President Motlanthe to Muslim community - not cutting of ties with Israel

From Voice of the Cape: SA can't cut ties with Israel

It would not benefit the Palestinian people for South Africa to cut ties with Israel. Speaking members (sic) of the Lenasia community yesterday, where many residents are strong supporters of the Palestinian cause, President Kgalema Motlanthe explained his belief that South Africa had to constantly express solidarity with the people of Palestine since they were living under occupation. “That's why we as government will never consider breaking ties with Israel. I'll tell you what happens... essentially when you cut ties with Israel, you cut ties with the people of Palestine and because they are under occupation, they need that contact," he said, adding that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Hamas and Fatah were all welcome to engage with South Africa on its experience under similar duress during apartheid.

It sounds like the President considers cutting ties with Israel good in principle but not in practice. Still, he probably decided that he needs to couch his approach in verbage that can win him some favour with this crowd.

Comments

[Gary]

So it's fine to cut ties with the people of Israel but to cut ties with the people of 'Palestine' would be abominable.
Bloody racism!

[Religious Fundamentalist 1]

This suggests that SA has more at stake in maintaining ties than Israel.

Maybe BD is right, it's time for Israel to cut ties with racist states like SA.

[The Blacklisted Dictator]

Will the new Zuma SA government, when it inevitably wins power in April, boycott Israel?

If Cosatu, the trade union wing of The ANC alliance, has a say when the new political dust settles, then the answer will probably be "Yes". At the moment, Cosatu's raison d'etre is extreme anti-zionism and their recent anti-Israel demo outside Jewish communal offices in Johannesburg has led many Jewish South Africans to believe that their relatively comfortable days, in the post apartheid society, may be numbered.

Cosatu's anti-zionism is based on the assumption that zionism and apartheid are coterminous.Of course, this has gained wide-spread acceptance from the main stream South African media. Hence, "apartheid" Israel must be boycotted just like apartheid South Africa was during the 1980"s. And when this is done, the Palestinians, just like the black South African, will be liberated. Who can fault the logic once the faulty premise is accepted?

However, there are one or two flies scuttling around Cosatu's boycott Israel ointment. The first whopping fly is that Fifa's 2010 World Cup is to be hosted in South Africa and boycotting Israel might not be quite so straight-forward in the run up to the tournament. If caution is needed on that front, the recent international backlash over the boycotting of an Israeli tennis player in Dubai, might have set some alarm bells ringing.

It is also a mute point whether South Africa needs Israel more than Israel needs South Africa. Recently Cosatu tried to stop Israeli cargo being unloaded in Durban. However, an ironic twist went unreported in the South African press; an Israeli company had just signed a substantial contract to provide video surveillance technology at the same port. There can, as a result, be no doubt whatsoever that South Africa is reliant on Israeli technology, as well as on a whole host of other Israeli products.

For the various anti-zionist lobbies operating in South Africa, caution will inevitably be thrown to the wind and their demands for a boycott of "apartheid" Israel will go full steam ahead. However, more prudent opinion within the new ANC government might decide that boycotting Israel might not be all that beneficial to the relatively new multi racial democracy in difficult economic times.
Only time will tell.

[Runescape Gold]

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