Category: BDS

PRETORIA’S HOUSE OF CARDS AT THE HAGUE

While creating a fine photo-op, 21 national  flags do not a verdict make.

By Shaun Schutte

On 22 September 2026, the International Court of Justice confirmed that Colombia had withdrawn its intervention from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government has also restored diplomatic relations with Israel and reversed other decisions taken by the previous administration, while  Nicaragua had already withdrawn its separate application to intervene in April 2025.

Colombia’s decision matters because it exposes something the ANC government has been allowed to blur since it filed the case on 29 December 2023. Pretoria repeatedly creates the impression that every country appearing in the proceedings has joined South Africa, supports its accusation and accepts that Israel committed genocide.

That is not what the court record shows.

South Africa is the applicant making the accusation. Israel is the respondent denying it. The other countries are interveners, and intervention does not automatically mean joining South Africa’s side or accepting that its allegation has been proven.

Under Article 63 of the ICJ Statute, any state party to the Genocide Convention may intervene when the interpretation of that Convention is in dispute. A country may explain how it believes genocide, genocidal intent and the duties of states should be interpreted without presenting new factual evidence, endorsing South Africa’s allegations or declaring Israel guilty.

Palestine and Belize also invoked Article 62, claiming a specific legal interest that may be affected by the eventual judgment. That gives them a different basis for requesting participation, but it still does not transform every government appearing in the courtroom into an independent witness for Pretoria.

“We continue to work closely with Türkiye……Türkiye has made its support for the case very clear,” said Ronald Lamola, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation to reporters on the ICJ genocide case against Israel at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Kruger National Park, South Africa, May 24, 2026.  (Photo: AA)   
 

THE COURTROOM ANALOGY

Imagine a prosecutor bringing twenty-one people into a courtroom and then walking outside to tell the public that all twenty-one are witnesses supporting the prosecution.

When their statements are examined, the picture changes. Some openly support the accusation. Others are merely explaining how they believe the law should be interpreted. One specifically avoids deciding the disputed facts, while four warn that the prosecution may be attempting to lower the standard required to prove the crime.

The prosecutor nevertheless points towards everyone inside the courtroom and presents them as one united group standing behind the accusation.

That is the impression Pretoria has created, and it is misleading.

THE COUNTRIES LEANING TOWARDS PRETORIA

Libya intervened on 10 May 2024 and left very little room for doubt about its position. It alleges that Israel’s acts and omissions are genocidal and were committed with the required specific intention to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.

Libya is not simply discussing the meaning of the Convention. It has aligned itself directly with South Africa’s accusation.

Mexico followed on 24 May 2024, concentrating on the obstruction of humanitarian assistance, destruction of civilian and cultural infrastructure and the cumulative consequences of Israel’s military campaign.

Its submission advances a broader method of inferring genocidal intent and materially assists Pretoria, but it does not provide an independent judicial finding that Israel entered Gaza intending to destroy the Palestinian people.

Palestine intervened on 31 May 2024 under both Articles 62 and 63, claiming a direct legal interest in the eventual outcome. Its position openly supports the allegation that Palestinians in Gaza are being subjected to genocide.

Palestine is directly affected by the war and has an obvious reason to place its case before the Court, but it cannot simultaneously be presented as an independent and neutral confirmation of South Africa’s accusation.

Spain entered on 28 June 2024 and argued that killing, serious bodily or mental harm, forced displacement and deprivation must be assessed collectively when determining whether genocidal acts and intent exist.

That interpretation could make Pretoria’s allegation easier to establish, but Spain is still presenting a legal argument about how evidence should be assessed. It is not arriving with proof that the final legal threshold has already been crossed.

Türkiye intervened on 7 August 2024 and strongly supports South Africa’s position, arguing that Israel’s conduct must be considered as a complete pattern rather than as isolated events.

That stance is consistent with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s openly hostile political posture towards Israel, and it is reasonable to ask how much of Türkiye’s involvement arises from independently assessed evidence and how much reflects an established geopolitical position.

Consistently hostile towards Israel and frequently seen at political rallies adorning a Palestinian keffiyeh over his shoulders, one questions whether Türkiye president Erdoğan’s position in supporting South Africa’s case against Israel is motivated by law or politics? (Photo: Reuters)

Chile filed its declaration on 12 September 2024, arguing that genocidal intent may be inferred from a consistent pattern of conduct and the surrounding circumstances.

This assists Pretoria’s legal argument, but it still does not establish the central fact that must eventually be proven:

that Israel’s purpose was to destroy Palestinians as a people rather than to destroy Hamas as a military organisation.

The Maldives intervened on 1 October 2024 and focused on civilian deaths, displacement, deprivation of essential supplies and living conditions allegedly calculated to cause physical destruction.

These are grave matters that must be examined, but the consequences of war and the specific intention to destroy a protected group remain separate legal questions.

Bolivia followed on 8 October 2024 and has openly supported South Africa’s case. Its government has also been politically aligned with the anti-Israel bloc for years.

Political alignment does not automatically invalidate its submission, but neither can that alignment be displayed as independent proof that genocide occurred.

Ireland entered the proceedings on 6 January 2025, concentrating on humanitarian assistance, collective punishment, civilian protection and the interpretation of the prohibited acts listed in the Convention.

Its arguments may assist South Africa, but Ireland did not arrive carrying a judgment that genocide had already been proven. It supplied legal interpretation, not a verdict.

Cuba intervened four days later, on 10 January 2025, and openly supports both the Palestinian position and Pretoria’s use of the Genocide Convention against Israel.

Cuba’s longstanding alignment against Israel and the United States is part of the political context and cannot simply be ignored. That alignment may explain its position, but it is not evidence of genocidal intent.

Belize filed on 30 January 2025 under both Articles 62 and 63, claiming a legal interest in the proceedings while supporting a broader interpretation of the Convention.

Its participation adds another flag to the coalition Pretoria displays, but an application to intervene remains neither evidence nor a finding of guilt.

Brazil intervened on 17 September 2025 and argues that the cumulative effects of Israel’s military operations must be examined when determining whether the Convention has been violated.

That is a legitimate legal argument for the Court to consider, but the Court must still distinguish between political condemnation, possible violations of humanitarian law and the very specific crime of genocide.

Comoros followed on 29 October 2025, supporting South Africa’s position and a broader interpretation of destructive conditions, deprivation and genocidal intent.

Comoros is also a member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. That does not disqualify its submission, but it forms part of the political background when its flag is presented as supposedly independent confirmation of Pretoria’s claim.

Belgium entered on 23 December 2025 and supports judicial scrutiny of Israel’s conduct while advancing interpretations that could broaden the circumstances from which prohibited acts and genocidal intent may be inferred.

Once again, the submission may assist Pretoria, but it does not establish the one element South Africa must ultimately prove:

Israel’s specific intention to destroy Palestinians as a protected group.

Iceland intervened on 11 March 2026 and leans towards a broader interpretation involving displacement, deprivation, civilian harm and the circumstances from which intent may be inferred.

It is an argument about how the Court should examine the evidence. It is not independent factual confirmation that the evidence already proves genocide.

Namibia entered on 12 March 2026 and clearly supports South Africa, arguing that genocidal intent must be assessed through the complete context and combined pattern of conduct.

Namibia’s own history of genocide gives its voice moral significance, but historical experience cannot replace the evidentiary requirement to prove Israel’s intention in this particular war.

THE COUNTRY THAT HAS NOT PRETENDED TO DECIDE THE FACTS

The Netherlands intervened on 11 March 2026 and made an important distinction. Its government explicitly stated that its declaration does not determine the disputed facts or conditions on the ground. It confines itself to explaining how parts of the Genocide Convention should be interpreted.

The Netherlands argues that the available evidence should be considered comprehensively and that forced displacement or deprivation of humanitarian assistance may, in certain circumstances, contribute to proving prohibited acts or genocidal intent.

Parts of that interpretation may assist South Africa, but the Netherlands has not declared Israel guilty and cannot honestly be displayed as a country that confirmed Pretoria’s accusation.

THE COUNTRIES RESISTING PRETORIA’S APPROACH

Paraguay intervened on 3 March 2026 to defend the original, narrow meaning of genocide. It insists that the crime requires proof of a specific intention to destroy a protected group and warns against weakening that requirement.

Paraguay is formally involved in the same proceedings, but no honest account could count it as part of South Africa’s coalition.

The United States entered on 12 March 2026 and explicitly rejected the genocide accusation as false. Its submission argues that widespread civilian casualties, even on a horrific scale, do not automatically establish genocidal intent, particularly during urban warfare against an armed organisation operating from within civilian areas.

Its intervention warns that lowering the threshold would transform genocide from a precisely defined crime into a political label applied to any destructive war.

Hungary intervened on the same day and also insists upon a high evidentiary threshold. Its position warns against taking possible violations of international humanitarian law and simply re-labelling them as genocide without proving the additional and very specific intention required by the Convention.

Hungary is inside the same courtroom, but it is there to challenge Pretoria’s legal approach — not to support it.

Fiji’s intervention also demands strong proof of both the prohibited acts and the intention to destroy the protected group. It raises concerns about relying uncritically upon politically contested reports from international organisations and advocacy groups.

Fiji is involved in the case, but it is not there to endorse South Africa.

WHAT THE NUMBERS ACTUALLY SHOW

There are now 21 states formally involved as interveners. Sixteen broadly support, lean towards or legally assist parts of Pretoria’s approach. The Netherlands restricts itself to legal interpretation without deciding the facts. Paraguay, the United States, Hungary and Fiji defend a stricter interpretation that challenges South Africa’s case.

That is not an international verdict. It is not 21 independent bodies of evidence, 21 witnesses confirming genocidal intent or 21 governments arriving at the same legal conclusion.

South Africa is entitled to bring its case, and every state party is entitled to offer its interpretation of the Genocide Convention. What Pretoria is not entitled to do is convert legal participation into political endorsement and then present the number of flags surrounding the proceedings as proof that the accusation has already been established.

The International Court of Justice has not found Israel guilty of genocide. Its provisional orders were issued to preserve possible rights and prevent irreparable harm while the case continues. They were not a final judgment that genocide had occurred, yet that distinction has repeatedly disappeared from the political narrative.

THE WAR DID NOT BEGIN INSIDE A COURTROOM

On 7 October 2023, Hamas-led forces crossed into Israel and deliberately attacked civilian communities. Approximately 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were abducted and taken into Gaza.

Those civilians were not accidentally caught between two armies. Civilians were among the intended targets.

Hamas then returned to one of the most densely populated territories on earth with the hostages. It continued operating through an extensive military system built within and beneath civilian areas, with fighters, weapons, command facilities and tunnel entrances positioned in or near locations protected by their civilian function.

This did not remove Israel’s duty to distinguish between combatants and civilians. Civilian casualties are never irrelevant, and every credible allegation of unlawful conduct must be investigated.

It did, however, create a battlefield in which reaching Hamas would inevitably place civilians at risk, while every civilian casualty could be turned into political and strategic pressure against Israel. Hamas had constructed a war in which it could benefit from either outcome:

survive beneath the civilian population, or gain international support from the destruction caused when Israel came underground to find it.

The suffering in Gaza is real and devastating. Acknowledging that suffering does not require us to erase the organisation that started the war, murdered civilians, retained hostages and embedded its military machinery within the civilian environment upon which the war would be fought.

War crimes, disproportionate force and genocide are not interchangeable terms. Genocide requires proof of a specific intention to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group because it is that group.

Civilian deaths alone do not prove that intention. Destruction alone does not prove it. Political speeches, operational failures and even serious violations of the laws of war cannot simply be stacked together until they automatically become genocide.

The required intention must still be proven.

THE FLAGS CAN NO LONGER HIDE THE DIFFERENCES

Colombia has changed course and withdrawn. Nicaragua stepped back before it. Their decisions do not determine the case, but they prove that intervention is neither permanent nor beyond reconsideration.

The remaining governments must now clarify what their flags represent. If they possess independently verified evidence that Israel intended to destroy the Palestinian people, they must produce that evidence and stand openly behind the accusation.

If they intervened only to explain how the Genocide Convention should be interpreted, they must publicly reject any attempt by Pretoria to use their participation as proof that they endorsed South Africa’s factual claims.

If their involvement was driven primarily by ideological alignment, diplomatic pressure or bloc politics rather than independently assessed evidence, they should follow Colombia and withdraw.

