We need to talk about our successes, not lay low

Marilyn Bassin, Johannesburg

First, I don’t understand how anyone is supposed to know we are important, contributing members of society if we don’t tell people about ourselves. Maybe we should put as much energy into preventing an onslaught by the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) group as we do in defending ourselves from the next racially based incident.

No one knows how much we contribute to building this country. I’m referring to the current generation, not Mandela’s era. Why don’t we publicise the role of nongovernmental organisations started by Jewish individuals, or technological advances, and just how much they have built our country?

Second, I suggest that when an attack on Israel occurs, we have a team in place with the ability to handle it. We need legal professionals to conduct every interview, not just those from Beyachad who mean well, but are not sufficiently skilled to put an idea across in 30 seconds, as is required on the radio. We need to do research on the cause of the incident, and how it parallels with incidents that the South African government handles in an identical fashion to Israel. This needs to be communicated. For example, stateless people here are the same as stateless Palestinians.

We have to stand tall. We cannot be a shrinking people. We mustn’t start a fight, but it doesn’t help to lay low. Why is everyone too scared to tell the masses that we are not the enemy, we make a huge contribution?