SAJBD Openly Criticises SA Govt

In an uncharacteristic display of fog-horn diplomacy, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies last week publicly criticised the SA government for its extremely one sided condemnation of Israel. SAJBD Chairman Zev Krengel sent the following letter to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad. The letter appeared last week in the Citizen.

Speaking on SAFM last week Mr Krengel explained that although the SAJBD typically prefer a quite approach in dealing with criticism of the government, this was the first time that they had issued a statement so wholly and completely one sided against Israel – ergo the strident response from the SAJBD.

Whilst I welcome this approach I must disagree with the uniqueness that Krengel ascribed to Pahad’s statement. Pahad’s vitriol is what we have come to expect from our government – no more and no less.

Update

Of course our friends at the Media Review Network, who work themselves up into a frenzy every time the SAJBD make a public statement, have responded. I thought I heard the fierce scratching of pens when I saw the SAJBD's letter in the Citizen. I wondered where it was coming from. Now I know...MRN: Waaaaaaah!!

DEAR Mr Pahad, the purpose of this letter is to comment on remarks made by yourself and the dean of the Diplomatic Corps at a media briefing held on January 21. From the outset, I must state that the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, and the Jewish community as a whole, is extremely unhappy about the wholly one-sided nature of these statements. Once again, Israel has been singled out exclusively for heavy criticism, on this occasion without there being even a token condemnation of Palestinian provocation. Israel’s actions are not taking place in a vacuum; they must be seen in context. Since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in mid-2005, about 4 000 missiles have been fired at Israeli population centres by Palestinians. These overt acts of aggression have entailed the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, gross violations of international law and the collective victimisation of the Israeli people. They have also been decisive in undermining the peace process. In other words, the Palestinians have been guilty of every one of the accusations the South African government now levels at the Israelis. But, instead of condemning these actions, our government has focused solely on castigating Israel for its response to them. Your statement further presumes to limit Israel’s right to self-defence, without indicating exactly what type of response would be both effective and acceptable. This, combined with a stubborn refusal to condemn the continual bombardment of Israeli cities, is creating the extremely damaging perception that the SA government regards the ongoing threats to innocent Jewish life as being preferable to causing any kind of hardship to Palestinians. Similarly unreasonable are the charges of excessive force so routinely levelled by our government against Israel. In reality, in stark contrast to the tactics of the Palestinians (who make no distinction between military and civilian targets), the Israeli Defence Force has been scrupulously careful to target militants in retaliatory raids. That Palestinian civilians sometimes do fall victim to these attacks is regrettable but it is inevitable given that Palestinian militants use civilian areas as bases from which to launch their bombardments. The great majority of Palestinian casualties have in fact been armed militants, for which Israel deserves considerable credit. We believe that if SA wishes to make a constructive contribution to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is only doing itself a disservice by releasing unbalanced pronouncements that unfairly castigate one side while wholly exonerating the other. Apart from being unjust to Israel, this encourages the Palestinian population of Gaza to persist with their ruinous and self-defeating campaign of aggression against the Israelis. SA can truly serve the Palestinian cause by distancing itself in no uncertain terms from such actions and urging the Palestinian leadership to abandon them in favour of peaceful negotiations. Zev Krengel is chairman of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies

Comments

[greenmamba]

In reality ... flying ... the ... Israeli flag in Pretoria ... is ... extremely biased against Palestine and disproportionately sympathetic to Israel.

Says so here: http://tinyurl.com/2xa9tp

The author is with a media organisation and hence must be unbiased. So there.

[Steve]

Thanks GreenMamba. Just added the link as an update.

[Ariel]

Quite frankly it's a rather weak article. I love how he keeps claiming that the Jewish community is heavily didivided on this issue.

It's not. The vast majority are pro-Israel while a small but vocal minority are anti-Israel.

[Steve]

You referring to the MRN article I take it...

[Hillel]

If Pahad is really worried about the "palestinians", it begs the question why he hasn't complained about Egypt shooting live rounds at civilians, attempting to re-close the rafah crossing, etc.

A second question is whether Pahad et al really cares what the SAJBD or Zev thinks. After all, SA democracy is about the masses and the money. Both of which the muslim community, courtesy of the Saudis and some other choice Bastions of Human Rights, do far better than the former Red Sea Pedestrians, still bereft of a homeland.

One would think that by now it is clear to any rational mind that the entire situation is not about "the palestinians", it never was, never will be. It's about the fact that Jews expect to be treated as equals, have the temerity to fight back and worse, horror of horrors, might actually be who they claim to be.

The problem is deeper though, until the Jews themselves realise the role they're called upon to play, and moreover learn to accomodate each other in the fulfillment thereof, they're never going to overcome the useful idiots who continue to pander to the Jews' mortal enemies, let alone the enemies themselves.

[Hillel]

If the MRN were trying to ensure fair reporting on Sri Lanka v the Tamil Tigers, Burma v China, Chad v a bunch of poor villagers, Darfur v Sudan v a bunch of poor villagers or pretty much any other conflict, you would never have heard of them.

Their claim to fame is not their fight for the Palestinians, rather their fight against the Jews. One has to LOOVE the irony.

[Ariel]

Yes the MSN article.