ANT KATZ

SAJR has been trying to get answers to a number of questions from Sunday Times editor, Phylicia Oppelt, and TMG management and will update the story as soon as further information comes to hand.

Below is the story as it originally ran: 

Read what the Sunday Times refused to publish! On Saturday night, the SAZF put out a  communal e-mail with a subject line reading: “This is what the Sunday Times did not want South Africans to know about Hamas!” The message was headed: “This advert was fully paid to run as a full page advert in the Sunday Times tomorrow. On Friday afternoon at 3pm the Sunday Times pulled the advert and cancelled publication. The Sunday Times’ response was that they were acting within their standard editorial guidelines.”

South African Jewish communal organisations planned to run a full page advert in South Africa’s leading weekend newspaper, the Sunday Times, today – in an effort to educate South Africans and members of the ruling party on who and what Hamas is,  Ben Swartz, SA Zionist Federation (Fed) national chairman told SA Jewish Report Online.

The advert was to have been the first salvo in a major information campaign that is being launched by SA Jewry and targeted to reach tens of millions of South Africans to inform them who Hamas is.

“People don’t know how Hamas continues to murder,” Swartz (PICTURED RIGHT) said.

Communal organisations have vowed not to be thwarted by this action, saying they would  continue with all other facets of the information campaign.

The advert culminated with the words: “We urge the ANC to act as a credible mediator for peace in the Middle East and not to embrace a violent Jihadist organisation by welcoming them into our midst.”

A copy of the wording of the advert appears below.

“These are the facts that (the Sunday Times) did not want their readership to know about Hamas!” read the communal newsletter on the weekend.

Many Middle Eastern pundits in the media in Israel and Palestine, South Africa and around the world, are expressing the view that by trying to be the first country outside the Middle East to give legitimacy to Hamas, the ANC is undermining the Palestinian Authority (led by Mahmoud Abbas), if nothing else.

There is a great deal of confusion, says Swartz, about Gaza and Hamas – and it is those misunderstandings that this campaign aims at clearing up.

Gaza is not an occupied territory. It is a territory that has borders with Israel and Egypt. It has had no permanent Israeli presence there for a considerable time. Gaza was, in fact, always occupied in modern times. It was held by the Ottomans, then the British, and, when the British pulled out in 1948, by the Egyptians.

The (non)advert read as follows

ACCORDING TO HAMAS, JIHAD IS THE
ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE ‘PEACE’

AND IT GETS WORSE

Unlike South Africans, who achieved peaceful resolution to conflict through dialogue, negotiation, truth and reconciliation, the Political Head of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, emphatically insists:

“Jihad and armed resistance are the true and correct way… There will be no concession on an inch of the land.”

The Hamas Charter openly and brazenly rejects peace initiatives and claims that Jihad is the only solution.

“Peace initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement … There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad”.  – Hamas Charter

And it gets worse.

In direct opposition to the South African Bill of Rights, Hamas has openly declared homosexuality a crime punishable by death.

Freedom of religion is treated with equal contempt.

In Gaza, Hamas stands accused of forcing Christians to convert to Islam, digging up Christian cemeteries and warning Christians to “co-operate” under threats of violence – including the threat of rape to the wives and daughters of Christian men.

Hamas forces abduct, torture, attack and summarily execute those who oppose them.

And it gets worse:

Virtually every country in the world, including most Arab states, deny entry to Khaled Meshaal.

Hamas is unwelcome in Amman, Cairo and Riyadh. All have closed their doors to Hamas leadership.

The European Union, the USA, Canada, Australia and many democracies keep Hamas on their terrorism blacklist.

And yet, Hamas is warmly welcomed in South Africa.

Why? It defies all logic.

Given their intractable position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and their fundamentalist interpretation of Jihad as holy war, what good can it bring?

We urge the ANC to act as a credible mediator for peace in the Middle East and not to embrace a violent Jihadist organisation by welcoming them into our midst.

A Hamas-style, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab ideology is the last thing South Africa needs.

Do you know who Hamas really is?

Conclusion – the facts:

The advert was to have ended with the following offer: “Find out more at www.realfacts.co.za” and gave a number of links to follow, such as:

• http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/15/us-mideast-hamas-israel-idUSKBNOJSOL020141215
• http://www.mythsandfacts.orgiconflictistatute-treaties/hamas_charterhtm
• http://www.pmw.org.il/tv-hamas.htm  
• http://www.voltairenetorglarticle183090.html
• http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/would-gays-be-executed-or-imprisoned-palestinian-state_593540.html
• https://gatewaynews.co.zalacdp-outraged-by-forced-conversions-of-christians-to-islam-in-gaza-strip/  
• http://www.cbn.comicbnnewslinsideisrael/2009/December/Rights-Group-Hamas-Desecrated-Christian-Graves-/
• http://www.i24news.tvienInewslintemational/middle-east/131218-jordan-denies-entry-to-hamas-leader-mashaal
• http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Hamas-leader-gets-huge-welcome-in-Cape-Town-20151021

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Israeli occupation: 1967 to 2005

When Egypt attacked Israel from Gaza and other areas in 1967, in the Six Day War, Israel expelled the Egyptians and took occupation of Gaza and the Sinai. Eighteen years later, Israel was at peace with Egypt and in 2005, a law was enacted in Israel which led to the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, and the dismantling of all Israeli settlements in Gaza. The territory became a self-governing entity of the PA for the first time in modern history.

The Battle of Gaza

According to Wikipedia, The Battle of Gaza, also referred to as Hamas’ takeover of Gaza was a short military conflict between Fatah (an organ of the PA) and Hamas, that took place in the Gaza Strip between June 10 and 15, 2007. It was a climax in the Fatah-Hamas conflict, centred on the struggle for power. Fatah lost parliamentary elections in 2006 and Hamas fighters took control. They removed Fatah officials resulting in the dissolution of the unity government and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities, the West Bank governed by the PA, and Gaza governed by Hamas.

Since 2007 Hamas has reigned – and rained a torrent of tens-of-thousands of missiles on Israel. The territory is fenced off on both the Israeli and Egyptian borders and both countries’ navies maintain a naval blockade of Gaza – as Hamas’ brutal regime threatens the peace of, and between, Israel and Egypt.

Egypt does not allow goods through its borders, only people under special circumstances. Only Israel allows goods to enter and exit the territory, despite constantly being bombarded with ever-more sophisticated, accurate and longer-distance missiles. 

The advert that the Sunday Times refused to run…