It's Almost Supernatural

Kasrils Abuses His Public Office

South African Minister of Intelligence and arch anti-Zionist Ronnie Kasrils is once again using his influential government position to bully the South African Jewish community and spread his anti-Israel hatred.

A couple of weeks ago, Steve blogged about the South African Human Rights Council’s (SAHRC) finding that Kasrils’ comment—Israelis are behaving like Nazis—did not amount to hate speech as defined by the South African Constitution.

Kasrils has now published the SAHRC opinion on the front page of the official website of the South African Ministry of Intelligence under the heading ‘what’s new’.

It is completely unacceptable that Kasrils is using government resources to publicise his personal anti-Israel agenda, which is contrary to South Africa’s official foreign policy. This takes blurring the distinction between self, party and state to the extreme. Like his good friend in North Korea, Kim Jong-il, Red Ronnie sees himself as his ministry and his ministry as himself. This is extremely dangerous for democracy in South Africa.

I have decided to launch a complaint with the public protector for this abuse of public office. Any examples of similar corrupt behaviour by our good Minister would be welcome for my case.

Yom HaShoah

Today was Yom Hashoah, the day when we commemorate the 6 million Jews who were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

I attended the excellent commemoration at West Park cemetery today. At the ceremony we were all given the book ‘60 days for 6 million’.

The book is the product of an inspiring project aimed at remembering those that perished in Nazi Europe. The book contains 60 essays by renowned Rabbi’s, historians, scholars and educators. Each book comes with a card containing the name and details of someone who perished in the Holocaust. The idea is to read one essay per day for 60 days in memory of the victim’s name that you received.

Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein comments
“60 days for 6 Million involves each participant in the act of learning Torah in the merit of a particular victim of the Holocaust, thereby acknowledging the precious individuals who were murdered.”

I will be learning in order to remember that there once lived a person named Sara Ahl. Sara was born in Lwow, Poland in 1880 to Shmuel and Charna. She was a housewife and married to David. Prior to WWII she lived in Lwow, Poland. During the war was in Lwow, Poland. Sara perished in 1942 in Belzec at the age of 62. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed to the left) submitted by her daughter.

The ceremony concluded with the singing of the Holocaust hymn “the Partisan Song”. News of the Warsaw ghetto uprising of April 1943 inspired the Vilna poet and underground fighter Hirsh Glik to write the Partisan song. Glick was killed in 1944 at age 22 fighting in the partisan resistance. This song has become the hymn of the Holocaust and is sung all over the world when the Holocaust is commemorated.

An English translation of the Partisan Song is below

Come what may, you mustn’t say this is the end. Even though you walk alone without a friend. For the day that we all dreamed about is near, When we’ll shout to the world “We still are here.” From the land of sunshine to the land of snow, We’ll be coming and we’ll bring our song of woe, And where a drop of Jewish blood fell yesterday, On that very spot we’ll build again today. And the morning sun will banish all our woe, All our yesterdays will vanish with the foe. And if the sun does not appear to ring us light, Then this song will be our beacon in the night. For we wrote this song with blood and not with lead, When we lived not with the living but with the dead, And we sang this song behind the ghetto walls, When we cried for help, and no one heard our calls. That’s why they’ll never make us say this is the end, For we know somewhere some day we’ll find a friend, And the day that we all dreamed of will be near, When we’ll shout to the world “We still are here.”

Is South Africa Living Up to Its Responsibility as Africa's Leader?

We received an email last week from the Council of Foreign Relations informing us of an online debate on "Is South Africa Living Up to Its Responsibility as Africa's Leader?"

Francis Kornegay, a senior researcher at the Center for Policy Studies in Johannesburg, and Tom Wheeler, a research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs, are the debaters.

You can read the debate here: http://www.cfr.org/publication/12992/

It’s great to know that this prestigious publication is using blogs relevant to the topic of the debates to spread the word.

Here is a brief summary of the two arguments.

Francis Kornegay argues that South Africa is indeed measuring up to expectations as the leader of Africa when the correct frame of reference is applied; that is of Africa and the global South; rather than the usual preoccupation with Western expectations of ‘leadership’ and ‘responsibility’. (Kornegay obviously does not include Australia as part of the ‘Global South’; rather they form part of what he describes as ‘Global Apartheid’.)