The ANC government may possess the executive authority to conduct South Africa’s foreign policy, but it does not own the conscience of every South African whose name it carried into that courtroom. Neither does it own the flags of other governments merely because they entered the proceedings to speak about the law.

Pretoria cannot have it both ways.

It cannot count every intervention as support when addressing its political audience and then retreat behind legal technicalities when asked what those countries actually proved.

The choice facing every government involved is now clear:

● Stand behind the genocide accusation and produce the evidence.

● Clarify publicly that your intervention concerns legal interpretation and does not endorse Pretoria’s factual claims.

● If your flag is there only because political alignment placed it there, withdraw it.

Twenty-one flags may create an impressive photograph. They do not create evidence, they do not establish intent, and they do not amount to a verdict.



About the writer:

Shaun Schutte is a South African security professional, independent writer and founder of Black Knight Bodyguards. He served for eight years in the South African Defence Force before spending seventeen years in international close protection and security operations across conflict environments including Iraq, Afghanistan, Angola and Somalia. His writing draws on this operational background to examine asymmetric warfare, terrorism, protective security and the political narratives surrounding modern conflict. He writes from the perspective of a practitioner rather than an academic, combining publicly available evidence with lessons gained through direct experience in unstable and hostile environments.





SOURCES

International Court of Justice—declarations of intervention:
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192/intervention

ICJ confirmation of Colombia’s withdrawal and current list of intervening states:
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/icj-press-release-22sep26

International Court of Justice—complete case record:
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192







While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

A FAILURE OF A FILM

The truth is collateral damage in NAZA

By Rolene Marks

In the last two weeks, two Israeli-made shows have dominated the headlines. One is the massive hit, Fauda, which in its latest season that is centered on the horrors of 7 October, is laying bare the atrocities and trauma in as much excruciating pain that art imitating life allows. The show’s creators take viewers as close to that day that the boundaries of television permit. Fauda has managed to succeed where Israel’s public diplomacy has failed – and the results are evident as it soars to the top of the Netflix rankings, especially in the Arab world. At the time of writing this, Fauda was ranked 4 overall in global rankings. It already debuted at number 1 in Lebanon and is in the top 10 of Arab countries.

Fauda – Scenes from the series

The other is the movie, NAZA. The title is an Israeli military acronym derived from “nezek agavi”, Hebrew for collateral damage – but most people will reach for another analogy. You know the one.

The premise of the movie that is ironically backed by the notoriously anti-Israel publication, The Guardian, relies on anonymous testimony from 24 IDF soldiers who claim to have served in the elite intelligence unit, 8200, and claims that using AI (artificial intelligence) a planned strike that would result in 500 civilian deaths was approved.

Spain Again. Hardly surprising for a country historically antisemitic for its people to demonstrate support of the “NAZA” documentary film by Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor as seen at the 74th San Sebastian International Film Festival in the northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian on September 25, 2026. (Photo: Ander Gillenea/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s war with Hamas is the most scrutinized conflict in the world, and if there ever was an incident where 500 civilians were killed, it would definitely have dominated the front pages of every media outlet. The only strike where the number 500 was mentioned was on the 17 October 2023 when Hamas alleged that an Israeli airstrike had struck the Al-Ahli hospital, killing that many civilians. Faster than Hamas were miraculously able to count alleged civilian deaths, was the speed in which this made headlines around the world. When the facts were investigated, it was discovered that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that had fallen short, hit the parking lot causing a small crater and sadly killed a handful of civilians. The lie had gotten out, put its trousers on and was gallivanting around the world – and the result was mass protests and attacks on several synagogues.

A similar analogy can be drawn with NAZA. The documentary has been screened and the headlines about its content have dominated media publications around the world, despite it not being thoroughly vetted for factual accuracy and everything that one hopes a subject matter of this importance should be subjected to.

The IDF have reacted very strongly to what has been shared. They have refuted the veracity of claims that the army use AI to determine targets and that a strike was carried out that killed 500. They also demanded a widespread, robust campaign that must include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Public Diplomacy Directorate.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they called NAZA, “pure propaganda, created by radicals who serve the narrative of murderous terrorists. It is yet another element of the anti-Israel campaign that began after October 7, driven by the Red-Green coalition of the radical left and Islamist movements.” The Ministry took aim at the lack of verification, saying in their statement, “the “film” claims that the IDF approved a planned strike despite anticipating 500 civilian deaths. This is false. It never happened. Never. The IDF would never approve such an operational plan. But there is a reason – and a method – behind the dissemination of such an outrageous allegation. The method employed throughout this campaign, including in this “film,” is familiar: introduce a shocking falsehood, amplify it around the world, and allow it to shape headlines and public opinion. By the time the facts emerge and corrections follow, the damage to Israel’s image has already been done. Again and again, false accusations against Israel receive immediate global attention, while their subsequent collapse receives only a fraction of the exposure and impact. This film follows precisely the same pattern.

The same applies to another false accusation – that the IDF allows AI systems to make operational decisions independently of human judgment. This is simply false and fundamentally misrepresents how the IDF operates. Operational decisions are made within a defined human chain of command and are subject to human judgment and oversight. The IDF has developed extensive procedures intended to prevent and mitigate harm to non-combatants.”

Methods of warning to mitigate civilian casualties are conspicuously ignored. Methods include roof knocking, dropping pamphlets announcing impending strikes, SMS’s, phone-calls in Arabic and other methods that have been lauded by other army officials.

Rebutting NAZA. Freed hostage Omer Shem Tov p(right) pushed back against the directors  (left) of “NAZA” in Gaza, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed explaining that Hamas – not the Israeli military – used captives as actual “collateral damage” (The Hebrew meaning of NAZA).

Former hostage, Omer Shem Tov, in an op-ed written for the Wall Street Journal said:

 “One of my captors told me his mother had received a phone call warning her to leave her home because an Israeli strike might put her in danger. The call came from the Israel Defense Forces. Hamas knew where I was and left me to die. Israel didn’t know my location, but it knew where my captor’s mother was and called to make sure she wasn’t killed accidentally. There I was—kidnapped, starved and tortured by her son—while my army was trying to keep his mother alive.”

His op-ed continued:

 “Israel desperately wanted me home. But not at any price. There were Palestinian civilians between Israel and me. So Israel dropped leaflets, sent messages, made phone calls and ordered evacuations. It tried to minimize NAZA, or collateral damage.

I also saw what death meant to the other side. One day, my captors celebrated after Hamas fighters killed Israeli soldiers. The next day, Israel bombed the area where I was being held. The explosions came about 10 seconds apart. I was terrified. The terrorist beside me was delighted. To him, every explosion was proof of success: Look what we made Israel do. Look how much we hurt them. I understood something then. For Hamas, destruction itself could be victory. As long as there was death on either side, Hamas could win.”

Shem Tov is not the only former hostage who has lambasted the filmmakers. Eliyah Cohen took to his Instagram page and wrote, “”I understand that there is the law and we live in a free and democratic country and everyone deserves to say what they want, but we as a nation, not as a state, as a nation, cannot allow this to pass by unanswered,” he said. “We need to take to the streets, hang posters of them, and spread pictures of them through every medium so that when they walk on the street, they’re allowed to walk here, we won’t do anything that’s against the law, but when they walk on the street they will feel ashamed.”

Cohen also mentioned the soldiers who fought to free him from captivity: “In this country they (Avraham and Szor) cannot go and humiliate my brethren and my friends and the people who fought every day to bring me home and who fight every day so our families could live here, and they’ll go and spread lies… and what will we do? We’ll let it go?”

Dubious Duo. Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham are not only the Israeli directors of the controversial documentary NAZA but directors of intensifying the  global hate towards their own country. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Liri Albag, who was one of the female observer soldiers taken captive from Nahal Oz base, published a scathing response, “Hey… Do you know that although you only served for two weeks in the IDF and were discharged because of your political views, if you had fallen into Hamas captivity, they would have considered you a soldier anyway? And they would have tortured you for being a soldier. Don’t ask me how I know.

“Do you understand that if you had been in the Gaza border area on October 7, none of the terrorists would have stopped and said, ‘Hey, leave him alone—he’s okay; don’t hurt him’? Or perhaps you would simply have joined the ‘struggle to liberate Palestine’ and harmed your own people? “At first, I wanted to write ‘blood of my blood,’ but then I remembered that we most certainly do not share the same blood—and fortunately so! Ugh, disgusting. You sold out your own people for people who yearn for your death, and that is unforgivable. How do people like this have citizenship here?! They should be launched out of our country on a missile.”

A soldier who claimed to have participated in the movie, spoke to Walla, one of Israelis biggest news publications — and made serious allegations about how his testimony and casualty figures were obtained. He said his testimony was manipulated, and sources were financially incentivized to provide higher civilian-casualty figures. “I participated in this film, unfortunately, and they manipulated me so much,” he says. He continues, ““Numbers of 400 and 500 collateral damage don’t exist.” He claims participants were financially incentivized. Most significantly, he alleges that interviewees were financially incentivized to give increasingly higher figures, “They offer you ten shekels for every additional person you say: say 400, get 4,000; say 500, get 5,000.” He claims this caused participants to exaggerate: “People start exaggerating. They see the money and cash in front of their eyes.”

Why?  Why did these two Israelis who claim to call Israel home, produce such a damaging movie, aided by a publication that is notorious for its anti-Israel bias? Plaudits from peers? In this instance, a 25 minute ovation at the Venice Film Festival, ironically the same festival who gave the same accolades to Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s favoured celluloid propagandist. They claim it is concern for Palestinian casualty recognition.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a different opinion. The Ministry says, “The truth is the opposite of what the “film” seeks to portray. And yes, in Israel’s democracy, where freedom of expression is cherished, there are also radical Israelis who lie, distort facts seeking political goals and personal gains. The “film’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, is no neutral investigative journalist – he is a longtime radical anti-Israeli activist committed to demonizing and delegitimizing Israel.

As part of this method, the film creators deliberately omit Hamas from their narrative, erasing the terrorist organization whose actions are at the heart of this war. Hamas deliberately targets Israeli civilians, as it did on October 7, while embedding itself within Gaza’s civilian population and using civilians as human shields. Israel is fighting this bloodthirsty jihadist terrorist organization while the IDF operates in accordance with international law and takes extensive measures to minimize civilian harm.”

The filmmakers lack that ability of a truly perspicacious reporter and examine what their motives are. When questioned by a reporter on Israel’s Channel 12, Abraham simply could not verify any of the accusations and when pushed about omitting the atrocities of 7 October and Hamas’s role in the war, he testily responded with “go make your own movie.”

Israeli officials are debating what punitive measures they can take against the pair. The film has successfully united Israelis in anger. I would wager the hopes of the filmmakers to have their movie screened here would be met with a national temperature colder than the Arctic tundra.

Perhaps they need to binge watch season 5 of Fauda.




About the writer:

Rolene Marks is a journalist and commentator on Middle East affairs, co-founder of Lay of the Land and the National Spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

The time has come to re-evaluate why more aid is given to some refugees than others in need.

By Neville Berman

Today there are between 30-45 million Kurds in the world. They are mainly Sunni Muslims. They are the largest ethnic group in the world without a sovereign country. The Kurds live across a vast area of mountainous regions spanning Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. They are indigenous to the regions that they have inhabited for thousands of years. Depending where they live, they speak Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian. They are pro Western in political ideology, and helped to defeat ISIS. The Kurds have never fully united under one leadership. In 2017, the Kurds in Iraq organized a referendum. 92% voted for Kurdish Statehood. All attempts to form a Kurdish State have been brutally suppressed and never recognized by the United Nations. The Kurds have been attacked in every country that they live in, and have been robbed of their rights to the profits from oil produced in places that they once occupied in Iraq and Iran.

Robbed of their Rights. Never galvanizing the massive support like the Palestinians, a small number of the Kurdish diaspora gather on 2026/01/28 in Leicester Square to protest and call on the UK government to take action against the Syrian military’s offensive in Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria. (Photo: Krisztian Elek/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ordered the killing and imprisonment of thousands of Kurds in Turkey and in Syria. All his actions have been ignored by the western world, the liberal press and human rights organizations.

The Kurds are undoubtedly one of the forgotten people of the world. The irony is that the Kurds have all the attributes of a State. They have land, their own language and culture, and are completely viable if they had control of the oil that is under their land.

Unfortunately, the world has never supported statehood for the Kurds. 

Free Pass. While President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration has conducted extensive military campaigns and a severe political crackdown against armed Kurdish separatist groups and affiliated politicians,  there are few international protests in support of the Kurds against the Turkish president.

