It's Almost Supernatural

Not Everyone is Celebrating Israel’s 60th

The South African Communist Party (SACP), a member of the ANC’s tripartheid governing alliance, has issued a disgusting response to an invitation by Israeli Ambassador to South Africa Ilan Baruch to Israel’s 60th birthday celebrations. If there was ever any doubt about their feelings towards the Jewish state, this letter in which Israel is denounced as an Apartheid state guilty of genocide, surely erases them.

Inviting the SACP to Israel’s official 60th birthday celebrations was a stupid move on the part of the embassy. It would be the equivalent of inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the Holocaust memorial ceremony at Auschwitz. Sure as a principle it’s important to reach out to your enemies but one also has so be practical, particularly when a rejection would provide them with another opportunity to slate you.

That they would refuse to attend should come as no surprise. But what is shocking is the viciousness of the SACP’s response. The SACP attributes to Israel every war crime imaginable from ‘murder, torture, banishment of millions of Palestinian refugees, settlements expansion and the creation of tiny Palestinian Bantustans prisons’ and blames the Jewish state for pursuing ‘racists, oppressive and genocidal (my emphasis) policies and practices towards the Palestinians in defiance of UN resolutions and international law’. Moreover Israel’s commitment to peace is questioned and it is accused of being an outpost of US imperialism with the objective of bringing ‘more wars, militarism, violence, torture and anti-democratic repression’ to the Middle East. This is a particularly laughable charge given that by all objective standards Israel is rated as the most free and democratic state in its region.

But the worst part of the SACP letter is its proposed solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. The SACP supports ‘the right of Palestinians to self determination and the creation of an independent sovereign state within the pre 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, including the right of return of all the Palestinian refugees.’ Supporting the creation of a Palestinian state not only in the West Bank and Gaza but in Israel proper (the ‘right’ of return) is a blatant call for the destruction of Israel.

Now if these were the rantings of a marginal party whose failed ideology had been discarded onto the South African political rubbish bin, it would be of little concern. But this is not the case. Not only is the SACP an alliance partner with the ANC in government but it is also an important power broker within the ANC. Together with COSATU their support was instrumental in getting Jacob Zuma elected as the new president of the ANC. Post-Polokwane, they have increased positions of importance in both the ANC National Executive Committee and National Working Committee lists. Their spokesperson, Jeremy Cronin is number 5 on the NEC list and his boss, Blade Nzimande is number 11. Thus there is a very real risk that in the years ahead their extreme positions could become official government policy in South Africa.

But it will not stop there. As they put it ‘we will work with all peace loving Israelis and the South African Jewish community and conscientious objectors in Israel to coordinate actions of solidarity for the Palestinians and to defeat the racist apartheid ideology of Zionism.’ If they get their way, once again South African Jewry might be forced to make a choice between their support for Israel and their comfortable lives in South Africa. This is something we must nip in the bud now. It is crucial SA Jewish leadership respond with a clear statement that we will never support such a policy and will always continue to support Zionism and its dream of a free Jewish state in our ancient homeland at peace with its neighbours.

Full letter: Open Rejection of Invitation from Israeli ambassador

Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebration

I just received this message about the Yom Ha'atzmaut celebrations tonight.

A notice has been placed on Facebook stating that the Yom Ha'atzmaut celebrations due to take place tomorrow night have been postponed. This message, which is false, has been posted by a person or persons unknown to the SA Zionist Federation. Please note that the Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebrations will take place as planned this evening, Wednesday 7 May, from 17h00. There is NO CHANGE in the date, the venue or the time.

Durban 2 Won’t Be in SA

In what represents a small victory for SA Jewry South Africa has been announced that it will not host the follow up to the UN World Conference Against Racism, which was held in Durban in 2001.

The conference held in Durban in 2001 was widely condemned for descending into a pit of unrepentant anti-Semitism after the objectives were hijacked by various Israel/Jew loathing pressure groups. According to Tony Leon, the conference also cost South African taxpayers a whopping R100 million.

Writing in the Star, columnist Peter Fabricius examines possible reasons for the abandonment of the plans to host the event. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa is on record as saying that SA never offered to host the event in the first place. But back in February this year however, we reported that in his State of the Nation address President Mbeki stated ‘Next year, SA will play host to the Review Conference to evaluate the implementation of the decisions of the World Conference Against Racism.’

Fabricius thinks that the lobbying by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies was instrumental in convincing SA that Durban 1 aggravated tensions between Jewish and Muslim communities in SA and that a repetition should be avoided.

Why did SA change its mind? Wendy Kahn, national director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, which lobbied the SA government strongly against hosting Durban II, is ‘absolutely delighted’ that it has decided not to, but is not quite sure why. Possibly SA felt that hosting a racism conference in Africa again would have suggested that racism is largely an African issue whereas it felt that the focus should now be shifted to racism in Europe. Or maybe Pretoria agreed with UN Watch and others that it would be better to hold the review conference within secure UN premises to try and prevent the kind of ugly and highly publicised demonstrations that marred Durban 2001 – especially a year before 2010.

Hopefully the new venue will be better equipped than SA was in 2001 to prevent the naked hate-fest that the previous conference turned into.

One of the many hateful posters on display at the World Conference against Racism in Durban in 2001.

Nadine Gordimer Resists Israel boycott

South African Jewish Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer, has confirmed that she will attend the International Writer's Festival in Jerusalem next month, despite intense pressure to boycott the event. Gordimer, famous for her anti-Apartheid activism, won the Nobel Prize in 1991 for literature.

The fact that she agreed to attend the Writer's Festival in the first place came as a surprise. Gordimer is not exactly well known for her strong Jewish identity and in particular Zionist leanings. She is a self-identified atheist and was one of the first high profile South Africans of ‘Jewish descent’ to join South African Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasril’s “Not in my name campaign”. In 2001 she publicly urged her friend Susan Sontag not to accept the Jerusalem Prize, Israeli’s most prestigious literary award.