Kornegay believes that the controversy surrounding our UNSC votes is more than offset by our leadership initiatives within Africa and beyond. There is much value in this point when considering our successes in the DRC, Burundi and the Ivory Coast.

Kornegay speaks highly of South Africa’s ‘leadership independence’. I disagree that our leadership is independent. Blindly following Russian and China behaviours at the UN surely indicates that our leadership falls far from that mark.

He offers an excuse for each of our controversial UNSC decisions I.e. he writes that our stance on Myanmar needs to be understood in terms of our need to leverage our influence on the issue of the Darfur crisis. Kornegay argues that the recent Chinese diplomacy with Sudan on the Darfur crisis is a result of our decision on Myanmar which better positioned us to engage China on Sudan. He excuses our refusal to place Zimbabwe on the UNSC agenda by explaining that it would have ‘complicated the current southern African strategy toward that country being spearheaded by Pretoria’. Does the complete and utter failure of this strategy (explained at commentry.co.za) not affect our report card?

Kornegay outrageously describes critics of the South African government and its policies as people who long for apartheid and boxes them in as part of the system of ‘global Apartheid’ (the Western dominated hierarchical global system). It is this ‘global apartheid’, says Kornegay, which informs South Africa’s politics and governance and focuses us on shaping a ‘new identity’.

Tom Wheeler takes a more critical stance arguing that our behaviour in the UN Security Council is in direct contradiction to the ANC’s stated uBuntu ideals wherein our fortunes are interconnected with the fortunes of others. There is a perception that we are merely paying lip-service to these ideals and that we have lost the moral high ground.

Wheeler argues that our responsibilities are not just global – but that they begin at home. The African Peer Review Mechanism provides African states with an opportunity to critique the quality of governance of African states that have signed up. When it came to South Africa’s turn to be reviewed, South Africa tried to dominate the process with our own self-aggrandising publicity material. The report was eventually compiled and much of it was highly critical of the ANC. Unfortunately much of it was eventually watered down to exclude politically sensitive issues, such as party financing and electoral system fairness.

Wheeler defends the right of civil society, international states, and foreign onlookers to citicise and debate South Africa’s foreign policy. The criticism is necessary to force South Africa to live up to the ideals it describes in documents such as the strategic plan of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Read the full debate and then weigh in on this debate by emailing the editors at [email protected]. Send us a copy of your views either by copying us on the email or copying the email into the comments section below.

SAJBD Responds to IAS Criticism

A couple of weeks ago we ran a post ‘Sweeping Anti-Semitism in South Africa Under the Carpet’ that was highly critical of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) for not publicising the disturbing findings of the South Africa Anti-Semitism report 2006 by the Institute of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University. This is their response:

You should really have consulted with the SAJBD before posting this item. Had you done so, you would have learned that, far from the SAJBD being unaware of the antisemitic incidents noted in the Tel Aviv University report, they were in fact the ones who provided the information in the first place (the SAJBD compiles annual reports for Tel Aviv University on antisemitism in SA). It really is a bit much that not only are others credited with the work that the SAJBD does, but also that that same work is then used to accuse us of not doing our job! So far as what the responses to the antisemitic incidents have been, these were not included in the report, the reasons being that the actual response process can be very long and involved (the Nussbaum's 'bomb threat' incident is still in the process of being followed up through the relevant channels) and because we prefer not to go public too much with our modus operandi. However, that does not mean that nothing is being done. For example, in the Durban night club stabbing, as well as with the above-mentioned Nussbaum incident, we were involved in assisting with laying charges, and the SAJBD is currently following up the latter case. In most cases, of course, the perpetrators of antisemitic incidents cannot be identified and it is not possible to do more than note them for the record. Whenever an opportunity of taking action presents itself, however, the SAJBD do not fail to take it. David Saks, Associate Director SAJBD

It should be noted that the website where we found the report did not credit the SAJBD with supplying the information. It just said that the report was compiled by 'Tel Aviv University' for the 'Institute of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism'. That is why we credited the report only to the Tel Aviv University.

We thank the SAJBD for making the effort to clear this up.