Another group of people who have never been recognized as a State, are the Baloch people. There are over 12 million Baloch people in the world. The Baloch people are ethnic Iranian people, who are indigenous to the Balochi regions spanning Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. The areas that the Baloch people occupy in Iran and Pakistan are contiguous. They speak Baluchi and the language of the country in which they live.  Over eight million Balochi people live in Pakistan and between 2-4 million live in south eastern Iran. The Baloch also have a long history in Oman dating back centuries. Today over 1 million Baloch people live in Oman. Over 380,000 Baloch live in the United Arab Emirates. Despite having land, a unique language and culture, they have never been offered a State of their own. They have been brutally suppressed by the Iranian regime. Pictures have emerged of Baloch leaders hanging from cranes in public squares in areas that the Baloch occupy. The hangings are a warning to the Baloch people not to protest against the regime.

Baloch leader Executed. While mostly escaping global attention, protests break out in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi against the hanging in Iran of a militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi who was “… fighting for the rights of the Baloch in Iran.”

The world totally ignores the Baloch people.   

The Rohingya people lived in Myanmar for generations. They are a Muslim minority group living in a Buddhist-majority country.  In 1982, the Rohingya were denied recognition in Myanmar as an ethnic group, and faced persecution. Decades of discrimination boiled over in August 2017. Armed attacks and serious human rights violations forced hundreds of thousands to flee. Today more than 1 million Rohingya live in poverty in Bangladesh. The majority are living in the Cox Bazaar region that is now the home to the world’s largest refugee camp. The United Nations has described the Rohingya as “the most persecuted minority in the world.”  Obviously, the Jews are the most persecuted minority in the history of mankind, but the UN is never going to acknowledge this fact. The Rohingya refugees receive help from the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations. The help is minimal and the Rohingya are barely surviving. They face ethnic cleansing, and are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Their lives are total misery.  Not one wealthy Muslim country has offered to help their fellow Muslims.

The Rohingya are another of the world’s forgotten people. 

Rohingya on the Run. Where was the outrage for these dead refugee Rohingya adults and children killed after a boat capsized off Teknaf, Bangladesh on August 31, 2017 while trying to escape ongoing violence in Myanmars Rakhine state? (Photo: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

In 1962 Rwanda gained independence from Belgian colonial administration. In 1973 Juvenal Habyarimana became the second Hutu President of Rwanda. From October 1, 1990 a major Rwandan Civil war erupted between the government’s Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). On April 6, 1994 President Habyarimana was assassinated when his plane was shot down by the Tutsis. The assassination triggered the Tutsi genocide and in 1994 between 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis in Rwanda were killed by the Hutu majority in savage fighting. Approximately 75% of the Tutsi population were slaughtered in the course of 100 days. While France did not hold colonial rule over Rwanda, it maintained significant political involvement in the country during the 1990’s and armed and trained the Hutu army.  At the start of the genocide, France deployed troops to Rwanda to evacuate foreign nationals, and then left the Tutsis to their fate.  In 2021, President Macron of France acknowledged French responsibility for being “blind” to what was happening during the Rwanda genocide, and asked Rwanda to forgive France for its past behaviour. The Tutsis are without doubt one of the forgotten peoples of the world.

Blind to Barbarism. Visiting Rwanda in 2021, French President Macron acknowledged responsibility for being “blind” to what occurred during the Rwanda genocide when Tutsis were slaughtered in their thousands and the world and its institutions stood by. (Photo:Ludovic Marin / AFP)

In 2003, a catastrophic war in Sudan started when two rebel groups known as the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) launched a war against the government of Sudan. The Sudanese government responded by forming an armed Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, to crush the rebellion. The Janjaweed, together with the Sudanese Army, massacred between 200,000 to 300,000 non-Arab ethnic Sudanese. They created a massive humanitarian catastrophe by implementing a scorched earth policy that forced millions to flee. Tens of thousands of women were raped. An estimated 2.7 million people lost their homes between 2003 to 2005.

In 2023 the war in Sudan reignited. The war continues to this day.  The UN now estimates that over 14 million Sudanese have been displaced. Approximately 10 million have been displaced internally and 4 million have fled to neighbouring Chad, South Sudan, Egypt and other neighbouring countries. Widespread famine, lack of adequate health facilities, and basic human requirements, are now threatening the lives of ten million displaced people in Sudan. In 2025, the US Secretary of State, determined that members of the Sudanese government forces known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are committing genocide in Darfur.  No end to the war is in sight, with aerial and drone attacks becoming more common. The world has ignored the catastrophe in Sudan.

Slaughter in Sudan. This photo taken during a rally against genocide in the Sudan outside the embassy of Sudan in Washington, DC, captures the boredom and disinterest of much of the world.(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Basically, the world does not care about civil wars in Africa that have displaced and killed millions of people.

According to the United Nations (UN), there are 117 million people in the world in 2026, who have been uprooted by conflict, violence, or persecution. Instead of concentrating on the problems caused by the 117 million displaced people who are facing ethnic cleansing, widespread famine, and massive displacement all over the world, the world continues to invest more effort and financial aid to the Palestinian refugees than on any other refugees in the world. The one thing that is remarkable about this help, is how little it has improved the lives of the Palestinian people. What it has done is to make Palestinian leaders into either multi-millionaires or billionaires.

Selective Concern. Despite the over 117 million displaced people facing ethnic cleansing, widespread famine, and massive displacement all over the world,the ongoing situation with the Palestinians continues to command global attention as evidenced in the media and public protests. Seen here is a Palestine Action Group’s March in Sydney. (Photo:  Flavio Brancaleone/AAP)

The Palestinians have mastered the art of depicting themselves as victims, and the western liberal world, which is mainly in massive debt, continues to pour money into the Palestinian coffers. It is time for the world to re-evaluate its support for the Palestinians. Jordan is the name of a river. It was never a state.  In 1922, the British hived off 76% of the mandated area of Palestine and renamed it Transjordan. They then offered Transjordan to the Hashemites who had been kicked out of Arabia by Abdul Aziz, the head of the House of Saud. Transjordan was renamed as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Hashemites are not from Jordan. The Palestinians are the majority of the Kingdom of Jordan’s population. By both location and by being the majority of the population, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is in reality a Palestinian State. What the world should be looking at is why Palestinian refugee camps still exist in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and especially in Gaza. The whole question of why the world has ignored the plight of over a hundred million displaced people, and why the Palestinian refugees have not received citizenship in any of the 22 Arab states in the Middle East needs to re-evaluated.



About the writer:

Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award.  In 1978 he immigrated to the USA  to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel.  He is married with two children and one granddaughter.








While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN

In a world of celebrities clamouring for fauxmanitarian shots for social media to shore up credentials, who speaks for Israeli children?

By Rolene Marks

On the train to Tel Aviv a few days ago, I watched a mother with her little girl travelling to their destination. The little girl, decked out in her princess dress and sneakers, armed with a backpack full of colouring books which she was busy with, happily chatted to her smiling mother and waved at the passing trains. I felt tears prickle behind my eyes. I looked at the innocent, pure child and the tears that threatened to spill out my eyes were indicative of an all too familiar emotion.

Why do people want to harm our children?

Why is the world silent when our children are harmed?

Ariel Bibas should have celebrated his 7th birthday this year. His mother, Shiri, and father, Yarden would have made a beautiful party for him on Kibbutz Nir Oz. All the children would have come to celebrate. In our minds eye, we can see Ariel who loved Batman and his dog Tonto, celebrating with the joy he had lived with in his all-too short life. We can hear the infectious giggle of his baby brother, Kfir, with his broad grin and matching red hair. It was a dream we hoped for.

Not to Be. The ‘gingy’ Bibas kids, Ariel and Kfir, kidnapped from their home on kibbutz Nir Oz were brutally murdered in Gaza with their mother, Shiri.

Ariel never got to celebrate his birthday. Instead, Ariel, along with his baby brother Kfir and their parents were kidnapped from their home on 7 October. Shiri the lioness and her flame haired cubs, were separated from Yarden. They were murdered in captivity, their remains returned in a grotesque spectacle of horror. Kfir and Ariel and many others whose lives and innocence were stolen that day.

There are the children like Avigail Idan, who was just three years old when she was taken hostage that day, or Emily Hand whose devastated father told CNN death would have almost been preferable to her kidnapping, knowing the monsters who took her.

Wrenched from her Bed. Avigail Idan was abducted from kibbutz Kfar Aza at the age of 3 during the 2023 October 7 attacks and released after 50 days in captivity. Her parents were both murdered during the Kfar Aza massacre.

There are the children who in the last three years have lost friends, parents, siblings, grandparents and loved ones to war. I think of Avigail’s siblings, Michael (9) and Amalia (6), who hid in a cupboard in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, their mother’s body on the floor in front of them, their father’s outside. They hid for hours, thinking their little sister had also been murdered.

Barbarism in the Bedroom. While celebrities focus on the suffering in Gaza, they ignore the massacres in Israel as evident in this blood-soaked child’s bed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the aftermath of the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7. (Photo: PMs Office)

I think of the countless children traumatized by missiles, loss, sirens and everything else that they have endured over the last 3 years.  I think of the children forced to flee their homes and all that was familiar in both the north and south of Israel, becoming internal refugees in their own country.

Kidnapping Kids. Seized on kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th while at a sleepover at a friend’s house, Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand (9) is seen here reunited with her father Thomas after being held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 50 days.

These are the children the world has forgotten.

If you are a celebrity/former royal worth your “humanitarian” credentials, one of the first things that you do, is ensure that you land your high-paying self on site of the nearest global tragedy – preferably a war zone. Bonus points if the war zone involves an ability to blame Israel. Going to the border with Gaza means hitting pay dirt – and you can wear your best Prada bucket hat and Jolie-esque like humanitarian outfit.

Of course, no visit to a war zone is complete without a camera crew to document your concern from every possible angle – especially the most flattering.

Earlier this year, former (are they still royal? Who can keep up?!) Royals, Harry and Meghan graced Jordan with their presence, courtesy of the World Health Organization. Suitably attired in this season’s Chanel pumps, Meghan managed to contort her face into looking concerned and emotional for the cameras. Whipping back the covers of a hospital bed, cameras captured a child who had lost a leg as a result of the war. Conveniently excluded from the messaging is that the particular NGO employed staff who posted pro-Hamas content. It felt so exploitive of the child’s private pain. Naturally they failed to pop over the border to visit with Israeli survivors of 7 October, former child hostages or the children of soldiers, given that Harry is patron of the Invictus Games which supports wounded veterans. Israel is a member of Invictus.

Contrived Concern. Harry and Meghan took a 2-day humanitarian trip to Jordan (seen here) in February 2026 at the invitation of the World Health Organization to focus on displaced persons and medical relief but failed or neglected to include Israel in their itinerary to engage with victims of a massacre. (Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Images/Getty Images)    

I must be very clear – there is absolutely nothing wrong – and it is very important and admirable to care about the children of Gaza. We all should. The human cost of war is devastating and as an Israeli, I don’t want to see my neighbours suffer. The hideous reality of war is that children, the most vulnerable, are killed and every single death is a tragedy where words just simply fail. I do have to wonder where these newly minted child advocates were when Hamas was forcing children to become soldiers, a clear violation of international convention on child soldiers, or when they were mercilessly used as labour to dig tunnels. I wonder where these paragons of virtue signaling were when children are taught to hate and kill Jews in their schools and at summer camps. It is not something that they can deny – it is more than evident in the public domain through textbooks, media and proud photos of young Gazans in camouflage being taught to leopard crawl through obstacles and fire weapons.

It is not alternative education – it is child abuse.

Where were the voices of the glitterati when Hamas leaders openly boasted about their human shield strategy, wanting as high as possible casualty rates among children? Silent.

We all should be concerned for the children of Gaza – they deserve a better future.

What is missing from global concern is Israeli children. There are also children in Israel who have suffered tremendously. Who speaks for them? There has been a very conspicuous silence and lack of concern for their trauma, safety and loss.

In the media-friendly performative activism of the many, an important voice has been drowned out. Erased. Ignored. Deliberately.

There has been no visit from Angelina Jolie, the paragon of humanitarian work with refugees, to the communities that were evacuated from both the south and the north of Israel following Hezbollah’s firing on communities close to the border with Lebanon. Israel had over 250,000 internal refugees, many of them children who had lost loved ones, their homes and their foundations – but Ange ‘forgot’ to visit them. She still hasn’t met with our profoundly traumatized children.