Her decision to attend has created a fire-storm both locally and abroad. Numerous groups from the South African Miner Workers Union to the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine have appealed to Gordimer to boycott. The line of argument used is that her contribution against apartheid in South Africa was paramount and by attending the conference she would be giving a PR victory to Apartheid in Israel.

But despite this tremendous public pressure, Gordimer has stood firm.

Yesterday she issued a public statement from her home in Johannesburg stating that she would attend the event. Rejecting the logic of a boycott, she wrote that ‘whatever violent, terrible, bitter and urgent chasms of conflict lie between peoples, the only solutions for peace and justice exist and must begin with both sides talking to one another.’ This she argued was the purpose of the festival. Tot his end, she will be meeting both Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem and Ramallah the statement said.

Although I am no supporter of Gordimer’s politics, her commitment to defending what she believes to be right, no matter how unpopular, has earned her my respect. Whether it be facing the wrath of White South Africa for speaking out against Apartheid or now the disapproval of her struggle comrades for attempting to promote dialogue and reconciliation in the Middle East, Gordimer has consistently shown great courage.

Some letters calling on her to boycott Israel

Nevertheless, I don’t think we should be celebrating just yet. She might feel compelled to use the event to denounce Israel. This minor victory could still turn out to be a major PR blunder.

Relavant links:

• Mail & Guardian - Nadine don't go
• Alternative News - Boycott update
• Alternative News - Letter to Gordimer

David Saks at Thought Leader

David Saks, the Associate Director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies has a new blog at the Mail & Guardian's Thought Leader.

I have always enjoyed David's columns in the SA Jewish Report and other publications. He is battle-scarred from the numerous and often personal attacks on Israel in the media - just witness the recent attacks on him led by Ronnie Kasrils. He is also the unsung-hero of South African communal affairs whose articles and letters to the press have always managed to calmly portray an accurate picture of the issues in Israel.

His first entry has already received a welcome response - check it out: David Saks - A society where discrimination has no place

Ironically, the Mail & Guardian is a newspaper where anti-Israel discrimination has a very warm and welcome place.

I regard myself as more pragmatist than idealist yet I can’t help but feel some disappointment that David will be supporting the M&G’s online presence – a newspaper whose editor has called for the SA Jewish community to apologise (or was it condemn, same difference really) for the actions of Israel.

Perhaps I am wrong on this issue. Perhaps it’s better to have David contribute and thereby hope to achieve some balance in an online community that gives voice to the likes of Jarred Cinman (Let’s Talk about the Jews) and Na’eem Jeenah. They won't go away and boycotting them certainly won't achieve anything.

Another new blogger writing on Jewish Affairs worth checking out is Mike Berger at Solar Plexus. Mike provides excellent analysis on what the media is saying about Israel -- you may be familiar with his name from the numerous letters he gets published in the local press.

The UN Racism Circus Continues

Haaretz is reporting that Iran is seeking to block a top Canadian Jewish group from receiving accreditation for next year’s UN racism conference. The Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) is being accused by the Iranians of having made no significant contribution to fighting racism and thus deserving no place at Durban 2.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is responsible for processing accreditation applications, is quoted as saying that the CIJA application was initially approved, but that "states have the liberty to make objections." The CIJA now has until next Monday to counter the claims made against it. If the issue cannot be resolved, the group's attendance will be decided in a vote by all UNHRC member states.

The issue of the Jewish Group’s accreditation has been the subject of heated debate at UNHRC headquarters in Geneva this week. Iran has been backed by Egypt (representing the Africa group) and other Muslim countries while the European Union has been arguing against the CIJA’s exclusion. If it ultimately comes down to a vote, there can be little doubt, given the sheer numbers of the anti-Western block, that Iran will win.

Last time Jewish groups, although excluded from the planning meetings, were not excluded from the actual conference. This increased level in anti-Jewish hostility so early on in the process does not bode well for the actual conference. As Anne Bayefsky put it yesterday, Durban 2 is ‘shaping up to be the nightmare anticipated’.

What I find particularly disturbing about all this is South Africa’s silence. Last month in a meeting with representatives of the Jewish Community, Aziz Pahad (South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister) stressed that ‘South Africa, as a country that was committed to fighting anti-Semitism, needed to take whatever steps were necessary to ensure that it did not surface at a conference aimed at fighting racism.’ And yet this week when it came time to act South Africa did nothing to prevent Iran from hijacking the conference and using it as a tool for attacking the Jewish people.

Once again the SAJBD has been humiliated by the government’s failure to live up to its promises. The leadership of this community does not seem to grasp that having the ear of people in power is not in and of itself an achievement. The key is to actually get them to do what you ask. In the days ahead the SAJBD’s policy of quiet diplomacy will further be put to the test. If South Africa continues to do nothing to prevent this gross display of anti-Jewish prejudice, the reputation of this community will be seriously damaged.

Here is a video clip on the days event from EyeontheUN: Durban II:1st Day-Preventing a Jewish NGO From Participating

Also via Eye on the UN: Durban II: The Nightmare Unfolds

If Bullard, why not Zapiro?

Over the last week South Africans have been embroiled in an acrimonious debate over the firing by the Sunday Times of controversial columnist David Bullard. His latest piece on what an uncolonised Africa would have been like was considered by many to be racist and offensive to black people (Bullard: Uncolonised Africa wouldn't know what it was missing).

Now if this is the criterion that is being applied by the mainstream media to publishing editorial comment, then it must be applied across the board — that includes Jews as well. So in the spirit of this new commitment to ethnic sensitivity and tolerance, cartoonist like Zapiro and guest commentators like Kasrils should also no longer be used.

