through during Hitler’s anti-Semitism reign, will exhibit the same cruelty less than a century later.”

In response, the SAJBD accused the ANC of having “really crossed the line” here, saying that this was “explicitly aimed at offending, wounding and humiliating Jews everywhere by throwing the trauma of the Nazi Holocaust in their faces.

“This is evidence not of pro-Palestinian sympathy, but of spiteful, unreflecting prejudice.”

Communal leaders have written to numerous high-ranking government officials this week, requesting urgent meetings to discuss the latest increase in anti-Israel sentiments.

It has been a week of intense conflict in the Middle East region, following the deaths of 60 Palestinian protesters on Monday – the day before Palestinians marked their Nakba, or “catastrophe”, of Israel’s establishment in 1948.

Thousands of Palestinians participated in the so-called March of Return in Gaza, some deploying violent means as they attempted to cross the border fence into Israel.

In its attempt to prevent any infiltrations, the IDF used riot dispersal methods such as tear gas and rubber bullets, and in some cases, live ammunition.

The deaths coincided with the inauguration of the controversial, new US embassy in Jerusalem – and with US President Donald Trump pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal, causing further tensions in the region.

South Africa reacted strongly and swiftly to the flare-up by recalling South Africa’s ambassador to Israel, Sisa Ngombane, in what many see as a kneejerk reaction by government.

Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Lindiwe Sisulu said the government decided to recall the ambassador after its alert systems in the department showed that violence was escalating. Within a few hours she had met with President Cyril Ramaphosa, and the decision was cast in stone.

“We decided to recall him so that he can come and explain what is happening in Gaza,” said Sisulu.

The Jewish community’s communal leaders condemned the government’s decision to recall Ngombane, saying it displayed gross double standards against the Jewish state.

In a joint statement, the SAJBD and SA Zionist Federation said the deaths of civilians was regrettable, but “we recognise that Israel, as a sovereign state, has the right to defend its own border and its own citizens.  Israel is facing a real danger with the incitement by Hamas of its own population to storm the security fence and attack Israeli civilians.”

Concerns have also been raised following calls from certain opposition parties to oust Israel’s ambassador to South Africa, Lior Keinan.

Added to the concern is the rising pressure on government by anti-Israel groups to re-look into visa regulations. Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Tuesday that he would consult with Cabinet to possibly review visa regulations following the tensions in Gaza.

Gigaba joined the department of international relations in condemning the outbreak of violence. “It reminds us of the days of apartheid,” he told members of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement in a meeting he had with them on Tuesday to discuss stricter visa measures for Israeli visitors.

He said: “We’ll look at South Africans with dual citizenship and their involvement in the Israeli Defence Force.”

In response, the SAJBD said it had requested a meeting with Gigaba. Wendy Kahn, national director of the SAJBD, told the SA Jewish Report on Wednesday that: “The board raised our concern with his targeting of Israeli citizens regarding their visa requirements. Many of our community have close family members living in Israel, and they are naturally anxious that nothing should be done to negatively impact on the ability to visit and receive visits from them. It is also singling out one community for this treatment in a way that no other South Africans are being targeted.”

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 60 Palestinians died and over 2 700 were injured in Monday’s clashes along the border. The IDF claimed that 24 of those who died belonged to terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Israel has blamed Hamas for the violence.

In Wednesday’s letter to Magashule, the SAJBD said its primary concern is that the ANC had adopted “an overtly antagonistic stance against the great majority of South African Jewry”.

This is something that the board said it was very anxious to avoid, particularly considering the mutually respectful and fruitful relationship it has had with the ANC since the transition to democracy.

The Community Security Organisation (CSO) has advised members of the community to exercise extra caution as recent events have stirred emotions and support for both sides.

Anti-Israel marches in Johannesburg and Cape Town this week, as well as an increase in anti-Semitic sentiment on social media, have resulted in the CSO sending out this warning.