From upon their platforms at awards shows and on social media networks, the talented and sanctimonious have preached (while wearing their pins celebrating the lynching of two IDF officers) and signaled their virtue about the horrors of war – but said nothing when our children were sitting in captivity. I don’t recall anyone expressing their horror about the murder of Ariel and Kfir Bibas – and the grotesque parading of their coffins in front of a baying mob in Gaza that included children. Suffer the innocents. We will never forget how the morally deficient tore down the posters of kidnapped Israeli children in cities all over the world.

Many took to their social media in what I can only describe is a carefully orchestrated campaign (by who, we have yet to find out) to share the exact same graphic about the impending death of 14,000 Gazan children. In May 2025, Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, claimed on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show:

“There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them. I want to save as many as these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours.”

Needless to say, it never happened.

Neither did the apologies from the entertainment industry who all suspiciously shared the same graphic at the same time. Strange, that. There was no apology for the parading of Palestinian children with congenital disease who were readily exploited to push the mass famine narrative – or expressed outrage for the condition that Israeli children starved, beaten and harmed in unspeakable fashions in captivity suffered. No apology for Eitan Yahalomi who was one of the many child captives whose experience was made public, “First, he was beaten, then they put him alone in a cell with bars and he was left alone for 16 days in the custody of armed men from Hamas,” said his mother, Bat-Sheva.

Reunited with Mom. Seen here being hugged by his mother after his release, 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi had been kidnapped from Nir Oz with his father Ohad (later murdered in captivity) and held hostage in Gaza for 52 days where he was forced to watch videos of the 7 October atrocities. (Photo: Israeli Defense Forces/Reuters)

The signalers of virtue and naturally women’s rights were missing in action when the reports of sexual violence committed against children were made public in all of their devastating details. Me too – unless you are an Israeli child.

Nobody seemed too concerned when missiles rained down from Hezbollah on to the communities of the north of Israel. There was no mention of the 12 Druze children, murdered by a Hezbollah rocket as it slammed into them on a sunny Saturday afternoon as they played football (soccer). We thought one little boy was hiding or missing – but he took the impact of the missile and there was nothing left of him.

What about these angels?

From the pulpits of pomposity, the noble and sanctimonious have said nothing about the ballistic missiles and drones that rained terror over Israel, courtesy of the Islamic regime who unlike Israel, did not target military installations. They targeted civilian centres.

Israel’s children have endured the unthinkable these last three years. No toddler should have the words for “sirens”, “hostage” or “fallen” in their lexicon. Acknowledging their suffering does not negate the suffering of Gazan children. Instead, it should motivate all of us to fight for a better world for all of them – but when it comes to speaking up for our children, who else if not we?

Do not let them be forgotten.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

“ONLY DULL PEOPLE ARE BRILLIANT AT BREAKFAST”

Deconstructing Pretoria’s Latest International Court of Justice (ICJ) Submission.

By  Yoram Blumstein

In Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play, An Ideal Husband, Mrs. Cheveley famously quipped that “only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.” This aphorism embodies classic Wildean satire of people who display early-morning, performative illocutionary acts of sagacity while lacking real substance. DIRCO’s (the Department of International Relations and Cooperation) August 2026 statement on South Africa’s submission to the ICJ bears a remarkable resemblance to Wildean wit. The accusations against Israel, as contained in the press release, are bereft of legal strategy and are not even based on the evidential foundations of probabilistic reasoning. This is nothing more than headline-setting and grandstanding to deflect attention from crucial domestic issues. DIRCO’s statement should not be construed as illogical or irrational, for there is “method in their madness”, as William Shakespeare might have added. The fact that the South African Presidency cleared DIRCO’s press statement shows intent.

This article argues that DIRCO’s “breakfast performance” must be seen in the context of political theatre and an obnoxious performance designed for domestic political expediency rather than grasping the prevailing facts on the ground and international law. DIRCO’s dossier on Israel’s so-called “non-compliance” with previous ICJ provisional measures will not be made public unless the plaintiff publishes it in full or a full bench of the ICJ commences deliberations on the submission. Notwithstanding this, DIRCO’s statement offers a vignette of the dossier, as it is laced with mendacity and utter “bullshit”. As such, the task of your writer is to deconstruct DIRCO’s ICJ statement, identify the thespians, question its underlying assumptions, and offer only the truth as opposed to its performative posture.

DECONSTRUCTION DIRCO “BREAKFAST” LIES

On August 25, 2026, DIRCO submitted a “dossier of evidence” (pursuant to Article 11 of the ICJ’s Internal Judicial Practice Rules) to an ICJ panel of judges alleging Israel’s “non-compliance with the court’s previous binding provisional measures. In essence, DIRCO cites casualties, displacement, deteriorating humanitarian conditions, mass starvation, the killing of journalists, a “so-called ceasefire”, etc. – purportedly perpetrated by the Israeli government.

To disprove the above lies, DIRCO’s statement:

  •  Absolved Hamas of blame.
  •  Failed to mention that Gaza is still an active war zone, as Hamas (while degraded, battered and bruised) is quietly rebuilding its military capabilities with the help of Iran, facilitated through a recent meeting between the Iranian regime and the terrorist organization’s expatriate political leadership in Tehran (Iran). The fact that Hamas recently elected Khalil al-Hayya as its political leader is an affirmation that the terrorist organisation is not prepared to disarm and will direct operations in Gaza from abroad, as some Hamas brigades are still operational and will not disarm – a key requirement as part of a later ceasefire framework.
New Face, Same Mindset.  Hamas elected hardliner Khalil al-Hayya as its new leader, replacing Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 massacre.  (Photo: Turkish Foreign Ministry handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
  • Ignored the fact that humanitarian aid has increased since the October 2025 ceasefire. However, logistical bottlenecks remain in meeting the daily (600) aid truck flows through various crossings as envisioned in the ceasefire. This is not a deliberate strategy by the Israeli government to withhold aid from Gazans but rather a corollary of logistical challenges caused by an active combat zone and the difficulty of aid distribution in the enclave’s collapsed infrastructure.
  • Neglected to reference that Hamas is weaponising aid by intercepting humanitarian convoys to secure funds for its operational longevity, the same way as the late Somali warlord, Mohammed Farrah Aidid, during Somalia’s 1991 civil war.
  • Slighted international and regional peace brokers by referring to “a so-called ceasefire.” The agreement signed in October 2025 is legitimate and involved Israel, the United States, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and interlocutors representing Hamas. The Palestinian Authority (PA), while not included in the ceasefire negotiations, subsequently endorsed it, as did major Arab and Western capitals. In fact, Hamas has repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire as it refuses to cease hostilities, disarm and hand over the Strip to a body acceptable to Israel. A disarmed Gaza and the expulsion of Hamas’ remaining military leaders are a sine qua non for the Jewish state, as a repeat of October 7th is unfathomable.
  • Submitted false claims that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) adopted a blanket approach to kill local journalists. On the contrary, some local journalists were discovered to be Hamas members.
  • Overlooked the fact that child fatalities, while alarming and tragic, did not consider that Hamas recruited child soldiers, often through coercion. Under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), if a child carries a weapon and engages in hostilities, they are treated as combatants. However, the opposing force must exercise a “duty of care” and “maximum restraint” when dealing with child soldiers.  The recruitment of child soldiers by Hamas is well-documented and constitutes a war crime, especially under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. This effectively means that Hamas individuals and leaders in Gaza can be charged with war crimes under international law for recruiting and using child soldiers.
  • Conveniently forgot to state that the IDF is the most moral army in the world, that warns residents through pamphlets, radio broadcasts, and “knock-on-the-roof” methods to shelter in place before it hits terrorist targets. In this case, international law permits the temporary transfer of residents to safe zones.
Kids into Killers.Three months before perpetrating the October 7 massacre, Hamas showing kids how to kill Jews at an exhibition in Gaza City on June 30, 2023. (Photo: Mohammed ABED / AFP)

CONTEXT MATTERS

Given the lack of evidence :

– What motivated DIRCO to lodge an ICJ submission formally?

– What are the contextual factors?

– Who are the actors behind it?

DIRCO’s statement on the ICJ submission was designed to deflect attention from crucial domestic issues. DIRCO seems to have a quixotic obsession with the Jewish state and the Palestinian cause – issues that are not in South Africa’s national interests. It is peripheral, and the ICJ case has diverted millions of dollars from domestic priority programs. A country’s foreign policy extends its domestic policy. Yet, DIRCO cannot claim that the ICJ case and its ongoing diatribe against the Jewish state serve the domestic base.  DIRCO’s trite rebuttal is that South Africa’s foreign policy is based on democracy, human rights and self-determination for the oppressed. This is hypocrisy personified, as DIRCO’s leadership engages in selective moral outrage while remaining silent on the genocidal actions of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, Africa and beyond.  The ICJ case serves the interests of the African National Congress (ANC), pro-Palestine activists, and senior government officials.  It is palpable that the Islamists, in many guises, have an undue influence over South Africa’s Israel policy.

Although DIRCO claims to represent all domestic constituents, it is controlled by the corrupt, sclerotic and ossified ANC. Former DIRCO Minister Naledi Pandor, a veteran ANC politician, was the key architect of the decision to take Israel to the ICJ, with help from her former special advisor, now DIRCO Director-General, Zane Dangor. The timing of the latest ICJ submission also warrants scrutiny. It was submitted a few weeks before UNGA 81 (United Nations General Assembly) begins its annual anti-Israel gabfest in New York. South African leaders and diplomats will use the multilateral platform to promote and seek support for an unsubstantiated genocide case. This matters because momentum at the ICJ favours Israel, as some countries have distanced themselves from South Africa’s case. Columbia is a case in point. Although foreign policy rarely features in local government elections, the ANC is using the case for political expediency (as the party did in 2024 just before the national elections) to garner support, as opinion polls predict heavy losses for the party in key metropolitan areas due to service delivery failures, corruption, high unemployment, exorbitant crime, etc. These are “bread and butter” issues, and the French philosopher and diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville aptly remarked that real democracy takes place at the local level, in town halls. Yet, the ANC, which has ruled and pillaged South Africa for at least three decades, has failed to address crucial domestic issues and instead developed an idẻe fixe with Israel and the Palestinian issue.

Prime Movers. ANC veteran,Naledi Pandorwas the key architect of the decision to take Israel to the ICJ, supported by Zane Dangor.

QUO VADIS, DIRCO?

Oscar Wilde – known for his epicurean taste, hedonistic lifestyle, and nocturnal habits – would have satirically advised DIRCO to become nocturnal creatures, as logical reasoning (ratiocination), deep reflection and strategic thinking (in the mould of realist thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Hans Morgenthau, and Henry Kissinger happen after midnight, away from the morning’s geopolitical grandstanding and diplomatic theater. A nocturnal DIRCO would quietly build meaningful economic alliances with key regional and international players and sign trade deals to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). On paper, this is DIRCO’s foreign policy mandate, aligned with the South African government’s overarching National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, which aims to reduce inequality, alleviate poverty, and drastically create jobs. As of September 2026, South Africa’s unemployment rate stands at 33.6% (Statistics South Africa), one of the highest in the world, just behind Eswatini (34.4%) and Sudan (61.3%, primarily due to the civil war).  Morocco has just overtaken South Africa as Africa’s most industrialised economy due to a pragmatic, business-friendly foreign policy that aligns with the Moroccan government’s domestic priorities. Despite South Africa’s economic malaise, DIRCO has become sublimely adept at shining at the breakfast table with meaningless, rushed media statements maligning the State of Israel, and has yet to master the art of nocturnal thinking.

Diversion and Deflection. While its ANC government focuses on attacking Israel, it fails to address young South Africans struggling to survive as employment remains a major economic and social concern.



About the writer:
Editor’s Note: Yoram Blumstein is a nom de plume the author uses to protect their identity because of previous security threats.





While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

FAKING THE FIGURES

The first casualty in South Africa’s presented ‘casualty figures’ are the figures themselves.

By Kenneth Moeng Kgwadi

The recent submission by South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of dossiers to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging Israel’s non-compliance with the Court’s provisional measures orders, creates the misleading impression that the Court’s proceedings have been concluded and that final verdicts have already been issued but are being disregarded by one of the parties.

This approach appears to deflect attention from South Africa’s failure to submit its response as soon as possible, as it claimed that the case was of an urgent nature. South Africa has requested an additional 18 months to submit its written response, or Memorial, which raises questions about the strength of its case and the evidence upon which its allegations are based. The prolonged process strengthens the belief that South Africa’s case relies heavily on contested or unsubstantiated claims rather than sufficiently verified evidence.

