Mbeki Continues to Surprise

When it comes to Israel and the Middle East, the presidency of Thabo Mbeki has not been short of surprises. Despite this country’s overt support for the Palestinians (nothing wrong with that if it doesn’t include anti-Israel prejudices), President Mbeki has shown a confusing willingness to strengthen ties with Israel.

In contrast to antagonistic steps such as South Africa’s decision to present evidence against Israel’s security barrier at the International Court of Justice at the Hague, Mbeki has also taken many conciliatory steps, most notably the invitation to the then deputy Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert, his congratulations letter sent to former PM Ariel Sharon after the Gaza withdrawal, and the strengthening of trade ties between the two countries.

Last week came the latest surprise, (and one which will raise temperatures at the various Palestinian pressure groups) when President Mbeki appeared as a guest at the Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) celebrations in Durban.

The SA Jewish Report had the details (and the picture)

A Distinguished Guest at Durban Yom Ha’atzmaut The highlight of the evening was a most unique guest - President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki, along with national ANC officebearers and the KwaZulu-Natal ANC leaders, had been in a six hour meeting held at the Durban Jewish Centre during the day, and he dropped in to wish the Jewish community well on such a celebratory occasion. “All of us are very keen to indeed respond to all the problems of people, black and white. We can’t allow the internal problems of the ANC to spill over onto the people,” Mbeki stated. Looking around the hall, Mbeki said he could see “many potential presidents” among the youngest guests. He explained that his desire was for “this generation to be able to answer the questions of the next generation” and by working together, we could all create a better future for our children.”

South Africa has always remained committed to the two state solution. The sincerity of this stance was impressed upon me 2 years ago when Andre Zaaiman, South Africa’s adviser on international conflicts, speaking to the Jewish community, specifically said, “we need one Palestinian state; not two.”

That said, Mbeki clearly wants to have it both ways. We should not let this diplomatic advance cloud our views of his government, which after failing to condemn Iran's calls to destroy Israel, brazenely sent the most ardent anti-Zionist cabinet minister to Iran on a visit intended to strengthen ties and show solidarity (and perhaps praise the wisdom of their nuclear programme?).

Comments

[mike]

I think this story is bizarre. Why did Mbeki and the ANC KZN officials (including Zuma) hold a meeting at the Jewish Club of all places? Surely there are better conference facilities in Durban.

[Rev M S Hove]

We in Zim are studying his style (or lack of it!)

Radical Soldier of Zimbabwe.

www.zimfinalpush.blogspot.com

[Rev M S Hove]

We in Zim are watching his antics with a keen eye!

www.zimfinalpush.blogspot.com

[Steve]

He has let down the people of Zimbabwe. The damage has been done. We can only hope that the next President of this country is willing to place the freedom of ordinary people ahead of old alliances between rulers.

[Gary]

South Africa's foreign policy is based on a Satanic impulse to suport everything that is evil in the world today, whether it is Hamas, the PLO and Hezbullah or the current regimes in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Iran, Myanmar, Red China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.
There is no other explanation other than a spiritual attraction to the dark side.

[Steve]

Ummm...of course the views of the commentators are not those of the authors of this blog. And that applies in particular to the above comment.

"Satanic"?

The "Dark side"?

come on...

[Lawrence]

the explanation is to oversimplify, this: the ANC, given its history as anti-white anti-West and supposedly anti-colonialist and thus anti-capitalist (in reality the ANC is anything but anti-capitialist, however it pays lip service to anti-capitalism and thus anti-Americanism too), suffers from the ubiquitous human failing of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" delusion, and thus makes ties with all who like the ANC, are anti-West, anti-European (in the broad sense of the word), anti-American and anti-Jewish. Anti-Jewish since the fuel of "Leftist" Jew-hatred is, to oversimplify again, the deeply held belief that the Jew is the personificaton of the privileged super-rich oppressive elite.

Hamas hates the Jews, Hezbollah hates the Jews, etc etc; so does the ANC (they also of course need a scapegoat to turn attention away from their enormous failures and incompetence, wonder who that's going to be?) - so they are natural allies.

Much more complex though, of course, but this is just a few brief comments posted on a weblog.

[Steve]

Lawrence, do you really believe that the ANC as an entity is anti-Jewish? What does that mean? Does that mean that every ANC member hates Jews?

You seem to have compared Hamas's hatred of Jews to the ANC. How do you support this comparison? When has the ANC specifically targetted Jews in terror attacks?

Does the ANC freedom charter embrace the protocols of the elders of Zion?

Do the ANC treat jews in South Africa any different from the way other minority groups are treated?

