Wake up and smell the roses

I am astonished how the ANC, our incumbent ruling party, which I know includes many smart, educated people, cannot understand the connection between Jews, Judaism and Israel.

It is not rocket science. You can even google it to see for yourself.

Every single day, three times a day, Jews say a prayer called the Amidah, and every time, they do so facing Jerusalem. Not north, east or west, but in whichever direction Jerusalem or Israel is. In the prayer, we refer to Jerusalem and returning to the city.

During Birkat Hamazon said after every meal, we again refer to a longing for Jerusalem and rebuilding it.

At the end of the Yom Kippur service and the Pesach seder, we say: “Next year in Jerusalem.”

These are only a few references that make it clear that Jews, our religion and Israel are interdependent. And to be a Jew that has no bond whatsoever to Israel is unusual and fairly rare.

We all feel some kind of allegiance to the Jewish state, not least because when the Holocaust was over and many countries turned Jewish refugees away, Israel was once again proclaimed our land by the United Nations.

But truth is our connection goes back much further than that.

Even when we are angry with something that the Israeli government may have done, we still love Israel. We still feel that bond. We may not even approve of the ruling party there, but we are still bonded to the country. It is just like that!

So, the fact that the ANC can condemn Zionists – which in my understanding is a person who feels that intrinsic bond with Israel – but say it would stand up for Jewish people is absurd. And it seems that no matter how many people may have tried to explain this to the ruling party, and to be honest, I don’t know who has, it doesn’t  seem to be able to comprehend this.

This nonsense about separating us into Zionist and non-Zionist Jews is foolhardy because even those Jews right on the fringes of the community have an allegiance to Israel.

Yes, there are some who put their names to petitions against something Israel has done that they disagree vehemently with. I recall the one called “Not in my Name”. But even then, they probably feel a connection, which is why they are angry with how Israel responded. However, I cannot speak on their behalf about what they feel.

I am sure there are some Jews who are genuinely anti-Israel and they may have big voices, but they are so few in numbers.

Which is why our lead story is baffling to me, because of the ANC’s desire to separate us from anything to do with Israel.

However, therein lies the problem. If the ANC decides to outlaw Zionism and the Israeli flag, where does that leave us?

So there is an urgency to helping them to understand that while we may support the Jewish state, we don’t make decisions for Israel. We also don’t necessarily all feel the same way about Israel in our Zionism.

But more important is that their blanket hatred of Israel is unwarranted and misdirected.

Advocate Mark Oppenheimer, who is an expert in hate speech, among other things, spoke recently at an FW De Klerk Foundation event and made so much sense about the SA government’s blindness around Israel and the misdirection of anger that should be going to countries that really abuse their people. I have his permission to quote him liberally.

He spoke about how South Africa sidles up to some of the most sinister regimes, ones that practise torture and suppression of media and their own people. And instead of calling them out on this, the government supports and makes excuses for them.

He referred to Iran, Syria, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia, Venezuela and Cuba. Our government’s foreign policy explicitly sympathises with these countries, saying that sanctions against them are considered “bullying”. Oppenheimer makes the point that these are, in fact, sinister rogue nations, not sweet countries doing good for the world.

The human rights record of Iran is abysmal, he says. Consider Venezuela, where over 2.5 million of its people were driven into exile because of horrific economic policies, he says.

Instead of condemning this, the SA government tries to emulate the amendment to the laws allowing the state to confiscate property, according to Oppenheimer. It also blames those “terrible imperialists” for imposing sanctions on poor Venezuela.

As for Cuba, a communist nation that oppressed its people, the SA government offered it R50-million.  Never mind that we don’t have enough money to feed our own people.

The point is our government appears to take a back seat in any condemnation of rogue countries when other countries are standing their ground against them.

But, somehow, it changes its tactic when it comes to Israel, which is comparatively an innocent. Israel is always singled out for rebuke , according to Oppenheimer. In fact, the ANC welcomes the leadership of Hamas – an organisation outlawed by many as a terrorist group – at its conferences. Hamas makes no bones about its intention to destroy Israel.

Oppenheimer suggests that perhaps it could be that our government has a problem with “occupied people”. But he goes on to remind us that the ANC stays silent around Tibet and its oppression, and China suppression of the Uyghurs. And it also remains silent about what Russia is doing in Ukraine.  So, it is clearly not about occupation per se.

So I wonder what it would take to get our ruling party and government to acknowledge and accept that Jews and Israel are interlinked and that they really should consider doing an audit of their friends and enemies.

I am happy to help, as I am sure is Mark Oppenheimer (who has all these facts at his fingertips).

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor