Johannesburg — When Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s new president, appeared before the country’s premier Jewish umbrella group in late August, the audience before him was concerned about the tack his government might be taking not just toward Israel, but also toward South African Jews who support it.
Just two weeks before the August 29 meeting, the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of South Africa lodged war crimes charges with the police and the Justice Ministry against 70 South Africans for their alleged involvement in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza last winter.
Unlike the United States, where both the group and its charge might be seen as marginal, here the action attracted the backing of Ronnie Kasrils, a Jewish hero of the South African anti-apartheid struggle who until last year was the country’s intelligence minister. At a press conference tied to the action, Kasrils, who remains a prominent member of Zuma’s own African National Congress party, called on the government “to investigate and, if appropriate, [to] prosecute in South Africa individuals involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead,” as the Gaza campaign has been dubbed by Israel.
But Zuma, in a speech warmly received by his audience, enveloped the community in a pragmatic embrace that explicitly eschewed the anti-Zionist tendencies of some parts of his own base.
“This country has a massive skills shortage as a result of decades of neglect and deliberate underinvestment,” Zuma said in his address to an audience of about 800 at the 54th National Conference of the Jewish Board of Deputies. Consistent with broader initiatives to encourage South African ex-patriates to return to South Africa and help build the country’s nascent democracy, Zuma alluded to the shrinkage through emigration of the South African Jewish community to 80,000 today from 120,000 a generation ago. Noting “the emigration of skilled people” from South Africa, he said, “We must work to reverse the trend. The message we want to send to people who have left the country to live and work abroad is that South Africa will always remain their home, and I will always welcome whatever contribution they can make to building this nation.”
When it came to policy, in his speech, Zuma
pointedly rejected any hint of support for dismantling Israel or staking out a militant stance against it.
Instead, he reconfirmed his government’s commitment to Washington’s goal of a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
“We support the position of the United Nations and the Middle East Quartet that the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one that ends the occupation that began in 1967,” Zuma told the Jewish gathering. “It is a solution which fulfills the aspirations of both parties for independent homelands through two states for two peoples — Israel and an independent, adjoining and viable state of Palestine living side by side in peace and security.
“We will continue to offer whatever assistance we can towards the resolution of this matter, including sharing our experience in ending apartheid through negotiation,” said Zuma. “In this respect, we would like to work together with the South African Jewish community.”
For South African Jews, Zuma’s message was clear: You are safe and welcome here. “As president,” he stressed, “I regard as one of my duties the need to preserve the unity of this nation, and to cultivate its diversity. We must remain on guard against any manifestations of antisemitism and other intolerances.”
But in a country where charges of “apartheid” against Israel for its policies toward Palestinians carry enormous emotional punch, it remains to be seen whether the president’s message—delivered within the Jewish community and not more broadly—will be enough. For many, the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of South Africa’s action revived memories of other recent tactics designed both to pressure Israel and to discourage South African Jews from supporting it.
Last February, workers affiliated with the Congress of South African Trade Unions— an important component of the ANC — refused to offload a ship carrying Israeli goods in the harbor of Durban. Working in partnership with the PSCSA, COSATU, which helped lead the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, announced the beginning of an anti-apartheid style sanctions campaign against Israel, saying it would pressure the government to sever diplomatic and trade relations with Israel.
The next day, 200 supporters of COSATU and the PSCSA demonstrated outside the offices of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. Addressing the protesters, Kasrils, again, compared “Israel’s massacre in Gaza” to genocide. The former government minister insisted that the demonstrators were not targeting South African Jewry but rather Zionism, the Israeli government and its supporters. But the march on the Jewish communal organization’s headquarters rather than the Israeli Embassy signified to many Jewish observers an attack on the Jewish community itself.
One month before this, many Jews were also unsettled when then-deputy foreign minister Fatima Hajaig told a cheering crowd, “The control of America, just like the control of most Western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money.”
Hajaig apologized to the Cabinet for her statement after the Jewish Board of Deputies lodged a complaint of hate speech against her with the South African Human Rights Commission. Due to the legacy of apartheid, South African constitutional protections of free speech do not extend to hate speech. The board of deputies then withdrew its complaint.
But Zuma, in contrast to such instances of hostility, altered his original schedule on the night of his speech before the Jewish Board of Deputies in order to stay for the entire evening’s program. As a consequence, the line-up was altered so that other speakers appeared earlier, in accordance with protocols that call for the president to always conclude an event.
Among other things, this allowed Zuma to hear the evening’s second keynoter, former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler — a prominent human rights lawyer and notable advocate for Israel. Cotler, who met with Zuma and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe before the opening of the conference, stressed that, through the history of anti-apartheid struggle that had shaped it, South Africa could be a moral force in the international community.
