Failure to recognise that Zionism and Judaism are as intricately linked as Islam is with the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
By Ben Levitas
In South Africa today it is anathema to hold sentiments sympathetic to Zionism or supportive of Israel. Use by government officials of pejorative adjectives like “Apartheid”, “Racist”, “Colonialist”, “Genocidal” have been normalized when referring to the State of Israel. The pernicious foundations for this odious attitude started with the inauguration of the ANC’s accession to power. Twenty-five years ago, Dr Neo Mnumzana, representing South Africa at the United Nations, said;
“Jews in South Africa come in many different political colours. There are those who belong to the Zionist movement and represent the same reality which is concretised in the state of Israel, and we disapprove of those members of the Jewish community who have these Zionist affiliations.”
Since then, the rhetoric has increased in tone and frequency. According to Professor Milton Shain, a leading scholar on anti-Semitism:
“What was once considered unacceptable is now acceptable.”
Jewish schools have been criticized and targeted for closure because they are deemed to promote Zionist values. These threats against Jewish schools and institutions came close to realization when ISIS members Brandon-Lee Thulsie and his twin brother Tony-Lee, planned to blow them up.
Some examples of similar threats made by leaders of PAGAD (People against Gangsterism and Drugs) during a so-called “peace march” in November 2023 were as follows:
- “The Zionists in this country mustn’t think they can walk freely in this country”
- “When we are going to unleash the Hezbollah, the party of Allah, they must run and they must hide under every stone they can find. The Koran is our constitution, jihad is our means”
Pagad leader Abdul Salaam Ebrahim then roused the crowd, saying it was time to “decentralise” the war and “get involved”.“We must go to their businesses. We must make sure that we target them the way they have killed our people. It doesn’t make sense for someone to leave this country and do his service in Zionist occupied Palestine and then we allow him to come back. We must make sure that we do the same things they are doing to us. If we are serious, then we must fight however we find them. We must boycott them, we must go to their homes, to their schools. We need to be serious if we say we’ll give our lives, our blood, and our souls. We must ask ourselves, are we ready to do it?”
MENACING MOUTHS
This descent into what was unacceptable language has also come from ANC Ministers and leaders, such as Fatima Hajaig who in her role as Deputy Foreign Minister referred to “Jewish money power” – a typical anti-Semitic trope. Tony Ehrenreich, leader of COSATU (a member of the tri-partite alliance) referred to Jews as owning most of the property in Cape Town, while also threatening Jewish owned businesses and encouraging Jews with Zionist leanings to leave South Africa.
In 2022 Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng uttered a very benign remark in which he said that South Africa was “depriving itself” of an opportunity to be a “game changer” in the Israel/Palestine conflict due to its pro-Palestinian stance. An outcry of anger aimed at the Chief Justice ensued. He was severely criticized and censured and ordered to apologize for misconduct for “criticizing and proposing changes to the official policy of the South African government towards Israel.” The vehemence of the reaction made it impossible for him to return to his post and led to his early retirement.
In contrast there was a well-worn path of other Justices, such as Judge Seraj Desai, unapologetically aligning themselves with a pro-Palestinian viewpoint. When the SAZF (South African Zionist Federation) tried to hold Judge Desai to account, he not only refused to apologise, but doubled down on his pro-Palestinian sentiments.
MATCHING McCarthyism
The scaremongering of the governing ANC party aimed at undermining the very existence of Israel is reminiscent of the spreading of fear during the notorious McCarthy era in the US, a woeful period in American history of witch-hunting resulting in political repression. The targets then were Communists, the targets of the ANC are Zionists, but make no mistake the targets now are Jews! Still fresh in our minds is the recent stripping of David Teeger of the captaincy of the Under 19 Cricket team for expressing his admiration at a private event for Israeli soldiers in the recent Gaza war. The CSA (Cricket South Africa) statement – “Cricket South Africa has decided that David should be relieved of his captaincy for the (World cup) tournament” – went on to justify its stance that:
“This is in the best interests of all the players…..and David himself”.
The weak-kneed collapse by CSA to threats of the BDS movement indicate a lack of backbone to stand up to antisemitic intimidation.
In the view of law professor Ziyad Motala, anyone with Zionist sympathies should be disqualified from occupying any position representing the state. According to him:
“Teeger’s speech was not mere offensive speech. Instead, it was speech in support of Zionism, a political ideology of racism.”
He used the same rationale to disqualify David Unterhalter from being considered for appointment to the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court of Appeal. This was a subtler manifestation of antisemitism when the JSC (Judicial Service Commission) repeatedly rejected Unterhalter as a candidate for one of four vacant positions, despite him being eminently qualified and endorsed by Lawson Naidoo, Executive Secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC).
He was questioned – more akin to ‘interrogation’ – for his past membership of the SAJBOD (South African Jewish Board of Deputies), which was founded in 1912 to represent and protecting Jewish interests and with a particular focus today in combatting the growing menace of anti-Semitism. In contrast to the SAZF (South African Zionist Federation), the SAJBOD representing Jews of all persuasions, does not have any specific Zionist role. The EFF party leader Julius Malema, who sits on the selection board of the JSC has opposed Unterhalter’s selection based on his vehemently anti-Israel bias and has threatened to support and supply Hamas with weapons. He has also threatened to not only shut down Jewish businesses but all businesses that deal or import any goods from Israel.
Leading government’s charge against the Jewish state is its foreign minister, Naledi Pandor. She has gone beyond threats to cut off all business and diplomatic links with Israel or companies dealing with Israel. She has now championed herself as of the leaders of the international campaign against Israel by taking Israel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, falsely accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians but really aiming at delegitimizing Israel and preventing it from defending itself from terrorist attacks. She has cut all diplomatic links with Israel and taken the vitriol against Israel to another level. All visits to Israel and any contacts with Israeli leaders by any civil servant have effectively been banned. The ANC imposed on its members and on the Civil Service a hermitically sealed echo-chamber of anti-Israel views that all must conform with.
Recently in February, 2024 Member of Parliament, Ahmed Manzoor Shaik Emam of the National Freedom Party said in Parliament:
“But let me give a loud and clear message to the Democratic Alliance: If you think that the people of this country are going to allow you to take this beautiful country, the city of Cape Town of ours, and hand it over to the Zionists, the city of Cape Town will be a bloodbath, I can assure you [of] that.”
Continuing:
“We will not allow you to take this and sell it, sell your principles, your ethics, and values, like you have just pawned the land in the Western Cape to the United States and others. We will not allow you to make this a Jewish state!”
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
The ANC government has been completely silent about all these hateful and hurtful threats. It is in denial that antisemitism exists. The Minster of Justice asserts that antisemitism “doesn’t exist at all.”
It is time to state unequivocally that these incendiary and inflammatory attacks on Zionism, go beyond the pale and are hurtful to Jews and make the continuation of Jewish life in South Africa untenable. It is also time to state unequivocally that Zionism and Judaism are as intricately linked as Islam is with the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Jews believe that “out of Zion come the law of the Torah”. Zion is mentioned on 2,000-year-old coins found recently in archaeological digs in the City of David. Jews pray in the “Amidah” – the silent prayer, facing Jerusalem for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of “the Davidic” throne in Jerusalem. Zion is the hill in Jerusalem where the grave of King David is believed to be located, making it and Jerusalem synonymous.
It is time to call the witch-hunt in South Africa against Zionism what it is really is – a witch-hunt against Jews and the continuity of a sustainable Jewish presence in South Africa.
About the writer:
A former Chairperson of the Cape Branch of the South African Zionist Federation, Ben Levitas includes among his alma maters, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Pretoria and the London School of Economics.
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