Their support for the Palestinians is based on a shared revolutionary romance. It is based on the PLO support during apartheid. It is based on the perception of the Palestinians as the under dogs and Israel as the Goliath. It is based on the perception of Israel as the 'whites' and the Palestinians as the 'blacks'. It is based on an anti-Western ideological position. It is based on, as you said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

How do you support your position that they just 'hate Jews'?

Also, how do you support your view that the ANC has a history of being 'anti-white'. It could be argued that today they are somewhat 'anti-white' but that betrays their history as well as their former leaders.

over the majority of their existence since 1912 I could never agree that they are 'anti-white'. The nationalist strand within the ANC that was 'anti-white' split off to form what is now the PAC.

[Gary]

Steve, if the ANC suports Hamas, Hezbullah and the Ahmadinejad regime, which are all, by your own admition anti-semitic, then the ANC are surely anti-semitic.
Just as one can surmise that those who supported Hitler during World War II were anti-Semitic.
Now you'll probabely say that Hamas/Hezbullah/Ahmadinejad are not the same as the Nazis and Hitler, but their aim is to wipe out the 5 million Jews of Israel, which would be two fifths of world Jewry, in the same way that Hitler wiped out a third of world Jewry.
As regards your problem with my description of the ANC's Satanic foreign policy, what else could you use to describe suport for every genocidal and massmurdering regime and terrorist organization on the planet,today?

[Gary]

Steve, if the ANC suports Hamas, Hezbullah and the Ahmadinejad regime, which are all, by your own admition anti-semitic, then the ANC are surely anti-semitic.
Just as one can surmise that those who supported Hitler during World War II were anti-Semitic.
Now you'll probabely say that Hamas/Hezbullah/Ahmadinejad are not the same as the Nazis and Hitler, but their aim is to wipe out the 5 million Jews of Israel, which would be two fifths of world Jewry, in the same way that Hitler wiped out a third of world Jewry.
As regards your problem with my description of the ANC's Satanic foreign policy, what else could you use to describe suport for every genocidal and massmurdering regime and terrorist organization on the planet,today?

[mike]

Gary, do you think that Japan was anti-Semitic because they supported Nazi Germany in the war? Or that Communist Russia wasn’t because they fought with the allies? Similarly, South Africa’s support (as vile as it may be to me) for Iran, Cuba etc does not make them anti-Semitic. International foreign policy does not revolve exclusive around Jews.

[Gary]

What I would describe as anti-semitic is South Africa being among 22 countries that did not vote for the resolution at the UN condemmning holocaust denial, South Africa being one of the few countries that voted against Israel joining the International Red Cross, and one of the few non-Islamic countries to give testimony in the Hague against Israel's security fence so that Arab terrorists could enter Israel to kill Jews.

just because the ANC charter does not call for the killing of Jews and the SABC does not broadcast documentaries on how the Jews kill Christian children to make matzah and official ANC news-sheets do not reprint the Protocols of Zion as historical truth, does not mean the ANC is not anti-Semitic. And obviously not all ANC members are anti-semitic, it's a generalisation duh.

If the ANC supports policies in the Middle-East that seriously undermines and reduces the ability of Israel to defend its citizens from terrorists, while at the same time giving overt support and praise to self-same terrorists who call for the liquidation of millions of Jews/the destruction of Israel(see the ANC and its praise and support for the self-confessed jihadist Arafat, its disgraceful buddy-buddy relationship with the Islamofascist regime of Iran over its entire time as the ruling govt party ie from 1994); if the ANC indulges in routine condemnation of Israel for defending or trying to defend its citizens right to life even through non-violent means like a security barrier, if the ANC has nothing to say about tyranny, mass murder/genocide and mass rapes, pillaging, burnings, dismemberments and torture, the displacement of hundreds of thousands in numerous conflicts on our own tragic continent of Africa, then yes that does make the ANC anti-Semitic, obviously. And not just the ANC...

As for the ANC's support for the Palestinians being motivated by a "revolutionary" bond with the ANC and other "struggle" movements or whatever you want to call it, most everybody doesn't see the obvious here, namely support for the Palestinians is just a front for Jew-hatred, and always has been. Oh but I'm not allowed to point out the obvious how can I forget, even most Jews don't get it. If the Palestinians were not at war with the Jews, but with fellow Arabs, Christian or Muslim nobody, the ANC included, would give a damn, and the whole Palestinian issue would be largely ignored altogether. Like when Hamas and Fatah slaughter one another where are all the so-called bleeding hearts? I can give other examples.