Citing South Africa’s constitution, Cotler said, “I know of no other charter of rights in the world that speaks so comprehensively about rights, because it was anchored in the inequality that was previously experienced.”
In a separate interview with the Forward, Cotler said: “I think they are giving expression to this [human rights commitment] on the domestic level. I found both President Zuma and the minister of justice committed to doing the right thing for the South African people. The country has a lot to teach other democratic rights-protecting societies, including Canada, about what they are doing in the justice agenda, in gender equality, in protecting the vulnerable and in anti-discrimination law and policy.”
Cotler wondered whether South Africa’s leaders would exercise their moral authority similarly on the world stage. The government, for example, recently refused to admit into the country the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan exile leader, due to pressure from China. “South Africa has to take its place on the world stage and speak with moral authority on the great issues of the day to advance the international human rights and justice agenda,” Cotler said. “I believe that they will have the moral voice to provide that moral leadership internationally.”
In his earlier talk with Zuma, Cotler asked the president for South Africa’s support in censuring Iran at the U.N. The censure motion, co-sponsored annually by Canada at the U.N. General Assembly, has not been supported by South Africa in the past. But in the wake of the beatings, mass arrests and allegations of torture by Iranian government agents after Iran’s disputed election last June, “I would hope to see a change not only in South Africa’s voting patterns at the U.N., but also in its public advocacy,” Cotler told the Forward.
For now, Zuma largely impressed his South African audience. “The most positive thing, which particularly impressed people, was that Zuma stayed the whole night,” said Zev Krengel, the board of deputies’ national chairman. “It showed people he is prepared to engage.”
Marlene Bethlehem, a past chair of the umbrella group, agreed. “Listening to Cotler, his body language was totally engaged,” she noted.
Avrom Krengel, chair of the South African Zionist Federation, added: “His speech was as balanced as any you would get out of a government official. It was a very carefully calibrated statement of South African government policy designed for our audience, neither to cause offense nor to divert from South Africa’s stated policies. It spelled out South Africa’s support for a peaceful settlement, said that the occupation must end, there must be a two-state solution and that South Africa is here to help.”
It was also notable to some that when he named the many Jews prominent in the anti-apartheid struggle, Zuma omitted mention of Kasrils.
Still, some were concerned by his failure to comment directly on the fact that a former government official was promoting prosecution of South Africans for war crimes.
“He should have addressed the war crimes situation more explicitly,” Bethlehem said.
But Krengel did not agree. “The war crimes thing was a big story in our lives, but nothing in the life of the nation where you have taxi drivers striking and soldiers mutineering,” he said.
Contact Claudia Braude at [feedback@forward.com]
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the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of South Africa acted correctly!
Ronnie Kasrilis is a member of the South African Communist party! Black crime is the reason why Jews and other whites leave. This is the ideology of liberalism/socialism: Deny what takes place right in front of your own eyes. Liberals/Socialists put ideology first and the truth whenever
There is no future for Jews in South Africa, Venezuela, or Iran. On the 70th anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Poland, TV is calling attention to the Kinder transport - which rescued some lucky Jewish children from the Holocaust, South African Jews must recognize that one-third of the Jewish community have already emigrated. Please get out while you have a chance. Jews can live happier and safer lives elsewhere.
The real war criminal in South Africa is one Ronnie Kasrils, a Jewish-born Stalinazi who committed atrocities, including bombings of White South African women and children and judicial murders of Blacks who opposed the ANC and the South African Communazi Party.
I am asking Jewish Americans, unfortunately many of whom are brain dead or support the likes of this piece of Soviet Nazi trained in terror dreck to have him arrested as a war criminal should he ever step foot on American soil. But judging from the New York Jewish respose, or lack thereof to Ahmadinejedad and UN General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto, a vicious anti-semite and mass murderer of Miskito Indians, I doubt anyone will have the guts to do so.
Kasrils - NOT only a traitor to the Jewish people, but to decent South Africans.
An American Jew, I just returned from my third trip to South Africa. This year and last, my husband and I volunteered to provide professional development for educators in a rural township school for three weeks. We lived in the township, and were told last year, we were the first whites to ever sleep there. I cannot describe what a profoundly rewarding experience this has been to live in this warm community and to work with the dedicated teachers. We cannot wait to go back next year. And where are the South African Jews -- those living in S.A. now and those who left the decade before -- in providing support to the Blacks whose rights were systematically denied for decades? Unfortunately, they are generally absent. I spoke with leaders in the Capetown Jewish community and was saddened by their self-pitying attitude. I urge Jews everywhere to support Zuma and get involved in true Tikkun Olam in South AFrica.