On immediately reading the Bullard piece, I found it crude and distasteful. There is no doubt that draws on traditional racist stereotypes. The entire premise of the article is based on the notion that without the arrival of the white man, black Africans would have remained perpetually in a stone age state. But the line that I think is particularly offensive is where Bullard writes ‘every so often a child goes missing from the village, eaten either by a hungry lion or a crocodile. The family mourn for a week or so and then have another child.’ Sure the life span of people in pre-colonial Africa was short, but does he honestly believe that that takes away from the personal tragedy that individual families must have experienced. Bullard implies that traditional black people felt nothing for their offspring, seeing them only as an inconsequential consequence of reproduction.

The editor of the Sunday Times, Mondli Makhanya, described these sentiments as having ‘crossed the line’ and noted that his newspaper was ‘NOT in the business of promoting prejudice’. He went further to say that

‘the Sunday Times respects its readers and - while it is our mission to provoke, challenge and entertain - will not insult or abuse them. Bullard did that last Sunday; by publishing him we were complicit in disseminating his Stone Age philosophies. For that we apologise to all our readers, INCLUDING those who saw nothing wrong with the racism spewed last week. Continuing his column would have been an endorsement of those opinions.’

While I think this justification for firing and thereby censoring Bullard’s distasteful views was pretty weak, I do think that it provides us with a benchmark to hold Makhanya and the rest of the SA media to when reporting about Jews and Israel. How many articles and cartoons has his newspaper and others published that insulted and abused Zionist readers? How many times have the mainstream media used material from people who have denied the Holocaust or who have clearly crossed the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism? Does publishing an opinion piece from a Hamas leader (as was done by the Independent group), not then amount to an endorsement of the anti-Semitic views enshrined in their charter? We should draw up a list of these people and argue that if Makhanya continues to print their opinions in the future it would be as if he is endorsing their past statements.

It seems to me that there is a double standard in the South African media that needs to be corrected. If we are going to take an authoritarian approach and ban all opinions that are offensive - it’s not something that I support - then at least we must ensure that that ban is carried out evenly across all ethnic, linguist and religious groups.

Update at 17/04/2008

On this note, why not check out this wretched piece of self aggrandising, patronising comment from Jarred Cinman, proud hater of all religions, at the Mail & Guardian's Thought Leader blog: Let's talk about the Jews

The Star Sticks to Old Lies To Support Kasrils

Update

The Kasrils article, with the same photos, was also published today in the Cape Argus.

---

I don't think I made enough of a fuss about the photos that appeared in Ronnie Kasrils' propaganda-piece earlier this week in The Star newspaper.

I have looked at the images again and am appalled. We definitely need to take The Star to task for this. A complaint should be issued with the Press Ombudsman.

The two main issue

• The Sabra and Shatilla photo makes it seem as if Israelis massacred Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla -- killing them like animals -- when in fact no Israelis took part in it.
• The Jenin photo claims there was a massacre in 2002 when in fact everyone today knows that no massacre took place - it was all Palestinian lies. Following numerous terrorist attacks in 2002 Israel led an incursion into the Palestinian town Jenin. The operation was roundly condemned as a ‘massacre’ – Palestinian sources claimed that more than 500 civilians had been killed. It later emerged that in fact 52 Palestinians were killed, 38 of them armed combatants. 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting.

It is most ironic, that in 2004 The Sunday Independent - part of the same group that owns The Star newspaper - issued a correction for falsely claiming that there had been a massacre in Jenin. It is on record at this blog from one of my first entries in June 2004: Sunday Independant clarifies their stance on Jenin.

Complaints by readers to the press ombudsman pointed out that claims of a massacre were later refuted by independent investigations by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch and others which established that no massacre took place. Israeli government officials have said that 54 Palestinians died, all but seven of them members of militant groups that had turned the camp into a terrorist haven. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers also died in the fighting. [...] Although the Arab press still refers to a massacre in Jenin, as a result of independent verification by international bodies The Sunday Independent distances itself from this allegation.

It's pathetic to now continue claiming that there was a massacre!!

Below is a letter published in The Star today from Rabbi Yossi Goldman. I have included the photos, with captions, in the relevant spaces. Note, their publishing of this letter is not enough. They should be forced to issue a correction.

Dear Sir, That Ronnie Kasrils continues to betray his own people is something we have, tragically, come to accept with sadness. So I won’t comment on his latest diatribe as I am certain others will. My anger is reserved for The Star sub-editor who writes the captions for your photographs. Each of your three photos bore outrageously misleading and dishonest captions. 1. The Sabra and Shatila massacre was perpetrated by Christians against Moslems. One can argue whether Israel was an innocent or not so innocent bystander. Your caption gives the distinct impression that Israel carried out the actual massacre, which is a blatant lie. Killed like animals: Bodies lie at Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, in this 1982 file picture. The writer argues that because Israel was allowed to get away with mass killings of Palestinians such as the Deir Yassin slaughter, it simply continued on its bloody path. 2. In 2002, The Star carried a huge front page photo and article about a massacre in Jenin allegedly perpetrated by Israel. Subsequently, it was unequivocally established that there was, in fact, no massacre at all. You are still making false claims. Aftermath: An Israeli tank is seen positioned in the rubble and debris of Jenin Refugee Camp, where a massacre occurred in 2002. [Note: The Cape Argus changed the caption on the Jenin photo, removing the reference to "massacre," instead saying "An Israeli tank positioned in the rubble of Jenin refugee camp, scene of bloody carnage in 2002." - ED] 3. The destroyed building in Lebanon makes a fine picture to suit your prejudiced purposes. Naturally, you make no mention whatsoever that Israel was responding to unprovoked attacks on its own civilians by Hizbolla terrorists firing from residential areas. Smouldering. People gather at the rubble of a destroyed building, minutes after an Israeli missile attack in Tyre, Lebanin in 2006. Never mind Kasrils, your newspaper’s bias is showing. Rabbi Yossy Goldman President, SA Rabbinical Association

If The Star readers should learn anything from Kasrils' piece it is this - in an article about Israeli massacres - he needed to use three blatantly incontrovertible lies as examples. If there have been so many Israeli 'massacres' then why resort to lying?