Of particular concern is the manner in which statistical figures contained in the official statement are presented as facts without adequately identifying or explaining their sources. The provenance, methodology and reliability of such data are essential, particularly when the figures are being used to support allegations in proceedings before an international court.

The statement claims that, as of August 2026, at least 73,407 Palestinians had been killed and 174,335 injured in Gaza since 7 October 2023. Such figures should be subjected to rigorous independent verification, particularly given the highly contested nature of casualty reporting during an active conflict. Where possible, casualty figures should be corroborated by credible and independent institutions, including relevant United Nations agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other recognised humanitarian organisations with established methodologies for documenting casualties.

Presenting disputed figures without clearly identifying their source, methodology and verification status risks blurring the distinction between reported figures and independently verified facts. In proceedings as consequential as those before the ICJ, claims of this magnitude should be supported by transparent, verifiable and independently corroborated evidence rather than presented without sufficient qualification.

Hamas weaponized casualty figures as propaganda, and much of the Western media repeated them uncritically, allowing a terrorist organization to shape global opinion while avoiding scrutiny or accountability.

Journalists, international bodies and governments frequently use figures provided by the Hamas authorities without exercising the slightest suspicion thus failing to assure the authenticity of the numbers emanating from the same terrorist organisation that is eager to see Israel’s demise. It is hardly surprising that the figures presented are subjective and reflect a lack of impartiality notably advancing a particular political agenda.

In the casualty figures they provide to the world, they do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, as is often made clear in Israel, where soldiers are distinguished from civilians. They have to tell the world how many Hamas operatives have been killed and how many civilians have been caught up in the crossfire.

The ICJ indeed issued provisional measures orders, not a ruling on the merits of the matter. It has also not been found by the ICJ that genocide is taking place in Gaza. It is therefore important to analyse the wording of South Africa’s DIRCO statement, which presents the false impression that rulings have already been made and are being undermined by Israel.

What the government has not told its citizens is that it has asked for more time to file its reply in the genocide case against Israel before the ICJ. Israel will then be given until November 2029 to submit its rejoinder. This is not a simple case that will be resolved overnight. It will still have to be argued before the Chamber at The Hague before a verdict can be delivered after 2029.

The judgment to be made by the UN’s ICJ will not bear significant political implications, but rather offer a legal case study for international law students and practitioners, because the political situation in the Middle East is changing rapidly. Hamas, an Iranian-backed terror group, has announced its dissolution and supported the idea of allowing UN-backed technocrats to take over the running of the formal government. By 2029, there will be changes with respect to the military and political relations between the Palestinian Territories and the State of Israel.

South Africa should acknowledge that its case against Israel is not as tight and strong as it had hoped; hence, it is not easy to facilitate a mere reply to the case it initiated. It does not make financial sense that so much money has been spent on a case that has had no implications for the situation between Hamas and Israel. It was evident that diplomatic efforts by the US, Qatar, and Egypt played a much greater role than this costly legal case.



Feature picture: Compounding Confusion.  Obfuscating the foundations of the genocide claim, South Africa readies to launch its legal assault on Israel at the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. (Photo: Patrick Post/AP)




About the writer:

Kenneth Moeng Kgwadi is a political scientist, journalist, and research fellow at the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI).









While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

PRETORIA’S GENOCIDE CASE DID NOT BEGIN AT THE ICJ

In line with the company the ANC keeps, Pretoria reached its political verdict first – the legal campaign followed.

By Shaun Schutte

Recently, I penned a piece on what lay beneath Gaza examining the military world Hamas constructed underneath its own civilian population. After all, the tunnels, hostages and submerged battlefield cannot be removed from any honest examination of what happened above them.

On 25 August 2026, South Africa submitted another “substantial dossier” to the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel had failed to comply with the Court’s provisional measures. DIRCO (Department of International Relations and Cooperation) announced it publicly on 28 August, but the dossier itself has not been released.

South Africans are therefore expected to accept the government’s description without being allowed to examine the evidence, test its conclusions or establish whether it properly accounts for Hamas’s fighters, hostages and underground military infrastructure.

That took me back to the beginning—not the beginning of Israel’s military response, but the beginning of Pretoria’s political campaign.

The timeline is uncomfortable, but it is documented.

THE RELATIONSHIP EXISTED LONG BEFORE 7 OCTOBER

The ANC’s relationship with Hamas did not begin when civilians started dying in Gaza. In 2015, the ANC formalised party-to-party relations with Hamas during a visit led by

Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal. In December 2018, the ANC Parliamentary Caucus signed a further memorandum with Hamas’s Change and Reform Bloc.

A ‘Stab’ at Israel. “Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal at an ANC-supported rally in Cape Town on 21 October 2015. During the rally, Mashal said the wave of stabbing attacks against Israelis would continue. (Photo: AFP/Rodger Bosch)”

That agreement was not limited to ceremonial solidarity with the Palestinian people. It committed the parties to cooperation on matters of “common interest”,  including international pressure against Israel, support for the BDS campaign and using Parliament’s oversight powers to implement the ANC’s decision to downgrade diplomatic relations with Israel.

Pretoria therefore did not suddenly encounter Hamas while responding to a humanitarian crisis in 2023. The governing party already had a formal political relationship with the organisation and had committed itself to coordinated pressure against the Israeli state.

TEN DAYS AFTER THE MASSACRE

On 7 October 2023, Hamas crossed into Israel, killed approximately 1,200 people and seized about 250 hostages before retreating into Gaza.

Ten days later, South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor spoke directly with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

DIRCO said Haniyeh requested the call and that humanitarian assistance was discussed, but the documented fact remains that South Africa’s foreign minister was communicating with the leader of Iranian-backed Hamas only days after the massacre.

Basking in the Spotlight. Seen here accusing Israel of genocide at The Hague is, South Africa’s foreign Minister Naledi Pandor who only 10 days after Hamas crossed into Israel murdering approximately 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages spoke directly with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Five days later, on 22 October, Pandor travelled to Tehran. She met Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, delivered a message from Cyril Ramaphosa and held discussions with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Then, on 27 October, the United States Treasury sanctioned Khaled Qaddoumi. Treasury identified him as a longstanding Hamas member living in Tehran, Hamas’s representative in Iran and the liaison responsible for maintaining relations between Hamas and the Iranian government.

By early December, Qaddoumi was in Johannesburg alongside other senior Hamas figures attending the Fifth Global Convention of Solidarity with Palestine.

This was not merely another Palestinian delegate arriving to discuss civilian suffering. It was the man formally identified as the connection between Hamas and Tehran, appearing in South Africa weeks after Pandor had spoken to Haniyeh and met the Iranian leadership.

Hamas, Tehran and Pretoria were not strangers discovering one another during a crisis. The relationships were already in place.

Timeline to Terror. Following up on 10 days after the Hamas massacre in Israel 7 October 2023 when Naledi Pandor spoke with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, she then 5 days later, on the 22 October, traveled to Tehran where she met the president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

THE VERDICT CAME BEFORE THE CASE

By 6 November 2023, the South African government was already publicly referring to Israel’s conduct as genocide.

No case had been filed. Israel had not presented its defense, no ICJ judge had examined South Africa’s evidence, and much of the military infrastructure Hamas built beneath Gaza had not yet been exposed.

Pretoria reached its political verdict first. The legal campaign followed.

Widening the Web. Following the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, Khaled Qaddoumi, Hamas’ representative in Iran and the liaison responsible for maintaining relations between Hamas and the Iranian government, speaks during a press conference in Cape Town on November 29, 2023. (Photo:  Roger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)

Senior Hamas representatives arrived in Johannesburg during the first week of December. On 29 December, South Africa instituted its genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, and Iran immediately recognised the strategic value of what Pretoria had done. Tehran gave the case its full support and publicly praised South Africa’s action as courageous and honourable.

None of this proves that Iran wrote South Africa’s application or instructed Ramaphosa to file it. It does, however, destroy the carefully maintained impression that Pretoria approached this war as a politically detached guardian of international law.

While Iran finances, arms and trains Hamas, the ANC had already formalised relations with Hamas, committed itself to political pressure against Israel and maintained diplomatic

relations with Tehran.

After 7 October, Pandor spoke to Haniyeh, carried Ramaphosa’s message to Iran and met its leadership. Weeks later, Hamas’s own liaison with Tehran appeared in Johannesburg before South Africa approached the ICJ.

No verified evidence establishes that Iran purchased South Africa’s foreign policy.

The documented relationship shows that it did not need to.

The ANC had already aligned itself with Hamas, committed itself to political pressure against Israel and maintained direct contact with Tehran. By the time Pretoria approached

the ICJ, the direction of travel had been decided years earlier.

THE ALIGNMENT DID NOT END AT THE HAGUE

South Africa has condemned the killing of Israeli civilians on 7 October, and that fact must be acknowledged. However, as Pretoria’s international campaign intensified, the massacre, the hostages and Hamas’s continuing military presence were progressively pushed into the background.

The government repeatedly presented Israel’s conduct as genocide before the ICJ made any such finding. At the same time, South Africa maintained its relationship with Iran, condemned Israeli attacks on Iranian targets and rejected international pressure to distance itself from Tehran.

In March 2026, DIRCO director-general Zane Dangor rejected American pressure to cut ties with Iran. During the same diplomatic confrontation, Pretoria rejected demands that it abandon the genocide case against Israel.

Mr Zane Dangor – Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation

These positions do not exist in separate political worlds. Iran considers Israel an enemy and benefits directly when Israel is prosecuted internationally for genocide. South Africa has supplied that international platform.

THE MONEY REMAINS UNPROVEN

There have been allegations that Iran or Qatar financed the ANC or assisted with the ICJ case. Those suspicions intensified after the financially distressed ANC announced on 22 December 2023 that it had settled its long-running dispute with Ezulweni Investments, only seven days before South Africa approached the Court.

The timing raised legitimate questions, particularly because the settlement was not transparent. However, no verified evidence establishes that Iran or Qatar paid the ANC, funded the case or purchased South Africa’s foreign policy.

I will not convert suspicion into fact merely because it fits the chronology.

The financial allegation remains unproved. The formal relationship with Hamas, the contact with Haniyeh, the visit to Tehran, Qaddoumi’s appearance in Johannesburg and Iran’s support for the ICJ campaign are documented.

That evidence is enough to expose the political alignment behind Pretoria’s supposedly neutral legal crusade.

THE DOSSIER CARRIES SOUTH AFRICA’S NAME

Israel remains subject to international law, and credible allegations concerning particular attacks or military decisions must be investigated. What cannot be accepted is Pretoria presenting genocidal intention as established fact when the ICJ has made no such finding and South Africa’s newest dossier remains hidden from public examination.

The narrative advanced by Pretoria is remarkably convenient for Iran and Hamas. Push 7 October into the background, reduce the hostages to a footnote, remove Hamas from beneath Gaza, deny Israel the practical ability to destroy the military threat and then prosecute the destruction remaining above ground as genocide.

That is not a politically neutral account of the war. It is the strategic outcome Iran requires from a friendly government with access to the world’s highest court.

The dossier may carry South Africa’s name, but the political alignment behind it was established years before the first document reached The Hague.

Hamas built the battlefield beneath Gaza.

The ANC built the relationship that carried its narrative into the ICJ.

NOT IN THE NAME OF EVERY SOUTH AFRICAN

The ANC government has used South Africa’s name, institutions and international standing to carry this case into the ICJ.

It did not file the case in the name of the ANC. It filed it in the name of the Republic of South Africa, creating the impression that Ramaphosa’s political position represents the settled voice of our entire country.

It does not represent mine, and I am not alone.

South Africans were never consulted on whether the ANC’s longstanding relationship with Hamas and alignment with Iran should be converted into our national foreign policy. We were not allowed to examine the evidence, question the political relationships behind it or see the latest dossier submitted in our name.

Ramaphosa may control the executive authority that instituted the case, but he does not own the conscience of every South African citizen. He cannot take the ANC’s political alignment, stamp the name of our country across it and then tell the world that he speaks for all of us. Our name was used.

Our international standing was committed.

Our citizens were never given a voice.

If Pretoria believes its political alignment had no influence on this campaign, then let the Presidency, DIRCO and the ANC place their explanation beneath the documented evidence.