South Africa Spurs on Iran’s Nuclear Drive

In not so 'quiet' diplomacy, Ronnie Kasrils (South Africa’s Minister of Intelligence) on a visit to Iran on Tuesday expressed South Africa’s support for the Islamic Republics’ nuclear drive . In classic Kasrilsspeak he even went as far as praising ‘Iran's wise stand regarding its nuclear program’, according to the IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency).

Iran has consistently defied the IAEA and now the UN Security Council with regard to its nuclear program. And as a result, the international community, including South Africa, has been forced to impose sanctions. How can Minister Kasrils describe this as a ‘wise stand’? The only conclusion is that the South African government is now endorsing Iran’s illegal and dangerous nuclear behavior. So our government has once again demonstrated its moral bankruptcy in relation to its foreign policy. It is now clear to everyone that the former champion of human rights has become the chief apologist for tyranny.

Minister Kasrils often writes about how his ‘Jewish’ conscience obligates him to speak out against Israel. But where is his ‘Jewish’ conscience when it comes to the Islamic Republic of Iran? How could any self respecting Jew (no matter what his position on Israel) call for the strengthening of ties with a nation that is today at the forefront of Holocaust denial? In fact he seems to relish his role as South Africa’s de facto minister of totalitarian affairs.

Hamas Charter Promoted on PA TV

South African political commentator Allister Sparks may think that the Hamas charter is merely the tricky-to-change charter of a previous generation, but Hamas would probably disagree: Hamas Issues Islamic Call For Genocide on PA Television

(IsraelNN.com)While Hamas has sought to strike a moderate tone in order to renew international funding since the Mecca Agreement with Fatah, it continues the calls for genocide of Jews. In a recent sermon on PA TV, Hamas spokesman Dr. Ismail Radwan reiterated Hamas’s classic ideology that: * The Hour – the Islamic resurrection and end of days – is dependent on the killing of Jews by Muslims. * The remaining Jews will unsuccessfully attempt to hide, but the rocks and trees will expose them, calling out "there is a Jew behind me, kill him!" * "Palestine and the Al Aqsa mosque will not be liberated through summits nor by international resolutions, but it will be liberated through the rifle.," meaning that Israel will be destroyed through violence. The Hamas spokesman ended his sermon with a prayer to Allah to "take" Israel and the USA.

You can watch the video or read the text from Palestine Media Watch.

Comparing Hamas to the ANC has become a favourite past-time of Israel opponents but it is a comparison as murderous as the Hamas thugs themselves.

Compare the above extracts quoted on PA TV (which are from the Hamas charter) to the ANC Freedom charter which reads

We the people of South Africa declare for all our country and the world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no Government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all people; that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live, in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities: that only a democratic state, based on the will of the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief.

Inside Mugabe's Zimbabwe - Part 2

A terrorist never changes his spots

Crossing the Limpopo was the first time I have consciously experienced what Natan Sharansky terms a fear society. While images of economic collapse are ubiquitous, physical manifestations of Mugabe’s oppressive rule are much harder to find. In fact the only first hand evidence I had of Zimbabwe’s totalitarian regime was the numerous ‘police’ check points along the road to Bulawayo.

Ragged Zanu PF youth sporting luminous orange bibs with the label ‘Police’ are charged with the responsibility of searching all vehicles for illicit diamonds and gold (Mussolini’s Black Shirts could certainly have taught them a thing or two about dress code). But even these mini-Mugabes were far from menacing: their smiles were constant and they never missed an opportunity to send us on our way with the soothing words ‘enjoy your stay in Zimbabwe’.

Behind this façade of happy natives and courteous officials, however, lies a much more sinister reality. Through my interaction with double-thinkers and outright dissidents I was able to get a sense of the fear that such a reality emits. I was particularly shocked by a conversation I had with an elderly African man who had worked for my extended family for more than half a century. He told me that the spirits had become bad and it was time for him to go home (to his farm in a more rural part of Zimbabwe) to die. I attempted to press him on his veiled assertion about the deteriorating political situation. He responded by scolding me (not out of anger but unmistakable paternal like concern): ‘you must not say too much, otherwise you end up with a bullet in the back of the head’. And he would know. For his nephew who was an outspoken senior government official died under contested circumstances. The official cause of death was a car crash but his family question why then his body, which they saw in the casket, was riddled with bullet holes.