But Kasrils isn't even the issue. Whilst he has the right to express his opinion, the editors of The Star do not have the right to support his opinion with lies!

Previously at IAS

• For more on the Kasrils article see - Kasrils on the offensive...lies again

Israel Shuts RAM-FM Jerusalem Studio

Talk Radio 702 today reported that Israel has closed down the Jerusalem office of the 702 styled radio station RAM FM. RAM FM has stations in both Ramallah and Jerusalem. (The station continues to broadcast from their Ramallah station. Reports off the wires said that they are still broadcasting from Ramallah, but 702 news says that they are totally off air.)

Primedia (702’s holding company) CEO Issie Kirsch billed Ram FM as an Israeli version of Talk Radio 702 and hoped that it could provide a forum for debate between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel claims that the reason for the lockdown is because the station was operating without the required broadcasting permits. According to the Jerusalem Post, a Communications Ministry Spokesperson said that the broadcasts were interfering with air traffic communication. He added that “every pirate station that lacks the proper license is closed in this manner”.

Kirsch has previously stated that it took a long time to get through all of the beaurocratic red tape. RAM FM contend that they do have the required permits. Speaking on 702 today their station manager claimed that they haven't received any warnings from Israel urging them to stop broadcasting.

I hope Israel explains the heavy handed nature of the clampdown. Seven people working at the Ramallah station were arrested and were detained overnight. South African journalist Mark Klusener was handcuffed and shackled and is now under house arrest. Bail has been posted at a whopping 25 000 Shekels (about R53 000).

Reuters reports that Israel says it has been trying to clean up broadcasting frequencies. Pirate stations have been accused of interfering with air traffic control radios at the country's main airport.

Israel's Foreign Press Association has called for the immediate release of the detained RAM FM employees.

Update

702 evening news ran a statement from a senior reporter at RAM FM who said that this is purely a legal matter and is not a political matter.

Kasrils on the Offensive...Lies...Again

In its most basic form, propaganda is about presenting information in order to influence thought and behaviour. Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa’s Jewish Minister of Intelligence, has become a master at this, selectively cherrypicking facts and quotes in order to encourage his hate filled anti-Israel viewpoints.

The Star yesterday featured a full page article about Deir Yassin written by Kasrils entitled “Remembering the Massacre – A call to confront the past.”

The piece is a perfect example of Kasrilspeak and is highlighted by the huge image, lying above the fold, of a tragic scene at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. The disturbing images, crudely displaying the sprawled bodies of dead Palestinians, sets the scene for the tone of Kasrils’ article which relies on Palestinian descriptions of alleged Israeli brutality “...then he cut her stomach open with a butcher’s knife.” The brutal images and loaded descriptions are designed to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the subject matter, in an attempt to manipulate the audience’s cognitive narrative of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

I think the image presents us with a case for an appeal to the Press Ombudsman requesting a correction from the newspaper because no Israelis took part in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. The horrifically graphic image, with the dead bodies of Palestinians in the background, lends credence to the hateful arguments made by Kasrils. It adds a reality, a substance, to the argument. It is also totally misleading.

The caption reads, “Killed like animals: Bodies lie at Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, in this 1982 file picture. The writer argues that because Israel was allowed to get away with mass killings of Palestinians such as the Deir Yassin slaughter, it simply continued on its bloody path.”

Again, no Israeli took part in the Sabra and Shatila massacres. The massacres were perpetrated by Christian Phalangists who were but one of the various warring factions in the Lebanese civil war. Israel had sided with the Christian group, and Ariel Sharon was later held indirectly responsible for failing to foresee the potential for a massacre when the Phalangists entered the refugee camps. Israel had allowed the Phalangists to enter the camp as part of a plan to transfer authority to the Lebanese. It was thought that Lebanon’s geopolitical situation would compel the Christians to seek good relations with the rest of the Arab world and prevent the potential for any retaliatory massacres. That’s a far cry from the message that the picture sends -- that Israelis slaughtered the Palestinians -- slaughtered them like animals.

I don’t understand why The Star is running a full page feature on Deir Yassin. Would they ever run a full page piece on a Palestinian perpetrated massacre of Jews that occurred more than 50 years ago? The answer is no. Why is it that the slaughter of Jews at Hebron, Kfar Etzion or Maalot (to name a few) is deliberately erased?

The article embodies the standard red-rhetoric that we have come to expect from Kasrils, replete with grotesque descriptions of events that even Arab spokespeople from 1947 have denied took place. For Kasrils, accusations that support his argument magically transform into uncontested facts. An example; Kasrils speaks of rapes, sexual assault and the splitting of stomachs of pregnant women.

The allegation - made by a British official who had an ireful relationship with the Jews - that acts of sexual assault had taken place has been hotly contested, most notably by eye witness Arab survivors.

Mohamed Radwan[1], who fought in the battle on the side of the Arabs says, “There were no rapes. It's all lies. There were no pregnant women who were slit open. It was propaganda that... Arabs put out so Arab armies would invade.”

Ayish Zeidan[2], a teenage survivor said “There had been no rape. The Arab radio at the time talked of women being raped, but this is not true.”

Hussein Khalidi[3], a Palestinian leader at the time said “We have to say this [about rape], so that Arab armies will come to liberate us from the Jews.”

I could go on and on, but what’s the point? Do we remain stuck in the blood of previous grievances or do we look forward and ask what we can do today that will make tomorrow better?