Obviously anti-Semites are going to hide their Jew-hatred behind all sorts of cover terms and agendas (like Palestinian solidarity), They cannot admit they hate the Jews in an explicit, overt way, not even to themselves. becuase the nthey would have to admit they are not better than the coloniailst supremacists and fascists they are opposed to.

just because all high-ranking ANC members are not anti-Semitic (case in point Mbeki, who is probably not anti-Semitic, he is just clueless). However other members are, like Kasrils. Or maybe Steve will tell me that Kasrils isn't anti-Semitic 'cause he's a Jew and he doesn't deny the Holocaust blab

sheesh

[Lawrence]

just because the ANC charter does not call for the killing of Jews and the SABC does not broadcast documentaries on how the Jews kill Christian children to make matzah and official ANC news-sheets do not reprint the Protocols of Zion as historical truth, does not mean the ANC is not anti-Semitic. And obviously not all ANC members are anti-semitic, it's a generalisation duh.

If the ANC supports policies in the Middle-East that seriously undermines and reduces the ability of Israel to defend its citizens from terrorists, while at the same time giving overt support and praise to self-same terrorists who call for the liquidation of millions of Jews/the destruction of Israel(see the ANC and its praise and support for the self-confessed jihadist Arafat, its disgraceful buddy-buddy relationship with the Islamofascist regime of Iran over its entire time as the ruling govt party ie from 1994); if the ANC indulges in routine condemnation of Israel for defending or trying to defend its citizens right to life even through non-violent means like a security barrier, and if at the same time, the ANC has nothing to say about tyranny, mass murder/genocide and mass rapes, pillaging, burnings, dismemberments and torture, the displacement of hundreds of thousands in numerous conflicts on our own tragic continent of Africa, then yes that does make the ANC anti-Semitic, obviously. And not just the ANC...

As for the ANC's support for the Palestinians being motivated by a "revolutionary" bond with the ANC, as fellow "struggle" movements or whatever you want to call it, and not Jew-hatred; most everybody doesn't see the obvious here. Namely support for the Palestinians is just a front for Jew-hatred, and always has been. It is just that it is merely cloaked in the "revolutionary" langauge of Marxism and the like.

Oh but I'm not allowed to point out the obvious. Simply not polite. How can I forget, even most Jews don't get it, not at all. If the Palestinians were not at war with the Jews, but with fellow Arabs, Christian or Muslim then nobody, the ANC included, would give a damn, and the whole Palestinian issue would be largely ignored altogether, it would be off the radar screen. Like when Hamas and Fatah slaughter one another where are all the so-called bleeding hearts? I can give other examples.

Obviously "progressive" anti-Semites are going to hide their Jew-hatred behind all sorts of cover terms and slogans (like Palestinian solidarity). They cannot admit they hate the Jews in an explicit, overt way, not even to themselves. Because then they would have to admit they are no better than the colonialist supremacists and fascists (real or imagined) they are opposed to, and to face this terrible truth about themselves is simply impossible for them as a whole, being "progressive" you see.

just because all high-ranking ANC members are not anti-Semitic (case in point Mbeki, who is probably not anti-Semitic, he is just clueless, like most people, including most Jews), does not mean the ANC is not a party that positively revels in Jew-hatred. Many ANC high-ranking members are pathologically bigoted against Jewry, like Kasrils par example. Or maybe Steve will tell me that Kasrils isn't anti-Semitic 'cause he's a Jew and he doesn't deny the Holocaust blabla

As for the ANC rank and file, obviously not all of them are anti-Semitic, hardly. probably no more or less so than the DA rank and file or the SA populace as a whole, but as a political party with its official policies, official statements re the Middle-East etc, yes the ANC is anti-Semitic.

sheesh

[Gary]

Lawrence, I couldn't have said it better myself.
It's amazing how most Jews are worked up into a frenzy if someone denies the last holocaust happened, but are so apathetic regarding those, like Hamas and fat Ronnie, who are working to destroy 5 million more Jews.

[Gary]

Also Israel's struggle to survvie is undermined everytime some Jew denies that anti-Zionism=anti-Semitism.
To say that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is not one and the same thing is by logical deduction saying either that Israeli Jews, no longer count as Jews, by virtue of living in Israel, or that the blood of diaspora Jews is redder than the blood of Israeli Jews.

[Valintino]

Hello, Your site is great. Regards, Valintino Guxxi

[David All]

Steve and Mike are right. the ANC support the Palestinians because they see their fight as similar if not the same as the struggle of Black South Africans against the White minority. They are wrong about this, but it is understandable given their history that the current democratically elected South African govt feels this way.

And yes, anti-Zionism does not equate automatically to anti-Semitism. A lot of times it does, particularly in Europe, but in other places, such as South Africa it does not.
Oh, Gary & Lawrence calling policies that you oppose, Satanic, using old Joe McCarthy guilt by association charges and generally sounding rather unbalanced are not very persuasive arguements. (Although, your vehermance in attcking the ANC does remind me of the Two Minute Hate in Orwell's novel "1984"!)

Finally, seems ironic that Mbeki makes friendly gestures to Israel, perhaps the ANC wants to increase South Africa's trade with Israel especially concerning high-tech items.