Until then, Ramaphosa must understand one thing clearly:

HE MAY SPEAK FOR THE ANC GOVERNMENT.

HE DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME.


About the writer:


Shaun Schutte is a South African security professional, independent writer and founder of Black Knight Bodyguards. He served for eight years in the South African Defence Force before spending seventeen years in international close protection and security operations across conflict environments including Iraq, Afghanistan, Angola and Somalia. His writing draws on this operational background to examine asymmetric warfare, terrorism, protective security and the political narratives surrounding modern conflict. He writes from the perspective of a practitioner rather than an academic, combining publicly available evidence with lessons gained through direct experience in unstable and hostile environments.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

THEY CAME, THEY BUILT, THEY LEFT – JEWS AND ZIMBABWE

How plausible is Matabeleland in present day Zimbabwe –formerly Rhodesia – of ever gaining independence?  How plausible is it for Jews to find genuine acceptance in Africa or anywhere else for that matter? Both questions were addressed – if not answered –  by the founding President of the Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) Mqondisi Moyo in a statement dated 22 August 2026 where in his quest for self-determination of the peoples of Mthwakazi,  laments the loss to  Zimbabwe of its Jewish community.
Unique amongst political leaders anywhere in the world today, Moyo’s core question throughout his statement is in the Matabeleland of the future:
 “How do we persuade the Jews to come back?”
See statement below and imagine a European leader asking the same question with any genuine sincerity.

David E. Kaplan
Editor Lay of the Land



ASK WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOUR COUNTRY

Statement by Mqondisi Moyo

President, Mthwakazi Republic Party

Date: 22 August 2026

Jewish history in this land did not begin with Rhodesia.

Daniel Montague Kisch was in Lobengula’s kingdom in the early 1870s and served as an adviser to King Lobengula, two decades before the colonial state existed. Whatever else may be said about the relationship between Jews and this land, it did not arrive with settlers. It preceded them.

I begin there deliberately, because the rest of this history has too often been filed under somebody else’s story.

There were never many

At its height, the entire Jewish population of this country numbered just over seven thousand people. The national population was then approaching four million. Jews therefore accounted for about two people in every thousand. In Bulawayo, where Jewish life was strongest, the community reached a little more than three thousand at its peak.

And yet consider what they did.

The Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation was established in 1894. Jews became merchants, industrialists, doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, teachers and civic leaders. They established industries. They were prominent in furniture, farming and clothing. They employed people. They built businesses and institutions.

Bulawayo’s first mayor was Jewish. Isidore Hirschler took office on November 25, 1897, serving from 1897 to 1898. Several later mayors were Jewish. Bulawayo’s first newspaper  – The Matabele Times and Mining Journal – was owned and edited by a Jew – William Francis Wallenstein.

Rev. Moses Isaac Cohen, the spiritual leader of the Bulawayo Jewish community, helped shape the development of public education and served as a mediator in industrial disputes.

Jewish families built schools, synagogues, welfare organisations, sporting institutions, businesses and factories. They put down roots, raised families and helped build the place they called home.

Their numbers were tiny.

Their contribution was not.

We should be capable of saying that plainly.

We should also be capable of saying what follows.

I will not romanticise Rhodesia in order to honour them. The colonial order inflicted profound injustice on the indigenous peoples of this land. Honouring what Jewish families built here does not require anyone to forget conquest, racial discrimination or dispossession. A mature country must be capable of holding more than one truth at the same time. We can condemn the injustices of the colonial period. We can condemn the failures and abuses that followed it. We can recognise the ordinary human beings, including a very small Jewish minority, who nevertheless built lives, professions and institutions that became part of the fabric of this country.

There is a harder thing still, and I would rather say it myself than have somebody else say it for me.

In the 1930s, while Jews in Europe were searching desperately for countries willing to receive them, the authorities of Southern Rhodesia placed barriers in their way. People fleeing a catastrophe were treated as an immigration problem.

We know now where that catastrophe led.

There is something painful about remembering that from Bulawayo today. Governments here once asked how many Jews they should allow in.

I want the Matabeleland of the future to ask a different question.

How do we persuade them to come back?

Because we lost them.

Current community estimates suggest that only about eighty Jews remain in Zimbabwe. A community that had been here for more than a century, and that had contributed far beyond its size, has almost disappeared. Families whose names were part of the life of this city are now in South Africa, Israel, Britain, the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

I will not pretend every family left for the same reason. Political instability played its part. War played its part. Economic destruction played its part. Insecurity and uncertainty played their parts. At times there was hostility and antisemitic rhetoric as well. History is more complicated than a single cause – but the result is not complicated.

They are almost gone.

And here is what I want to say to my own people first, before I say anything to anybody else.

We understood that departure as a Jewish story. We treated it as a demographic fact about somebody else. That was a failure of comprehension, and it was ours.

The conditions that make a country unliveable for a small and historically vulnerable minority are usually conditions that will not remain confined to that minority. Scapegoating, arbitrary power, expropriation, lawlessness and the collapse of equal citizenship do not stop at the edge of a minority. What reaches the vulnerable first eventually reaches others.

The country did not decline because its Jews left. Their departure was instead evidence of pressures that would later become impossible for the wider society to ignore.

When Jews begin to ask whether their children have a future in a country, that country should treat the question as an early warning about the condition of its institutions.

We did not treat it that way. We should have.

I do not presume to lecture countries richer, older or more powerful than ours. I have no standing to do so and no intention of trying. I can only tell them what this looks like from the other side, because we have already made that mistake and we are still living inside the result.

We once had a small Jewish community here. We watched it become smaller. We treated that as a Jewish demographic fact.

Only later did we understand that the forces making them uncertain about their future were also damaging ours.

So when Jews begin asking whether their children have a future in your country, do not ask only what is happening to the Jews.

Ask what is happening to your country.

This is not only our history.

Baghdad once had a Jewish community numbered in the tens of thousands. So did Cairo and Alexandria. Jewish communities that had lived for centuries in Tripoli, Algiers and Sana’a are now shadows or memories. They left, fled or were expelled under differing combinations of persecution, dispossession, insecurity and political pressure. Their histories differ, and I do not pretend otherwise.

Governments should notice when an ancient minority concludes that it no longer has a future among them.

I speak about this as the leader of a people whose own mass killing by the state remains unresolved, whose dead still await full accounting, and whose history has too often been treated as an inconvenience to the national story. I do not compare our suffering with the Holocaust. I say only that we know something about what happens when a state decides that memory itself is negotiable.

If we are prepared to be honest about the failures of the past, we must be equally ambitious about the future.

We are trying to recover from decades of bad governance, economic decline and institutions that too often failed the people they were supposed to serve. We do not have the luxury of recreating those failures under a different flag.

A new country has one advantage that an old political system often does not. It can ask, from the beginning: What works?

We should look around the world without embarrassment. Where another country has found a better way to protect property, educate children, encourage enterprise, attract investment, develop technology, administer justice or protect minorities, we should study it. Where an institution works, we should learn from it. Mthwakazi should take the best ideas we can find and adapt them intelligently to our own circumstances.

Mthwakazi should not aspire merely to become another state. It should aspire to become an exceptionally well-governed one.

That is why I am prepared to say now, before we hold power, what a free Matabeleland will guarantee.

A movement that possesses no sovereign state can still declare in advance the terms on which it intends to govern. I would rather be held to a promise made in advance than praised for one made after the fact.

Equal citizenship. Irrespective of ethnicity, religion or language, as a founding constitutional principle and not a later amendment.

Equal protection of religious institutions. The synagogue, the church, the mosque and the traditional sacred place, protected on identical terms, without hierarchy among them.

Rejection of scapegoating. A free Matabeleland will not tolerate the scapegoating of any community for the failures of the state. That includes antisemitism in all its forms, whether expressed as religious hatred or ethnic hostility, or repackaged for political convenience — because a country that permits hatred of its smallest community has already begun permitting hatred of everybody else.

Equal application of self-determination. Mthwakazi cannot demand recognition for itself while declaring the national self-determination of any other people uniquely illegitimate. A standard that applies to us must apply to everybody, and a standard that excludes one people alone is not a standard. It is a prejudice with paperwork.

Heritage and reconnection. The future state will establish a facilitated pathway to residence and citizenship for descendants of families with a documented historic connection to Matabeleland who wish to re-establish that connection, including descendants of the historic Jewish communities of Bulawayo and Matabeleland.

Nobody should have to be ethnically Ndebele to belong fully to Matabeleland.

Nobody should have to belong to the majority religion.

Nobody should have to surrender his history, her language, their faith or their identity in exchange for acceptance.

A Jewish child growing up in Bulawayo should be able to say, without qualification: this is my country too.

That is the standard. A future Matabeleland cannot demand justice for the Mthwakazi people while withholding it from anybody else. That would not be liberation. It would merely change who holds the power to exclude.

Today we possess no sovereign state, no national army, no treasury, no diplomatic service and no seat at the United Nations. But precisely because we are asking the world to judge whether we are capable of statehood, we should say in advance what we intend to do with state power if it is ever entrusted to us.

We intend to use it to protect belonging, not ration it.

I will go further, because a principle that costs nothing is not a principle.

A sovereign Matabeleland will establish full and resident diplomatic relations with the State of Israel from the beginning of its independence, and will apply to the Jewish people the same principle of national self-determination it claims for the people of Mthwakazi.

We do not make that commitment because we expect anything in return. We make it because one standard must mean one standard. A people asking the world to recognise its right to self-determination cannot ask the world to suspend that principle for somebody else.

Departure can tell a country something about itself. Return can tell it something too.

If one day Jewish families who left this country decide that their children once again have a future here, I will regard that not as a favour they have done for us, but as evidence that we have succeeded in changing what this country is.

It will tell us that we have begun to get the country right.

Now the part I have been building toward.

To the Jews whose grandparents lived in Bulawayo. To the families who remember the streets, schools, shops, synagogues and homes of this city. To those now living in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, London, New York, Sydney and elsewhere.

Come home.

Come and see the city your families helped build. Come and show your children where their grandparents lived. And if we succeed in creating the free, democratic and lawful Matabeleland for which we struggle, come and consider building here again.

We ask you to return because you belong to this history.

We ask you to return because your departure diminished us.

We ask you to return because the country we intend to build must be one in which a small minority never again has to wonder whether there is a place for it.

Bring your children. Bring your traditions. Reopen institutions. Create new ones. Pray here if you wish. Build here if you wish. Teach here. Work here. Retire here. Raise your families here. Or simply come because this was once your family’s home and you wish to make it home again.

We will protect your synagogue as we protect the church, the mosque and the traditional sacred place.

We will protect your property because the law protects everyone’s property.

We will protect your freedom of worship because religious liberty belongs to everyone.

We will protect your equality because citizens do not require the permission of a majority to belong.

If that requires us to humble ourselves before families who once concluded that their future could no longer be here, then we should humble ourselves. If we must ask them to trust us again, then we should ask.

A country’s greatness is not measured by how powerful its majority becomes.

It is measured by how safe its smallest minority feels.

It is measured by whether people want to stay.

It is measured by whether those who left would ever trust us enough to return.

Come home.

Not to the country as it was.

Come home to the country we have learned that we must become.

A free country. A democratic country. A country governed by law. A country secure enough in its own identity that it has no reason to fear anybody else’s.

That is the Matabeleland worth fighting for.

That is the Matabeleland I hope will one day be worthy of welcoming its Jews home.






About the writer:

*Mqondisi Moyo* is the founding President of the Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP), which was formally launched in Bulawayo on 11 January 2014. Born in 1978 and raised at Gwandavale in Matobo, Moyo has spent more than a decade advocating for the political rights and self-determination of the peoples of Mthwakazi. He contested the Matobo North parliamentary constituency as the MRP candidate in Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections. Under his leadership, the MRP pursues the peaceful, democratic and internationally recognized restoration of Mthwakazi and has campaigned on Gukurahundi accountability, political and economic marginalization, cultural and language rights, migration, and regional and international engagement. Moyo advocates resolving Mthwakazi’s political status through lawful and nonviolent means.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

HAMAS’S WAR ON GAZA’S CHILDREN

Gazans describe the machinery of indoctrination and coercion and why it will endure while Hamas remains armed.

By Andrew Fox

For more than a generation, Hamas’s indoctrination of Gaza’s children has sat at the edge of public discussion. As far back as 2001, human rights organisations were already reporting that Hamas had recruited 15-year-olds, with 12 being the youngest recorded age.