Later in the article, Kasrils cites a list of Israeli “massacres” (he includes Jenin 2002). Do we need to respond defensively, explaining once again, that the reports of a “massacre” in Jenin were Palestinian lies and that this was corroborated by the UN investigators. Should we need to explain the context of the Israeli operations, detailing the Palestinian provocations that forced Israel to respond? Or do we need to perhaps respond aggressively, providing our own list of Arab massacres where Israelis have been killed? This is the childish level of debate to which Kasrils descends.

Kasrils cites 254 as the number of Arabs killed at Deir Yassin. Anyone versed on the literature however, knows that there is consensus today that the number of dead did not exceed 120 – a fact concluded by Palestinian researchers at the West Bank Bir Zeit University .

I don’t mean to argue over the numbers, but in this case the use of the number 254 is quite revealing. Prior to the research at Bir Zeit university, 254 was generally accepted as the correct number of deaths. Could it be that Kasrils is relying on outdated sources for his facts, instead of doing a thorough research of the new literature on the topic?

Earlier today I watched the controversial film “Fitna” by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. The film has been slammed all around the world as inciting hatred against Muslims. But what is the difference between a film like Fitna, which abuses actual facts to make its provocative statement, and this article by Kasrils, which distorts every element of the truth in order to foment hatred of Israelis? Fitna makes it seem as if Muslims view the lives of non-Muslims as worthless. Kasrils claims Israelis regard Arab life as worthless. (“Israelis will continue to regard Arab life as worthless and will continue to live by the sword and deceit...”) This shared message however, will not produce a shared condemnation.

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre
[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre
[3] - BBC report, Israel and the Arabs, cited in The Case for Israel, Dershowitz

Update

• The Star Sticks to Old Lies to Support Kasrils

I Kill Jew!

Al-Qaida No. 2 vows group will attack Jews across world

Now, now, before you get upset please remember that it's important to understand the historical experiences and cultural forms that lead to particular junctures.

Yesterday's April Fools Joke

Fittingly for April Fool's Day, yesterday our Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, made his comeback to the letters section of the South African media.

The Star: Zapiro's cartoon was right on the money Ronnie Kasrils, MP In his misinterpretation of a Zapiro cartoon, David Saks illustrates the mindset that underpins Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians (The Star, March 28), shamelessly justifying the fascist doctrine of collective punishment of an entire people or community against any act of resistance from within their midst. Thus we have seen the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip under siege and bombardment for the initial capture of a single Israeli soldier; or the 1 500 Lebanese civilians butchered for the capture of two Israeli soldiers; or the years of death and destruction on the besieged West Bank population. One need merely note how Saks blithely refers to any act of resistance against Israeli Jews, including rocket fire and suicide bombings, as being carried out, not by individuals or specific groups, but by Palestinians in general, clearly signifying his endorsement of Israel’s disproportionate retaliation against a whole population. He tries to argue that Israel shows remarkable restraint, which is exactly the same language used by apartheid’s rulers in their repression of our people. While Israel will mark its 60th anniversary in May this year April 9 sees another 60th anniversary; one of the most infamous of the many barbaric massacres carried out against Palestinians, where Jewish terrorists slaughtered 254 men, women and children in cold blood at the village of Deir Yassin. Those like Saks who will no doubt be celebrating Israel’s establishment or intend holding Passover prayers in Cape Town’s Slave Lodge would do well to consider how the continuing tragedies of Deir Yassin undermine the chances for peace and reconciliation. This would assist them in acknowledging the roots of the conflict, the irony of which Zapiro’s cartoon so brilliantly illustrates.

It's the same old claptrap that we have come to expect from Kasrils. I don't think it warrants a response. His tactics are simple - repeat the same lies over and over and over again.

If not Annapolis, what then?

Next Wednesday night (9th April), the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) is hosting what could potentially be a very interesting debate on the future of the peace process in the Middle East. With rockets raining down on Israeli civilian population centres and the resumption of Israeli military incursions into Gaza, peace seems much further away than it did last November. Even on the political front, not much has changed. Fatah looks as weak, incompetent and corrupt as ever; while Israel has dragged its feet with regard to removing checkpoints and freezing settlement construction. I can’t really see that any meaningful progress has been made since the Annapolis summit.

The SAZF debate entitled “If not Annapolis, what then?” will hopefully flesh out some of these issues. The diverse panel, consisting of Chief Rabbi Goldstein, Judge Dennis Davis and Tim Hughes from the SA Institute of International Affairs, will certainly produce interesting viewpoints. A couple of years ago, I watched Judge Davis and Chief Rabbi Goldstein spar over Israel at a previous SAZF debate. It can get quite heated! I recall Davis, mocking Goldstein that his only source of information on the Middle East was Commentary Magazine. Over the years Davis’ criticisms of the Chief have become even more aggressive. In his regular column in the Jewish Report, Davis of late never misses an opportunity to take a pot shot at the conservative orthodox establishment and what he calls the “Zionist pit bulls”.

I think it is going to make for a thoroughly entertaining evening and I’m going to do my best to be there.

Israel: From Dugard’s Apartheid state to Falk’s Third Reich

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) stooped to an all time anti-Israel low with the appointment of Richard Falk as investigator on Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories. Not only has he likened Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis and accused the Jewish state of genocidal tendencies but he has the added advantage of also being Jewish. In addition he is a professor of international law at Princeton University.

Falk is set to replace South African anti-Apartheid lawyer John Dugard, who has held the job for the past 7 years. Dugard was notorious for his assertion that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza resembles Apartheid. More recently he defended Palestinian use of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians as a legitimate form of resistance. How one wonders could the UNHRC have ever have found a worse candidate. But with Falk they have outdone themselves. The only more hurtful analogy for Israel than Apartheid is comparing it to Nazi Germany and Falk is a champion of this libel.

