By Henry Srebrnik, [Saint John, N.B.] Telegraph-Journal
South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, addressed the Congressional Summit of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington March 10, speaking about politics in Africa and the Middle East.
He observed that the ideology of Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and Islamic State (ISIS) throughout much of Africa is the same ideology espoused, funded, and propagated by Iran and its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
“Israel’s war with Hamas – and by extension Iran – is against the same enemy,” he asserted, suggesting that the way to fight a “diplomatic war” is to build alliances with states in Africa.
But relations between Israel and his own country have worsened. After the war in Gaza broke out last October, South Africa became one of the most outspoken countries against Israel in the world and one of its most vituperative critics, calling Israel an “apartheid state” and accusing it of “ethnic cleansing.
In December, Pretoria went further, charging Israel with genocide at the International Court of Justice. “Our opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza has driven us as a country to approach the ICJ,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said ahead of the proceedings.
“As a people who once tasted the bitter fruits of dispossession, discrimination, racism and state-sponsored violence, we are clear that we will stand on the right side of history.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded by calling the claims “false and baseless” and a “sweeping counter-factual description” of the conflict with Hamas. It denounced South Africa for “collaborating with a terror group that calls for the destruction of the state of Israel” and accused it of participating in a “blood libel” against the Jewish state.
In January the court ordered Israel to take all measures within its power “to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide” and to immediately ensure that Palestinians have access to basic services and humanitarian assistance. While South Africa had called for the suspension of Israeli military operations in Gaza, the court did not grant this provisional measure.
The world’s reaction to the landmark case showed a predictable global split. Most countries backing South Africa’s case were from the Arab world, Asia, and Africa. No Western country supported South Africa’s allegations against Israel.
Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, visiting Washington for talks with American officials, on March 19 maintained that the International Criminal Court should have already issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “for war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza.”
South Africa also recalled its ambassador to Israel and suspended diplomatic relations. The Israeli airline El Al is planning to cancel its Tel Aviv to Johannesburg route, given a steep drop in demand.
It is the nadir of a relationship that had survived some challenges, largely thanks to the leadership of Nelson Mandela, who in 1994 became South Africa’s first president after apartheid.
Mandela supported Israeli territorial concessions and was close to the Palestinian cause, but he was also supportive of Israel, which he’d visited and where he’d received an honorary doctorate. His viewpoint was that Israel had the right to exist.
Today South Africa strongly backs the Palestinian cause, with formal diplomatic relations established in 1995, a year after the end of apartheid. It downgraded its embassy in Tel Aviv to a liaison office in 2019.
The issue of whether Israel should be granted observer status in the African Union (AU) has been subject to heated debate. In February, Israel thwarted an effort by South Africa and Algeria to deprive it of observer status in the AU. The two countries had also planned to urge the 55 member states to cut off relations with Israel. Nevertheless, leaders at the AU summit in Addis Ababa condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Both the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine movements in South Africa are large. The groups are openly hostile towards each other, especially since last Oct. 7.
Pro-Palestine marches bring together up to 200,000 people. In early December a senior Hamas delegation arrived in South Africa to participate in the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine. Speakers from the Hezbollah and Houthi organizations addressed students at the University of Cape Town on March 27.
The South African Jewish community numbers some 75,000, making it the twelfth largest Jewish community in the world. “Israel has many allies and friends here in South Africa who are ashamed of their government’s support for terrorist regimes and despots,” declared Goldstein.
Gabriella Farber-Cohen, former spokesperson for the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League in Gauteng, resigned from the party in mid-October. She called South Africa accusing Israel of genocide a “slap in the face for all Jews in South Africa.”
Following threats by South Africa’s government in December to prosecute citizens who served in Israel’s army, including stripping naturalized South Africans of their citizenship, leaders of the South African Jewish community Feb. 20 organized a ceremony in Israel for members who were killed or wounded defending the Jewish state.
Already part of the white minority, South Africa’s Jews are become yet more marginalized. If the ANC is re-elected in the national election May 29, many believe that there will be a Jewish exodus from the country.
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