Public argument about Gaza speaks constantly about civilians, often at a distance from the people enduring the war. This video records Gazans interviewed in recent weeks describing their own experiences of Hamas.

Hamas Releases Video to Recruit for its Annual Youth ‘Summer Camp’

They speak of discovering that Hamas had lied to them. Their accounts describe children being recruited with money and false promises, under the shadow of armed coercion. In the system they portray, a child’s life is expendable.

Their testimony suggests a strong practical link between disarmament and deradicalisation. So long as Hamas retains armed control, the teachers and preachers who sustain its recruitment system can operate under the organisation’s protection. Any attempt to reform education will remain vulnerable while that machinery retains coercive force.

Hamas Summer Camp. Palestinian boys take part in a semi-military exercise during a summer camp organized by the Hamas movement in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Disarming Hamas is a civilian necessity, though carrying it out is exceptionally difficult. Gaza’s children remain at risk while an armed organisation can indoctrinate and recruit them in service of its own survival. I have examined the practical obstacles to the Gaza ceasefire in depth, in an extensive three-part series (here).

Ahmad Fouad Alkhatib drew attention on X this week to an appalling video of a child being sent into harm’s way. Gabriel Epstein has collected material identifying apparent child soldiers through wartime images and eulogies released by armed groups or relatives. This phenomenon warrants far closer investigation than they have received from the world’s media.

Training for Tomorrow. Preparing young boys to kill Israeli Jews in 2014 at a Hamas training camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. They were ready on October 7, 2023. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Before the war, 50 per cent of Gaza’s population was under 18. Male fatalities disproportionately outnumber female fatalities in the 10–14 and 15–19 age groups, whereas the figures for children aged 0–4 and 5–9 show no comparable divergence. Evidence suggests that underage recruitment is a viable and increasingly likely explanation.

Please feel free to download and share this video, either here or on X. The full scale of this child abuse remains undiscussed. This makes the unanswered questions more urgent.



About the writer:

A veteran of three grueling tours of Afghanistan, Major Andrew Fox holds a Batchelor’s degree in Law & Politics, a Master’s in Military History & War Studies, Msc in Psychology and is currently studying for a PhD in History.







While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

WORDS AND DEEDS MATTER: THE ALARMING RISE IN STOCHASTIC ANTISEMITISM IN SOUTH AFRICA

Is a Jewish presence in South Africa inextricably tied to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which has led to localized harassment?

By Yoram Blumstein

Recently, while I was having a drink at a restaurant in a South African city, an American woman approached me and complimented my Magen David (Star of David) necklace. I responded that I wear it proudly as it signifies my Jewish and Zionist identity. Since she wore a splendid Magen David gold bracelet, I returned the compliment. However, as the conversation gravitated towards our common Jewish identity, she mentioned that wearing her bracelet has elicited negative comments from some South Africans. This was unnerving and dawned upon me that antisemitism in South Africa has increased exponentially since October 7th. It would be wholly inaccurate to label South Africa as inherently antisemitic. Still, the South African government, some opposition parties, and pro-Palestine organizations have provided an enabling ecosystem for the oldest form of hatred to flourish in the country. Against this background and based on recent evidence, this article examines the rise of stochastic antisemitism, the key drivers and agendas behind it, and the strategies that the South African Jewish community should employ to counter this diabolical trajectory.

WHAT IS STOCHASTIC ANTISEMETISM?

The concept has roots in its parent concept: “stochastic terrorism”. In short, stochastic antisemitism refers to the use of mass media, febrile political rhetoric, and public platforms to “demonize” and spread disinformation and malicious conspiracy theories about Jewish people and Israel. How does it work in practice? Firstly, while the actor is careful not to issue a direct command to commit a crime (antisemitic act), the hostile ecosystem or cosmos they generate makes an “act of violence or harassment statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.” Secondly, the actor fans rhetorical flames, and when an extremist or radicalized individual acts on it, the actor claims plausible deniability. South Africa fits this framework through a toxic mix of state and non-state tiers.

Disturbing Question. In the face of rising anti-Israel sentiment in South Africa, is it still safe for Jews in South Africa to visually identify themselves in public?(Photo: Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

FACING THE FACTS

Since October 7th, global antisemitism has become violent, normalized, and familiar tropes about the Jewish people and Israel have been amplified on university campuses, multilateral institutions (like the United Nations and its associated agencies), workplaces, and tourist destinations frequented by Jews and Israelis, while Israeli artists and academics have been constant targets for boycotts and exclusions. Jews in Australia, the United States (US), Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK) have been subjected to deadly attacks, while state-sponsors of antisemitism – Spain, Ireland, Turkey, and South Africa – claim plausible deniability for their false assertions of genocide against the only Jewish state. The only genocide that occurred was on October 7th when Hamas terrorists breached the Israel-Gaza border fence and murdered more than 1,200 Jews and Israelis. In Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recovered documents detailing explicit instructions from the late Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, to kidnap and kill as many Jews as possible during the terrorist organization’s “Al-Aqsa Flood” offensive.

It’s an Israeli Plot.  Amidst South Africa’s 2026 embarrassing xenophobic wave of unrest, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola joined Justice Minister Kubayi, suggesting that foreign actors — implying Israel — may be responsible to undermine South Africa’s global human rights standing. (Photo: DIRCO)

In South Africa, considered by many Jews to be a safe space to practice their religion and traditions, antisemitism, albeit not violent relative to other countries with large Jewish Diaspora communities, has reached stratospheric levels since October 7th. The then African National Congress (ANC)-led government’s decision to charge the Jewish state with a spurious genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provided fodder for extremist elements in government and civil society to use the narrative and physical battle space to spread modern blood libels against Jews in South Africa, garnished with familiar racists tropes such as “Zionists”, “settler colonialists”, “occupiers”,  “baby killers”, “an apartheid state”, “death to Israel and the IDF”, and other stereotypes.  In addition, senior government ministers such as Ronald Lamola (Department of International Relations and Cooperation – DIRCO) and Mmamoloko Kubayi (Justice and Constitutional Development) made oblique, yet absurd, remarks that Israel may have stoked the recent xenophobic attacks against African migrants, as its purported foreign involvement is linked to the ICJ case. Relatedly, extremist foreign pundits and celebrities breached the threshold for idiocy and conspiracy theories by blaming the Jewish state for the recent influx of 60,000 African migrants from Morocco to Spain. This is nothing more than an aggregation of modern blood libels against Jews and the State of Israel.

Jews behind Turmoil. In the midst of the ugly 2026 anti-illegal immigration protests in South Africa, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi’ (above) suggested that Israel was behind the turmoil to try undermine South Africa in retaliation for its “genocide” case against Israel at The Hague. Joining the antisemitic bandwagon, former EFF MP, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi insinuated that Israel had been waiting for an opportunity to damage the country’s reputation. (Photo Frennie Shivambu )

Although the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) painted a rather sanguine picture of the safety of Jews in the latest edition of The Jewish Report, the methodology and statistics used by the Board’s antisemitic monitoring unit compare violent incidents relative to larger Jewish Diaspora communities in the West, which belies the increased weaponization of antisemitic propaganda on media platforms in South Africa. Batsheva Shulman penned an article in The Jerusalem Report (July 28, 2026) wherein she posits that South African Jews feel relatively safe to wear religious symbols (such as kippot) but often conceal their Zionism due to a torrent of campus and institutional pressures, as well as the anti-Israel mien of the South African government and the pro-Palestine lobby. Shulman’s article neglected to mention that most South African Jews, including this writer, cherish the State of Israel as their eternal homeland, whose establishment was the culmination of Theodore Herzl’s (z”l) vision of a permanent homeland for the Jewish people. References to Israel as a Zionist state are rather an affront to the Jewish people, as the Zionist debate ended when David Ben-Gurion announced the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.  Admittedly, the principles of Zionism (as evidenced in naming conventions of Jewish organizations) exist as an eternal flame of our Jewish identity, and it would be remiss to treat that ideology through a negative prism. This is exactly what anti-Zionist cheerleaders, such as Megan Choritz, are espousing. Choritz is currently contesting a R500,000 ($31,000) defamation case brought by Professor Adam Mendelsohn of the University of Cape Town (UCT), who alleges that she maligned his reputation on social media platforms. When it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the narrative or cognitive battlespace is controlled by the anti-Zionists. The narrative domain, as Ajit Maan (a leading expert on narrative and cognitive warfare) has noted, has emerged as the new center of gravity in modern conflict, and this applies to extremist actors as well. Maan’s theory upends the great Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz’s canonical traditional centers of gravity, which often treat information or psychological operations as support mechanisms for kinetic warfare. By contrast, Maan cogently argues, by way of “narrative identity theory,” that messages or narratives not only target the “audience,” but effectively become the “audience.” For example, malicious actors (especially the pro-Palestine lobby in South Africa) can manipulate an “audience” by linking the Israel-Palestine conflict to that audience’s historical trauma (misguided analogies between apartheid South Africa and Israel’s relations with the Palestinians). By cementing this narrative, the target “audience” rejects countervailing perspectives and foolishly believes it is in control of the “objective reality.”   This dynamic has galvanized extremists, both on the right and left, to resort to information warfare against South African Jews and Israel. Their actions have spurred egregious statements by organizations and individuals with strong ideological ties to Iran, Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad during public rallies.

Sign of the ‘Times’. Out in the public domain, the county’s popular Sunday Times headlines that Justice Minister Mamoloko Kubayi implies Israel was behind anti-immigrant protests.

AN UPTICK IN ANTISEMETIC STATEMENTS AND INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE

According to community security organizations (CSOs), there has been a discernible spike in antisemitic incidents since mid-2026, especially in Gauteng. These incidents include verbal abuse, online harassment and doxxing, while physical assaults remained rare. The pro-Palestine “useful idiots” continue to protest outside Cape Union Mart – a large Jewish-owned retail outlet. Philip Krawitz, Executive Chairman of the Cape Union Mart Group of Companies – a mensch and humanitarian – received repeated online and verbal threats to his life, so much so that he spent a period abroad and beefed up his security. To protect his reputation and businesses, Krawitz took the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to the Western Cape High Court on the legal basis that labeling him a “genocide funder” and “baby killer” are defamatory and breached the threshold of peaceful protest and freedom of speech. Subsequently, the said court heard arguments over three days from Krawitz’s legal team and the PSC’s in mid-June 2026. The court reserved judgment, and at the time of writing, no date has been announced for a final ruling.  The PSC’s political slogans, “From the river to the sea…”, “Zionism is colonialism”, and “Globalize the Intifada” are political shibboleths as these canards are being used to create a Manichean view of Israel and the Jewish people. Therefore, these shibboleths are used in a nuanced way by “useful idiots” to unilaterally determine who is an enemy (Zionist) and ally (anti-Zionist). 

Attacking Jewish Business. Anti-Israel activists’ picket outside the Western Cape High Court where Cape Union Mart and its Jewish owner Philip Krawitz are petitioning the court to prohibit the Palestine Solidarity Campaign over weekly protests held outside the company’s stores since 2023 and from making “defamatory statements” and intimidating customers. (Photos: Matthew Hirsch)

To add fuel to antisemitic fire, on August 2nd, 2026, Haroon Orrie, the national coordinator of the Cape Town-based extremist and vigilante movement, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), addressed a pro-Palestine rally in Cape Town, where he warned Zionists (by implication, Jews) and their supporters to “find a rock to hide under” and threatened to “unleash the party of Allah.” At the same gathering, the supporters (who were predominantly Muslim) waved flags of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the head of the terrorist octopus, the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Cape Council of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) has exhorted the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to investigate Orrie’s vituperative statements for potential violations of the Riotous Assemblies Act, the Intimidation Act, and anti-terrorism laws. PAGAD, which was previously outlawed in 2002 due to erstwhile urban bombing campaigns and high-profile assassinations in its anti-crime ideology on the Cape Flats, has managed to reconstitute itself as a movement bent on social activism. Yet, glimpses of its status quo ante are resurfacing in extremist mode.  Hitherto, no action has been taken against Orrie and those of similar ilk, who continue to spew Jew-hatred in the digital and physical domains. This is indicative of a tolerant cosmos, spearheaded by the Hamas- and Iran-enamored South African government, which continues to threaten South African Jews, who serve in the IDF, with arrest. This is utter balderdash and hypocrisy since leading pro-Palestine activists continue their antisemitic encouragement with reckless abandon.