Last year in an article, Slouching Toward a Palestinian Holocaust, written at the request of the Turkish daily newspaper ZAMAN, Falk clearly articulates his extreme anti-Israel views. He begins by explaining why the Nazi Holocaust was as close to unconditional evil as has been revealed throughout the entire bloody history of the human species and then goes on to ask whether, given this, it is an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity? His answer is an emphatic no. He writes

‘the recent developments in Gaza are especially disturbing because they express so vividly a deliberate intention on the part of Israel and its allies to subject an entire human community to life-endangering conditions of utmost cruelty... The suggestion that this pattern of conduct is a holocaust-in-the-making represents a rather desperate appeal to the governments of the world and to international public opinion to act urgently to prevent these current genocidal tendencies from culminating in a collective tragedy.’

He also likens the support of the leading democracies for Israel to the way the European democracies paid homage to Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games. It is this international support, he argues, that makes Israel’s actions far more serious than any of the genocides from Rwanda to Bosnia that have been committed since the Nazi Holocaust. He states

‘But Gaza is morally far worse, although mass death has not yet resulted. It is far worse because the international community is watching the ugly spectacle unfold while some of its most influential members actively encourage and assist Israel in its approach to Gaza.’

Personally I just don’t get how if mass death has not resulted it can be genocide let alone worse than Rwanda or Bosnia.

Not surprisingly Falk is also an apologist for Hamas. He claims that their leadership has revealed a willingness to move toward an acceptance of Israel’s existence if Israel would in turn agree to move back to its 1967 borders, implementing finally unanimous Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. And more importantly they have sought a ten-year truce with Israel, which is in Israel’s best security interests even more so than a peace agreement. I just don’t know what planet this guy lives on.

But worst of all Falk voices his strident opposition to Israeli actions as a Jew. As he puts it ‘it is especially painful for me, as an American Jew, to feel compelled to portray the ongoing and intensifying abuse of the Palestinian people by Israel through a reliance on such an inflammatory metaphor as ‘holocaust.’’ And it is that pain that will be used to immediately clear him of any charge of anti-Semitism.

And so the UNHRC has found their perfect upgrade for John Dugard. Boy, is it going to be a long 7 years. I guess the only hope is that the extremely radical nature of Falk’s message serves to effectively discredit what is otherwise on paper a very credible messenger.

Rhodes University to Honour Zapiro and John Pilger

Since we have just been chatting about Zapiro's cartoons, I though I would mention that Zapiro and John Pilger will be awarded honorary doctorates by Rhodes University tomorrow night. The Daily Dispatch reports

INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed journalist, author and award-winning documentary film-maker John Pilger will be given an honorary doctorate at the Rhodes University graduation in Grahamstown tomorrow. ... South Africans receiving honorary doctorates on Friday include: Rhodes-based radio astronomer Dr Bernard L Fanaroff (scientific); multi media artist William Kentridge (fine art); Chief Justice Pius Langa (law); and cartoonist Jonathan “Zapiro” Shapiro (law). Businessman Dr Reuel J Khoza (law) will be given his honorary doctorate on Saturday.

Qwelane's "Kirsch Shekels" Working Hard in Ramallah

The Muslim lobby, so publicly supporting Jon Qwelane's slur about the "Kirsch shekels", would be interested to know that those "shekels" are working hard, encouraging dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis from their secret hideout in Ramallah.

South African media consultant Raf Gangat operates electronic equipment in the studio of South African-owned radio station Ram FM, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, March 24, 2008. After a year on the air, the music station with studios in Jerusalem and the West Bank has attracted a diverse audience of tens of thousands, from Israeli soldiers and Palestinian students to West Bank villagers, Anglo immigrants, Filipino maids and foreign diplomats. But now RAM-FM, owned by Jewish businessman Issy Kirsh in South Africa, has greater ambitions. Modeled after a South African station that provided a venue for reconciliation after apartheid, RAM-FM wants to create a safe place for Israelis and Palestinians to talk, and make money in the process. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen

Thanks Soccerdad

Previously at IAS

• 702 style radio station for Ramallah

Muslim Lobby Needs Content

Two weeks since Jon Qwelane's embarrassing outburst about the Forum for Black Journalists and the media arm of the local Palestinian lobby (www.mediareviewnet.com/default.htm) is still featuring the article as an 'opinion piece' on it's home page.

I think their love of the article can be distilled into this neat little kernel of a quote.

If Abramjee, Katopodis, and Kammies are indeed concerned about our alleged "racism", then they are being disingenuously inconsistent: their uberbosses, the Kirsch family - the true owners of Primedia and 702 - are affiliates of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, yet I have not once heard even a whimper of protest by our unlikely liberators Sultan Abramjee and his cohorts. Charity ought to begin at home; Abramjee, Katopodis and the rest - if they are honest - must demand that the Kirsch dynasty cut ties with the exclusivist SAJBOD and ask the SAHRC to "investigate" it. Anything less means they are in reality grandstanding frauds, concerned only about the Kirsch shekels - which I strongly suspect to be the case.

Update at 27-03-2008

The article has since been removed from their site.

Islamophobia - Rational Fear or Prejudiced Hatred?

Al-Qaeda number two calls for strikes against US, Israel

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2008 (AFP) - The second-ranking leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, called for new strikes against Jewish and American interests in a new radio address monitored here. "Muslims, today is your day. Strike the interests of the Jews, the Americans, and all of those who participated in the attack on the Muslims,"

I wonder if the Mail & Guardian will call on local Muslims to condemn these statements the way they called on South African Jews to condemn Israeli policies.

Zapiro's Cartoon Jihad

The Anti Defamation League (ADL) in the US has sent out a communiqué protesting the recent barrage of anti-Semitic cartoons emanating from the Arab press: Arab Press Responds to Gaza Violence with Holocaust Analogies and Anti-Semitism.

Our own local award-winning cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro - aka Zapiro, has some cartoons that are strikingly similar to the worst of the worst from the Arab world. I don’t believe Zapiro’s cartoons stem from the same obviously anti-Semitic motives as the ones from the Arab world, but what is the essential difference between the message he sends and the message they send?