So how did it come to be that one of Africa’s most educated post-independence leaders is today one of Africa’s most brutal tyrants? I put this conundrum to one of Zimbabwe’s leading political analysts. His answer was surprising: a terrorist does not change his spots. The means, he went on, are important for he, who pursues what is perceived as a just cause ruthlessly, can pursue an unjust cause just as ruthlessly. And so it was with Mugabe.

Brutality has been a constant trademark of Mugabe’s leadership. During the liberation struggle against white minority rule in Zimbabwe, his forces committed numerous war crimes. Perhaps the most barbaric was the massacre of defenceless missionaries at St Paul’s church (Masuimi) in 1977. In his first decade as Zimbabwe’s president, Mugabe was responsible for the genocide of the Ndebele in Matabeleland in what has been referred to as Gukurahundi. His North Korean trained 5th Brigade is estimated to have slaughtered up to 20,000 civilians. And today he continues to use violence to squash opposition to his rule.

Many in South Africa (mainly Whites) ask why our country will not go the same way as our northern neighbour. They normally cite the ANC’s almost absolute political power and increasing disdain for criticism as early warning signs. And while I too am concerned by these authoritarian trends, the ANC decision not to resort to terrorism (deliberate targeting of innocent civilians) even in the darkest days of Apartheid gives me hope for South Africa’s democratic future. President Mandela always made it clear that the means were as important as the ends. We need to ensure that his successors live up to his example.

Previously at IAS
Inside Mugabe's Zimbabwe - Part 1
Inside Mugabe's Zimbabwe - Intro

When Evil Triumphed - Remembering the Victims of Rwanda

Today is the date chosen for the commemoration of the victims of the Rwandan Genocide. In 1994 over a period of one hundred days, an estimated 900 000 Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu’s were massacred by two extremist Hutu militia groups.

Last year we wrote about the lessons that could be learned from the Rwandan genocide, namely that we cannot rely on multilateral institutions like the UN to prevent persecution.

This year, we have looked through some of the testimonies of the survivors of the genocide.

The Rwandan Survivors Fund has a collection of testimonies on their website.

Name: Assumpta Muhoraceye Born: 1977 My name is Assumpta, I was eighteen at the time of genocide. I lost my mother, father, brothers and sisters and other 30 relatives, and suffered rape and beatings. My surviving sister went back to my home village after genocide and was attacked again with machete by the killers of my family, who feared that she would denounce them to authorities. She was in a coma for months and slowly gained consciousness. She lost her hearing ability and she lives with constant headache and mental problems. I have tried to commit suicide twice but failed to die. I live in the shadow of genocide, sometimes I imagine meeting my mother on the street. Sometimes I see people wearing similar clothes like my dead relatives and I follow them and tape on their shoulders. I believe one day I will get a surprised when they return. I have never recovered their bodies,, that is why I think that one day they will come back. A Hutu I knew told me my family were dead. He was laughing. He just bumped into me in the street and said: You know what?. "They sent two big buses to your town to kill all the people." From that day, I didn't care if I lived. Before my family died, I was always frightened, but then I felt nothing. One day, I was hiding with my friend, another girl, in an open sewer. She ran out to get some food and the soldiers caught her and shot her. When I saw what happened, I screamed. I got up and said: "Kill me too, I don't want to stay alive." I wanted the soldiers to shot me rather than be killed by machete. One of them held a gun on my head but he didn't shot me. Instead, they raped me, beat me, took off all my clothes and threw me into a mass grave. Because people had been chopped, my body was covered with other people's blood. Many people were still alive - I saw one woman with her legs chopped off, lying there morning and dying. A man came by the grave, he saved me, kept me in a shade and raped me. He gave me food and water but only so that he could keep on raping me. He said: "It doesn't matter you are going to die anyway." I managed to escape when this man went on his daily routine killing spree, and meet a man who was kind to me. He also used me, afraid that he would be found with a Tutsi woman, he smuggled me in a petrol drum and took me on a hired lorry to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). I survived the genocide but sometimes I wish I were dead. Before genocide, I was a teenage, very feminine and beautiful. I used to dress up with my mother and feel pretty. I used to really like myself. Now people tell me I am nice, but I have no feelings about it. I hate men. "Sometimes I watch women walking around, being happy, and wonder why I can't be like that. Then I'd remember that I am different. It makes me fell so sad." I miss my mother and family a lot. I wake up and wonder who killed them. Sometimes I sit and cry and cry for no reason. I remember the people who raped me and killed my family and friends. I see their faces in my dreams. They are always running after me, and, when I wake up, it's as if they are still there. Life will never be the same again for me.