Looking for Scapegoats. It is images like this of an anti-migrant protest march through Johannesburg’s Alexandra township on 16 July 2026, that government ministers are suggestion Israel may have a hand in. (Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu via Reuters)

WHO ARE THE KEY DRIVERS OF THE STOCHASTIC NARRATIVE?

As pointed out earlier, stochastic antisemitism in the South African context refers to hostile anti-Zionist political discourse that can indirectly incite and normalize antisemitic incidents by providing a permissive environment. However, calls for direct violence or hatred against Jews are not intended. Notwithstanding this, in the South African context, the stochastic narrative gains traction at the intersection of the ANC-led government’s geopolitical posturing, as well as historical anti-Jewish/Israel racial stereotyping and tropes. These narratives have been operationalized and weaponized to equate Jews, pro-Israel institutions and businesses with the actions and military policies of the Israeli government. Thus, the vast majority of South African Jews, in the eyes of the extremist pro-Palestine, bear collective responsibility for the actions of the Israeli government in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as Gaza. While not every criticism of Israel is necessarily antisemitic, the conduct of the South African government and its supporters in the pro-Palestine lobby makes the distinction inscrutable.  Government officials, ANC bigwigs, and pro-Palestine advocacy groups are the key drivers of stochastic antisemitism in South Africa.

Rot begins with the ‘Funnies’. Creating the disturbing ecosystem of today, this 2021 South African cartoon in the local online newspaper Daily Maverick, exposes the ugly face of antisemitism. The cartoon depicts the Miss Universe organisation, Israeli Prime Minister at the time, Naftali Bennett, and a man representing the “Zionist lobby” at a beauty pageant.

South African government (ANC-led) policies and statements: The South African government’s aggressive pro-Palestine position and the decision to charge Israel with genocide at the ICJ were the immediate trigger for a rise in antisemitism since October 7th. On October 8th, public celebrations, praising the Hamas attacks, took place in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and some Arab capitals (although Arab leaders did not endorse these). In South Africa, Ronnie Kasrils, former minister of intelligence and a current member of the obscure and extremist South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) movement, grotesquely praised the Hamas attacks as “brilliant and spectacular,” while Naledi Pandor, former minister of international relations and cooperation, was in direct contact with Hamas leaders after the attack, drove the false genocide narrative claim, and even inverted the Holy Quran by asserting that while “Muslims are peace-loving people…they are permitted to engage in jihad when necessary.” Pandor delivered these remarks on August 23rd, 2025, at the Langa Masjid in Cape Town, while wearing a keffiyeh, a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinians. Under Pandor’s watch, the South African embassy in Tel Aviv was closed, while bilateral relations with the US administration reached an all-time low. Similarly, during a post-Cabinet media briefing in October 2023, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who has a proclivity for idiocy and baseless utterances, accused the Israeli government of perpetrating a “Palestinian Holocaust.” These historical inversions have been amplified by Zane Dangor, director-general of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), who made dilettantish and infantile remarks about the origins of Zionism. 

A clear pattern is emerging from the South African government policies: the creation of a permissive, rabid environment for antisemitism to flourish. Aside from its stochastic encouragement, it is a clear case of state-sponsored antisemitism.

In the path of the Nazis. A much older political cartoon widely disseminated by BDS South Africa utilized the classic Nazi trope of portraying Israeli and Jewish figures – some wearing yarmulkes – with long rat tails and exaggerated facial features gnawing on a block of Swiss cheese full of holes with then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the centre The drawings are reminiscent of how Jews were depicted as vermin by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

PRO-PALESTINE OPPOSITION PARTIES:

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is the fourth largest party in Parliament and the most anti-Israel. The party’s leader, Julius Malema (who, by the way, is appealing a jail sentence for illegal possession of a firearm), has consistently called for the closure of the Israeli embassy in Pretoria, severance of business ties between Israel and South Africa, a boycott of Israeli goods, and cutting academic links with Israeli institutions. The EFF has repeatedly called for closure and defunding of Herzliya High School in Cape Town, under the spurious claim that the school acts as an “agent of a foreign genocidal state” because former students purportedly serve in the IDF. In the aftermath of October 7th, Malema led several pro-Palestinian rallies where he uttered slogans and statements directed at Zionist and Jewish institutions. For example, the EFF’s leadership chanted, “we know where the murderers live…”, directed at Jewish community members. Led by former President Jacob Zuma, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) is the official opposition after the Democratic Alliance (DA), despite the party theoretically having the most seats after the ANC, decided to join the Government of National Unity (GNU). The MK Party is decidedly anti-Israel and has routinely accused Israel of “settler-colonialism”, “apartheid”, and “genocide.”

Al-Jama-ah, a party with few seats in parliament and with strong Islamist leanings – has an outsized influence in foreign policy debates and municipal governance in Johannesburg. The party proudly supports Hamas’s armed resistance against Israel, framing it as a legitimate struggle. The party previously clashed with Jewish and pro-Israel councilors in municipal councils to the extent that Jewish councilors wearing religious symbols were openly mocked.

PRO-PALESTINE ADVOCACY GROUPS:

The pro-Palestine lobby, most notably movements such as Africa4Palestine (BDS South Africa), Gift of the Givers, SAJFP and various groupings, are advocating for boycott, sanctions, and the diplomatic isolation of Israel. These grievances are ubiquitous on South African university campuses. Professor Adam Mendelsohn (Head of the Department of Historical Studies and Director of the Kaplan Center for Jewish Studies at UCT) delivered his inaugural lecture on April 29th, 2026, to highlight the future of South African Jewry amid the normalization of antisemitism in academic and social circles. Mendelsohn is currently in a legal tug-of-war with UCT over resolutions adopted by its Council in 2024. In June 2024, the UCT Council adopted resolutions, inter alia, that UCT academics may not liaise with or cooperate with groups, research projects, or networks affiliated with the IDF or operating in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories.” The same university also rejected the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Mendelsohn rightfully argued that UCT’s anti-Israel resolutions are a direct assault on objectivity and academic freedom, privilege anti-Israel academics and visiting scholars, and single out Israeli academics compared to other countries involved in human rights abuses. The Western Cape High Court is currently reviewing the administrative rationality of the UCT Council’s resolutions and will determine whether the adoption of such policies complied with standard governance obligations. Paradoxically, on March 30, 2026, UCT awarded an honorary doctorate to Imtiaz Sooliman, head of the Gift of the Givers charity. Sooliman is known for his virulent antisemitic rhetoric. During a public lecture at UCT in October 2025, Sooliman averred that he was “five thousand percent antisemitic…” and continued his diatribe against Israel and South African Jews: “We know antisemitism is used to shut you up. So, if you stand up against Zionists and they say you’re antisemitic, it’s because they want to cover their faults.” It is palpable that UCT, Africa’s most prestigious university and once a beacon and citadel of academic freedom, has now welcomed extremist elements into its fold. This is hypocrisy personified.

Stochastic narratives, as espoused by the South African government’s decision to take Israel to the ICJ on genocide charges, are the epitome of antisemitism and modern blood libel against the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Accusing a country of genocide is a serious allegation that should be supported by hard proof, not anecdotal evidence. The fact that South Africa has requested the ICJ for an extension until 2027 to present evidence means that there is no evidence at all and the court should dismiss it as a frivolous and cheap attempt to traduce the image of the State of Israel, which launched “Operation Swords of Iron” in self-defense against Hamas terrorists. In addition, the IDF took reasonable measures, in line with international law, to minimize civilian casualties.

The stochastic stratagems of the drivers have now shifted from demonstrations and boycotts to Jewish communal spaces. These are manifested in protests over Jewish participation in sports, youth events, and commercial and cultural events. The stochastic impact of this implies that Jewish existence or presence in South Africa is inextricably tied to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which led to localized harassment.

HOW DO SA JEWS COUNTER THE STOCHASTIC THREAT?

The boundary between legitimate criticism of Israel and hostility towards Jewish people by a powerful minority of pro-Palestine institutions and individuals, inspired by a permissive antisemitic ecosystem created by the ANC-led government, is inseparable. While the Cape Branch of the SAJBD has ongoing Equality Court cases against recidivist antisemites such as Nabeweya Lukie, an employee of the Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa, more needs to be done. If found guilty, these inveterate antisemites are often given a monetary fine (payable to the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Center), a public apology and retraction of antisemitic statements on social media, and a visit to a Holocaust Museum. While it is important to “name and shame” the antisemites, it is merely a defensive mechanism as it does not address the underlying hatred some harbor against Jews. Diaspora Jews, who became October 8th Jews, woke up to a new reality after October 7th. While Jews in Israel could rely on the Israeli government, IDF, and intelligence services to protect them, Diaspora Jews were at the receiving end of violent antisemitism as some governments did not do enough to protect Jewish minorities and instead mollycoddled Hamas sympathizers.  Zvika Klein, Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post, pointed out that Jewish communities across the globe have spent billions of dollars on physical security, which is essentially a “defensive architecture.” While the physical protection of synagogues, schools, and community centers is important and the threats existential, it creates a “fortress mentality” that only treats the symptoms of antisemitism and not the root causes. Klein offers some useful advice by enjoining Jewish communities to realign their “defensive posture” to proactiveness. A lot can be achieved through political mobilization, legal advocacy, fostering ties with moderate faith groups, and deepening connections with Israel.

In the South African context: 

The SAJBD must employ legal advocacy to criminalize antisemitic rhetoric propagated by PAGAD, individuals, and the pro-Palestine lobby.  Hauling antisemites before the Equality Court is not enough, as the court cannot order criminal prosecution. Although freedom of expression is protected under Section 16 (1) of the Constitution, Section 16 (2) excludes “propaganda for war, incitement of imminent violence, and advocacy of hatred based on race, ethnicity, or religion that constitutes incitement to cause harm.” This threshold has been reached many times, most recently by PAGAD’s Haroon Orrie with his toxic incitement against South African Jews.

Zionists must Hide. “To every Zionist, to every business that supports Zionism …. you better find yourself a rock to hide under,” vowed Haroon Orrie, the national coordinator of PAGAD to a crowd waving Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad flags on the Sea Point Promenade on Sunday, 2 August, 2026. 

As a deterrent, the SAJBD should pursue criminal prosecution under the Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act. The Act establishes hate speech as:

 “a specific criminal offense when a person intentionally publishes or communicates content that advocates hatred or incites violence/harm against a protected group…”

Criminal charges can be filed with SAPS. The NPA will be obligated to pursue criminal prosecution, which carries statutory penalties, fines or imprisonment.

To prevent high-profile public individuals from making stochastic statements and hostile rhetoric, the SAJBD should request a High Court injunction to restrain public figures and organizations from perpetuating a pattern of hostile rhetoric that infringes on the constitutional rights to Human Dignity (Section 10) and Freedom and Security of the Person (Section 12). The SAJBD must prove beyond reasonable doubt that rhetoric has crossed from political critique into targeting of specific individuals (Krawitz is a case in point) and Jewish community organizations. While robust, responsible free speech should be encouraged, the SAJBD should urge the South African government to heed several European countries’ decisive actions against pro-Palestine propaganda and slogans. Germany classified the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free…” as a criminalized symbol under Section 86a of the German Criminal Code. The German courts can order immediate criminal prosecution or fines if such slogans are displayed or chanted. In the UK, the authorities have designated Palestine Action under its counter-terrorism laws. Thus, membership of the group or public support thereof constitutes a criminal offense. France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and the US have taken similar action against pro-Palestine groups. The same fate should befall Africa4Palestine, SAJFP, PAGAD, and Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood/Iran-funded institutions in South Africa and the South African Jewish community should reclaim the narrative space by dispelling myths and lies about Israel and the Jewish people. This could be done with other faith groups, especially South Africa’s majority Christian community, which has strong spiritual ties to Israel.  Melanie Philips has written an illuminating book, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege (2026), which is a practical guide for Diaspora Jews to future-proof their communities amid increased Jew-hatred. A key takeaway from Philips’ book, relevant to the South African Jewish context, is the need to refute misinformation and disinformation about Israel. Most importantly, South African Jews ought to adopt a resilient, proactive posture built on Jewish identity, self-confidence and love for Israel.


Editor’s Note: Yoram Blumstein is a nom de plume (pen name) used by the author to protect identity due to ongoing security risks and prior threats related to previous reporting.



*Feature Picture: Hamas-supporting mob on Sea Point beach front, Cape Town, South Africa three years ago, where Jonathan Cohen was attacked – “strangled, kicked, hit, scratched, dragged, maligned, and almost pushed into the ocean” – by violent extremists targeting a prayer gathering for Israel.






While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).