It’s disturbing how close the messages are.

• There is the use of cannibal imagery to represent our extreme levels of brutality.
• We are the new Nazis - doing to others what was once done to us.
• We abuse the Holocaust as a tool to justify the persecution of others.
• We smash and kill innocent, defenceless Palestinians who pose no threat to us.

Previously at IAS

• Zaptrash hits rock bottom

IAS Search: Zapiro

Why Israel ≠ Apartheid from a South African Perspective

One of the most comprehensive pieces I know of debunking and explaining the motivation behind the modern libel that Israel is an Apartheid state has been posted on a new website called Z word. It was written by 2 South Africans, Rhoda Kadalie & Julia Bertelsmann, who were victims of Apartheid’s racist laws. Rhoda is a human rights activist while Julia is a student at Harvard. The article can be found here: Franchising Apartheid - Why South Africans Push the Analogy

Their detailed analysis raises many interesting points. It explores the disconnect between ordinary South Africa (more of whom support Israel than the Palestinians) and a few rabidly anti-Zionist South Africans that seems to dominate Middle East debates. Why is it, they ask, that these few South Africans, many of whom were involved in fighting against Apartheid, would so happily franchise their struggle to the Palestinians? For example, they explore the motives behind Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils’ ‘Not in My Name Campaign’ in the context of broader minority politics in South Africa.

Kadalie & Bertelsmann don’t pull their punches. They accuse Kasrils and co of having ‘joined a cottage industry that exploits the Israel-apartheid analogy for personal and political gain’ and even argue that ‘their anti-Israel diatribes are sometimes barely distinguishable from antisemitism’. Tutu, Kasrils and Dugard they claim ‘behave as though human rights violations and terror do not matter unless there is an Israeli nearby on whom the crime can be blamed’.

A major part of the piece is also dedicated to explaining why this analogy between present day Israel and Apartheid South Africa is so flawed. The crux of course is, as they point out, that ‘racism and discrimination do not form the rationale for Israel's policies and actions.’ Thus Arab citizens of Israel can vote, serve in the parliament, sit on the same benches as Jews, attended the same schools and restaurants as Jew and so on. My favorite observation they make about the extensive dissimilarities between the 2 situations is that ‘South Africa had a job reservation policy for white people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action measures in some sectors.’ An Apartheid state indeed! Israel’s human rights record, although flawed, can hardly be compared with the behavior of her neighbours. On an objective assessment, Israel ranks as the only free country in the Middle East (the study was done by Freedom House). In addition the ANC government’s increasingly belligerent posture towards Israel is examined. They correctly see it as part of a return to the anti-Western fulminations of the Cold War era. As we at IAS have tried to expose on so many occasions, South Africa rarely misses an opportunity, from Iran to neighbouring Zimbabwe, to coddle up with dictators and tyrants who are seen to be fighting against the dominance of the Developed World.

Interestingly the South African Jewish community also comes in for some criticism. The authors feel that the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) should have been more strident in opposing the ANC government’s Middle East foreign policy. While this is a position I passionately support, it would be informative to know what exactly they feel the SAJBD should be doing. Perhaps, given Kadalie’s struggle background, she could give us some tips on what can be done to advance a more balanced portrayal of Israel in South Africa.

Despite its criticism, South African Jewry should be open enough to embrace the authors. It is so important to remember that we are not alone and we do still have friends. I hope the article will get widespread coverage throughout the community. With the author’s permission, it should be published in the Jewish Report and distributed in the schools at a minimum.

Update at 2008-03-16

Zev Krengel, Chairman of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, has responded to criticism levelled at his leadership recently published in the above essay. Krengel responds to two main charges - (1) that the SAJBD's "supine" approach to government is indirectly creating an atmosphere where the ANC more readily bashes Israel, and (2) that there has been a rise in anti-Semitism in South Africa.

Read the response here: SA Jewish Leader Responds to Criticism

The Egyptian Apartheid Wall

This makes the apartheid we endured in South Africa look like a 'sunday picnic'.

A Palestinian man sits on the ruins of a concrete wall that used to separate Egyptian Rafah with the southern Gaza Strip, January 2008. Egypt has started building a three-metre (10 foot)-high concrete wall along its border with the Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent a repetition of a January breach which saw Palestinians flood into Egypt, a security official told AFP.

COSATU Calls for Sanctions Against Israel

I’ve just come across a recent COSATU press release dated 3 March 2008. It’s really frightening and is the sort of stuff that can effectively chase Jews away from South Africa.

COSATU is a partner in the Tripartite Alliance together with the ANC and the South African Communist Party. Bear in mind that COSATU has renewed strength and power since Jacob Zuma's election to the ANC presidency. They are his strongest backers and certainly have the ‘ear’ of the president.

I don’t wish to come across as alarmist, but this venom really does frighten me. Zuma himself has called to 'mobilise our people to condemn Israel and its backers.' Are my fears unwarranted?

COSATU condemns Israeli massacre Patrick Craven, COSATU National Spokesperson, 3 March 2008 COSATU is outraged and disgusted at the latest massacres by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza, which have claimed an estimated 100 Palestinian lives in the past five days alone, most of them civilian women and children. The Israelis have even targeted ambulances, trapping the injured people inside. There can be absolutely no justification for such brutality. While United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon has rightly condemned the violence as a “disproportionate and excessive use of force”, that is too mild; COSATU sees the Israeli attacks as nothing less than mass murder, an escalation of the ongoing genocidal campaign to crush and destroy the people of Palestine. COSATU reaffirms its 2006 National Congress resolution which pledged solidarity and support to the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom, and demanded that: • Our government should impose sanctions against Israel until the aggression on Palestine and Lebanon is stopped. • We should step up the campaign for the release of Palestinian prisoners. • COSATU members must boycott Israeli goods and demonstrations must be held at the embassies of Israel and the United States in South Africa. • The government must end with immediate affect the diplomatic ties with Israel including recalling the ambassador. COSATU will support any moves by the South African government to promote peace in the Middle East and advance the struggle of the oppressed people of Palestine for national sovereignty and human rights, and appeals to the workers of the world to take to the streets to show their disgust at these Israel atrocities and demonstrate their solidarity with legitimate fight of the oppressed masses of Palestine.