Yom Hashoah, the day on which Jews commemorate the memory of the 6 million Jews that were slaughtered by the Nazis, is next Sunday. I find it fitting that these two important dates are so close together. The shared and painful history between Jews and Rwandans is obvious and the importance for Jews to understand and share the pain with the victims in Rwanda needs no further elaboration especially after Rwanda co-sponsored a UN resolution this year condemning Holocaust denial (a resolution which South Africa failed to support). The similarities between the propaganda used by the Nazis and extremist Tutsis is striking as this excerpt from a Hutu propaganda magazine illustrates

Foreign invaders, plundering the rich earth of Rwanda. Bloodthirsty parasites, who prefer exploitation to honest labor. An elite minority, enjoying influence out of all proportion to their numbers—ferreting their way into the highest-paying jobs, monopolizing the banking system, the educational system, even the very government to ensure the soft life for themselves and their kin.

This year the South African Jewish Board of Deputies sent a public message recognizing their commemoration of the Rwandan genocide and I hope it’s a signal of future efforts to educate more South Africans about the Rwandan genocide.

The UK based Rwandan Survivors Fund (SURF) has a PDF version of an exhibition entitled Heroes of Our Time: Rwandan Courage & Survival. ‘It presents a history of the genocide and focuses on the plight of survivors today through the stories of four heroic survivors.’

SURF also has a catalogue of educational materials which schools can use to teach about the genocide.

You can also make a online donation to SURF from this page. Before donating you can find out more about SURF from this page which details their projects, aims and goals.

An Open Reply to 18 SA Jews of High Conscience

Maurice Ostroff, former anti-Apartheid activist and member of the Springbok Legion, has written a detailed reply to the 18 South African Jews who publicly denounced Israel, called on fellow South African Jews to do the same, and called on South Africa to break ties with Israel.

An open reply from Maurice Ostroff to the 18 SA Jews

There is another very disturbing aspect to Dugard’s report. His unbalanced mandate as special rapporteur on Palestine, is limited to investigating only violations by Israel, not by Palestinians. He has been faithful to this mandate, presenting the case of a prosecutor determined to obtain a conviction while making no pretence of acting as a neutral investigator, Your mandate is however, unrestricted and natural justice requires that unlike Dugard, you must examine and weigh all available evidence including the Palestinian provocations, which produce Israeli reactions.

March for Free Speech in South Africa

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) is organising a demonstration outside SABC head office in Auckland Park on Friday 13 April 2007 (from 14h00 to 16h00) to protest against the SABC blacklisting scandal. The have asked us to help promote the rally in order ‘to expose the climate of fear, which is created by the bureaucracy at SABC and to hold the "public broadcaster" accountable to its mandate’.

We have in the past had fundamental disagreements over the FXI's position on the situation in the Middle East and its conduct towards the South African Jewish community. But these disputes should not deter us from co-operating on other issues that are pertinent to both the FXI and the South African Jewish Community.

The SABC blacklisting scandal should be of grave concern to all freedom loving South Africans. The national broadcaster should provide a forum for a diverse range of views and not just toe the political line of the ruling party. Thus the SABC’s behaviour is a serious threat to freedom of speech in South Africa. But as Jews we should be particularly concerned about the comments made by Dr Snuki Zikalala (SABC head of news) in relation to Paula Slier. He is alleged to have said that he did not want to have a 'white Jewish girl reporting from Ramallah'.

We encourage everyone to make every effort to attend the protest. We will also be lobbying other Jewish organisations to get involved.

Details of the demonstration:

Date: Friday 13th April 2007
Place: SABC Head Office Auckland Park
Time: Assemble at 13:45

See this summary post for more information on the SABC Blacklisting scandal.