Spiderlike, South Africa weaves alliances with rogue states and terror sponsors – where will it lead?
By Rolene Marks
There is something quite fascinating about spider webs. The intricate way that all the strands weave together and at the centre lurks a patient spider, luring its prey in before devouring it.
Watching South Africa’s machinations against Israel since 7 October, employing aggressive lawfare tactics against the Jewish state, one cannot help thinking about the tangled web of alliances the southern African country has built with rogue states and terror sponsors. The question that we should be asking is, does this campaign end with Israel – or is there a bigger strategy in place?
In the wake of the 7 October atrocities, the South African government made it evident whose side they were taking. Failing to condemn Hamas for the wholesale slaughter, mass rape, torture and mutilation of over 1200 and the kidnapping of over 250, there was the inference that Israel had brought it on themselves and solidarity expressed for the Palestinians.
Shortly after that, then Minister of International Relations, Naledi Pandor, departed for meetings in Tehran and spoke to then Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh on the phone. No readout of the conversation was forthcoming. In December of 2023, South Africa filed their case at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide.
Questions arose about who was funding this. Likely candidates seemed to be Iran and Qatar. The two countries are believed to have funded the ANC in return for the case being funded by South African taxpayers from the coffers of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
In November, President Trump won a second term. The newly formed Trump administration has made their America first, pro-Israel stance firmly clear and if the President’s first term is any indication, Trump will not tolerate assaults on the USA – or its allies, however they manifest.
South Africa’s bizarre choice of Ebrahim Rasool as ambassador to the USA may speak of a disturbing new strategy. To disrupt from within. Rasool, who has served previously in this role, should be a cause of major concern for the Trump administration. Rasool has publicly aligned himself with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both designated as terrorist organisations by many Western nations. He is also an enthusiastic proponent of taking Israel to both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC).
South Africa’s Hamas-simping ANC created controversy last year when they proposed to rename an iconic Johannesburg road, Sandton Drive, after Palestinian terrorist, Leila Khaled. The US consulate is situated on this landmark road. Leila Khaled gained notoriety for the 1969 hijacking of TWA flight 840 and the 1970 attempt to hijack El Al flight 219. She was arrested but later released during a hostage exchange. In 2019, Rasool spoke at a fundraising dinner also attended by senior Hamas official Basem Naim and in 2024, Rasool met with Ibrahim El-Zayat, a figure associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and facilitated meetings for him with business leaders and politicians to seek funding for the “Palestinian cause.”
It is not just in South Africa where the strange bedfellows of anti-Western dissent gather.
In sunny California, playground of the rich and woke, Thandile Sunduza serves as the South African Consul to California as well as Vice-President of the Los Angeles Consular Corps, the second largest consular corps in the world, thus an internationally prominent and politicized platform. The ambitious Thandile was recently photographed with members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). It is reasonable to assume that JVP is neither Jewish – or a voice for peace! JVP is a shill for the destruction of the Jewish state.
In a recent report on JVP published by NGO, Stand With Us, it was found that JVP:
* Partners with Samidoun, an organization sanctioned by the U.S. and Canada for funding terrorism. JVP has also campaigned in support of PFLP terrorists, hosted PFLP members at events, and partnered with groups that openly support PFLP and other terrorist organizations.
* Promotes antisemitic rhetoric and campaigns, including conspiracy theories like “Deadly Exchange”, which falsely blames Israel and Jewish groups for police brutality in the U.S.
* Supports extremism, amplifying voices and organizations that incite violence and reject Israel’s right to exist.
* Has questionable funding sources and foreign connections with Lebanon and Iran, meriting further investigation.
* Weaponizes Jewish identity, attempting to shield extremists from criticism for hateful rhetoric and actions. Too often, this prevents the vast majority of the Jewish community from being taken seriously when speaking out about antisemitism.
JVP recently honoured Sunduza for South Africa’s legal campaign against Israel at the ICJ.
Sunduza has invited known terrorism supporters into her Consulate, allying herself, and effectively endorsing some of the most antisemitic voices in USA. Is the South African Consulate in Los Angeles a de-facto agency for Hamas? Should the US State Department allow Sunduza and Rasool to remain on US territory?
At the end of January, South Africa ramped up its lawfare against Israel, joining The Hague Group.
The Hague Group, comprised of nine countries alleging the Jewish state is illegally occupying Palestinian territory, committing war crimes in Gaza and not abiding by the rulings made by the international courts.
While keeping its plans vague, the collective promised to take “measures to end Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine and remove obstacles to the realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine.”
The group is formed of representatives from a laundry list of failed states that includes South Africa, Belize, Cuba, Namibia, Bolivia, Honduras, Senegal, Colombia and Malaysia.
On 2 February, President Trump announced that he would cut off all future funding for South Africa until it investigated how “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, without providing any evidence. “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” The President also alluded to human rights violations committed in South Africa, a country accusing the US of “aiding and abetting Israeli genocide against the Palestinians.”
Looking from the outside, many may think the spider is setting the web to devour Israel but that is just the start. Is the spider using its proxies in the form of non-state actors and its allies to trap the bigger prey?
Countries like Iran, Russia and China seek to establish an alternative world order that disrupts from within. South Africa considers itself the moral conscience of the world for its role in taking Israel to the ICJ and has previously warned this endeavor will not stop with the Jewish state but will include Israel’s allies as well. South Africa is seeking to form a new anti-West world order. The question is:
Will the US and other countries recognize that the spider has begun to weave its web in their territories?
Spiders are patient but they are also fallible. It is time to dismantle the webs.
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