B'SD It was the Jewish Defense Organization that met with Jews from South Africa with a double message in the mid 90's,Mass Alyah and form armed self-defense units to foght assorted Jew-Haters planning attacks on Jews !
Kastrils is an enemy of Zion and and an enemy of Jews !
I heard JDO speak (1991) to over 1,000 Jews from South Africa and they were well received .
You can see their website www.jewishdefense.org
Good article. Kasrils has a real problem - himself. Just returned from SA. The Jewish community is strong, vibrant, and cohesive. Continues to contribute significantly to SA life and welfare.
“Just as a simple man named Ghandi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled.” Desmond Tutu [August, 2009] [Bil'in is seven miles west of Ramallah]
"In effect, we established an apartheid regime in the occupied territories immediately following their capture. That oppressive regime exists to this day." Michael Ben-Yair, attorney general 1993-1996 http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2640
Former South African prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, considered the architect of apartheid said, “Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state.” http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2008/04/16/thank-you-jimmy-carter-for-everything-even-for-using-the-apartheid-word/
"Almost instinctively, the Jewish people have always been on the side of the voiceless. In their history, there is painful memory of massive roundups, house demolitions and collective punishment. In their scripture, there is acute empathy for the disfranchised. The occupation represents a dangerous and selective amnesia of the persecution from which these traditions were born." Desmond Tutu [October, 2002] http://www.counterpunch.org/tutu1017.html
Mark Twain's denunciations of proofreaders not withstanding ["In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made proof-readers - 1893] . . . the first quotation from Tutu in my previous post should read:
“Just as a simple man named Ghandi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled.” Desmond Tutu [August, 2009] http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=35356 [Bil'in is seven miles west of Ramallah]
Why is Ronnie Kasrilis a traitor, just because he differs about the Israel policy? Since he was born in 1938, he knows what Apartheid was all about having experienced it first hand.
Ehud Olmert, Moshe Katsav, Abraham Hirchson,Shlomo Benizri, Bernie Madoff, Arthur Nadel, Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum et al., aren't they the true traitors? In the 70's and 80's the JDL set off bombs, killing and injuring people? Isn't that terrorism?
There is discrimination against Ethiopian and Indian Jews in Israel? The ultra-orthodox group Naturei Karta discriminates against their own women. Other orthodox groups discriminate against gays. What about the Jewish gay men and women?
Dov Hikind promotes racial profiling, anything that is muslim, anti-UN, anti-gay marriage, anti any film that he thinks is offensive in his mind, yet he promotes the Mohammed Cartoon. Promoting hate, how is this different from any other hate group that spreads hate against Jewish, black, any minority group? He feels the Holocaust memorial is only for Jewish victims? Yitzhak Rabin was assasinated? He served his country his country in war, peace? That is terrorism too?
According to a report in 2000, there are 33% Christians, 19% Muslims, 14% Hindus, 0.2 % Jews, other minorities, atheists, sikhs, Budhists, Bahai's etc. How can anyone lump any percentage of people and say they are bad? That is what happened in the 2nd world war?
I'm by no means trying to be offensive, so forgive me, if I insult anyone. I believe in all religions and also for the existence of all.
The zionist metality is certainly similar in more than one way with nazism. the nazis believe in the superiority of the white race and the zionist believe in the superiority of the jewish religion and they beleive that that superiority gives them the right to deprive inocent women and children of their land
The zionist metality is certainly similar in more than one way with nazism. the nazis believe in the superiority of the white race and the zionist believe in the superiority of the jewish religion and they beleive that that superiority gives them the right to deprive inocent women and children of their land
Joe Slovo was an anti-white, gentile hating communist Jew who ruined Jews chances at a decent life in S.Africa!!!
A perrenial problem in Judaism has been with our "Great Reformers" who believe they can compromise with other faiths and thus achieve peace. Karl Marx was criticised by his contemporaries who observed that by introducing atheism, and addressing the "Jewish Problem", he would ultimately discover that anti-semites would still call him Jewish amongst his detractors. This proved true- many have fulminated against "the evil Jew Marx"- so, he was unable to dispense with anti-semitic sentiment against himself, even though he was raised a Christian! We have the examples of many- Papenfuss and their ilk. It is incredible to watch Ronnie Kasrils following the same old blundering path. Some comfort might be derived from the likelihood that, with our ancient history, ultimately it will probably be our memory of Kasrils that endures, and the populist praise he enjoys from his fickle constituency will one day be long forgotten. The record that will endure is the Jewish one of yet another enemy from within.