The ANC press release wasn’t much better. You can read it at the ANCToday website: Stop the collective punishment of the Palestinian people

According to a Pew[1] Global Attitudes study in 2007 28 percent of South Africans overall sided with Israel compared to 19 percent which sided with the Palestinians? So why such one sided hostility from our leaders? To me its clear that the Palestinian lobby exerts great political influence in South Africa. COSATU has even used their terminology calling the IDF, Israeli Occupation Forces. I wonder if Craven even wrote this. Take a look at the similarities between their press release and this one from a local Palestinian lobby group.

* Apologies to anyone who clicks on the COSATU link. I reckon the person who advises them on policy is the same person who does their website. I hope your eyes are ok.

[1] Pew Global Attitudes Project: Spring 2007 Survey of 47 Publics," Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2007

Zaptrash Hits Rock Bottom

There really are no words to express my dismay at the new lows that Zapiro has descended to. This cartoon mocks a class at a Jewish school teaching about the suffering endured by Jews throughout our history.

I wonder if the timing of the cartoon is deliberate. Perhaps it’s his schadenfreude way of quietly celebrating the very recent suffering endured when an Arab terrorist killed 8 children at their Jewish school. The peaceful school he mocks is a far cry from these images of horror.

Zapiro has never used his serpentine pen to sympathise with the suffering of ‘the other’ in this conflict. It’s always the Palestinians...to him, the most oppressed people ever.

Below is an image of the 8 children who lost their lives in what Zapiro describes as legitimate 'resistance'.

A Proud People

Watch this awful video of proud Palestinians in Gaza celebrating Thursday's terror attack on school children at a yeshivah in Jerusalem. Guns, sweets and death.

No matter what the Palestinians do, whether it's celebrate death or post photos boasting of future terrorist attacks, the local media, local intelligentsia and ANC continue to look aside, pretending that they are the innocent, 'most oppressed people ever' that the influential South African Islamist lobbies will have us believe.

Naomi Chazan writes

Gazans rejoice killing Israel's children (but Israel is guilt ridden if they mistakenly kill a Gazan civilian.) Gazans launch missiles and intentionally target Israeli citizens. Gazans launch their missiles from mosques, schools, homes,trucks, rooftops. Gazans cry "foul" when Israel destroys the rocket launchers. Gazans use human shields as part of their terrorist strategy but cry "foul" if they are in the way of Israels retaliation. If Gazans stopped all these acts of terror there would be peace. If Israel stopped defending the country, there would be no Israel!

Related

• The root (canal) cause of terror

South Africa Cajoled into Voting for Iran Sanctions

In a surprising move last week South Africa voted for a resolution imposing greater sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). While of course I believe that the ultimate decision was the right one, I don’t know how, given South Africa’s stated positions on the issue, the Department of Foreign Affairs will be able to justify it. They had previously raised serious objections to the very resolution they landed up voting for and their official explanation for their vote does not mention a single positive reason for the resolution

The answer to why South Africa voted as it did, must lie in the visit to this country of French President Nicolas Sarkozy with a bunch of economic goodies days before the UNSC meeting.

Originally South Africa’s major objection to the resolution was the obligatory inspection provision in respect of certain Iranian vessels and aircraft. Rather embarrassingly, our UN Ambassador Dumisani Khumalo used South Africa’s administrative incompetence as the reason. He was quoted as saying:

"We just want to be sure that that is done right if it's ever done, because it's an obligation (for us). We wouldn't want confrontation on our shores. And what happens if you search the wrong boat? ... It may be an Iranian boat but it may be an innocent one. They'll sue us."

Yet this requirement was not changed in the final draft and South Africa still voted for the resolution. In their explanation, the DFA goes even further and warns that this inspection requirement ‘could spark confrontation and further threaten international peace and security’. If this is the case, then why would they have supported such a resolution?

Furthermore, South Africa argues that this resolution serves to undermine the work and authority of the IAEA. Fighting against the centralization of power in the hands of the Security Council by ensuring that all the organs of the UN adhere to a stick definition of their roles has been South Africa’s only guiding principle in its voting in New York, Vienna and Geneva. This was the basis that was used to justify our abhorrent vote on Burma for example. And yet now we have supported a resolution that the government itself claims violated this principle.

So how then does the government justify its vote? ‘To preserve previous decisions of the Council, which Iran has not fully implemented’. But the official explanation then argues that Iran’s failure to halt its uranium enrichment is only a minor infringement and that this is an unjust condition anyway. In fact the DFA’s official statement makes it clear that halting uranium enrichment is only a temporary requirement that will be lifted once the IAEA has given Iran the all clear. And given that South Africa feels ‘it can be said that since all the outstanding issues have now been clarified there ought to be, to that extent at least, increased confidence in the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme’ why would Iran’s refusal to halt enrichment be a problem for our government?

The truth is that South Africa did not want to vote for this resolution. They don’t support it one bit. It violates their ideological position and will seriously harm their relationship with their friends in the Islamic Republic. But when push came to shove the Government chose the pragmatic option. French help in overcoming our crippling power crisis and R5 billion in investment aid was too sweet an offer to refuse.

While of course I am happy that economic good sense prevailed over the ANC’s usual Third World solidarity, it does create the perception that South Africa’s UN vote will always belong to the highest bidder.

So much more so with JZ as president.