Apartheid South Africa: Israel edition

Tensions – and incidents of outright violent anti-Zionism – are evident as the 11th Israeli Apartheid Week comes to South Africa with great fanfare and questionable motives.

By ALANA BARANOV
An alternative demonstration is organized by the South African Union of Jewish Students that promotes peaceful dialogue between students of all backgrounds. (photo credit: Courtesy)
An alternative demonstration is organized by the South African Union of Jewish Students that promotes peaceful dialogue between students of all backgrounds.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – For one week a year, two diametrically opposed narratives on the Middle East and on ways to solve the conflict collide across the South African landscape.
In 2015, this period of competing chronicles that has come to characterize Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) culminated in an open confrontation between Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel in South Africa (BDS SA) and the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) in the streets of Sandton, Johannesburg. Never before had the thoroughfares of South Africa’s wealthiest and most influential suburb echoed with such vitriolic calls to violence and unbridled hatred.
In the new South Africa, legitimacy and credibility are derived from links stretching back into the country’s remarkable past. In the shadow of these memories, supporters of opposing sides in the Middle Eastern conflict take up their positions, bulwarked by their claims of remaining true to the real spirit of South Africa.
On the one hand, BDS SA and its supporters claim they are the reincarnation of the struggle against apartheid, while on the other, formal Jewish community institutions see themselves as embodying the values enshrined in both the country’s Constitution and Bill of Rights, celebrating freedom of association and living the Constitution.
IAW IS an annual international series of events that seeks to raise awareness of Israel’s so-called apartheid policies against the Palestinian people, and garner support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the Jewish state, which works to bring an end to Israel’s apartheid policies and supposed violations of international law. In South Africa IAW is coordinated by BSA SA, founded in 2010 as the organization in the country solely dedicated to the isolation of Israel.
BDS SA places its efforts in the milieu of the international mass movement of the 1980s, which saw people from around the world rally against Apartheid South Africa’s racist policies and build support to isolate the country through protests and rock concerts.
“Today we have the opportunity to give back, by joining the international movement in solidarity with the indigenous Palestinian people (and their progressive Israeli allies) who are struggling against Israeli Apartheid,” says BDS SA. “Participating in Israeli Apartheid Week is one such form of solidarity.”
The 11th IAW made its bond with South Africa’s heroic past explicit from the start, launching this year’s campaign with a press conference held at Liliesleaf Farm with the children of numerous anti-apartheid icons in attendance. A more symbolically powerful venue would be difficult to find – Liliesleaf Farm was the secret headquarters of the African National Congress’s underground resistance and the site where ANC leaders were arrested and subsequently tried in the Rivonia Treason Trial in 1963-4.
The evening invoked the essence of old friendship between iconic revolutionary Nelson Mandela and PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and the interconnectedness of the struggle to liberate South Africa from tyranny and the current Palestinian fight for independence. Signed by the grandson of Mandela and other legendary figures of the anti- Apartheid movement – such as the grandson of Walter and Albertina Sisulu; the niece of Ahmed Kathrada; and the son of Rev. Dr. Beyers Naude – the opening statement drew parallels between the South African liberation movement and the current struggle of the Palestinian people against the Jewish state.
“We gather here today to remember our forefathers and mothers – not just in name, but in action.
Standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people is one form of actively remembering our forebears and liberation heroes... the Palestinians, their progressive Israeli allies and we, their supporters, are finding Nelson Mandela when we protest against Israeli Apartheid.”
FROM MARCH 2 to 8, IAW took place across 45 South African towns and cities and consisted of around 200 events.
Highlights from the week included packed comedy evenings at both the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town, appealing to youth with some of the country’s top comedians; the Rhythms of Resistance concert showcasing wellknown performers; meetings with struggle icon Winnie Mandela and the Embassy of Palestine in South Africa, both of which support boycotts as a tool to effect change; with a final protest outside the Sandton Convention Center, where the SAZF was holding its national conference and a South Africa-Israel Trade Expo.
For the mainstream South African Jewish community, IAW is known as Israel Hate Week – seven days in which anti-Israel sentiment is allowed to flourish and the lines between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism blur. Despite South Africa having one of the lowest incidences of anti-Semitism worldwide, previous IAW and BDS SA events on university campuses had seen a series of hateful episodes take place.
At the University of the Witwatersrand, Jews were called Nazis in 2014; a piano recital was violently disrupted and the audience intimidated in 2013; that same year, Jews on campus were referred to as “Fu--in kikes” and “Fu--in Jews”; South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) flyers were also burned on campus, to the shouts of “We cannot let the Zionists win” and “Free Palestine – Zionists are racists.” In 2011, a Jewish student on the same campus had his head-covering pushed off while being told, “F--k Israel, we are going to kill all you Jews,” while another was threatened to stop supporting Israel or he would “end up in a body bag.”
Jewish communal organizations were particularly nervous about IAW 2015, taking place as it did in the aftermath of one of the most serious calls to discriminate against Jews in recent memory – the call by the Student Representative Council and the Progressive Youth Alliance of the Durban University of Technology for all Jewish students to be de-registered.
This demand was made immediately after the on-campus visit of BDS SA’s recent guest to South Africa, convicted hijacker Leila Khaled, who has always decried the use of negotiations as a way to end the conflict and who spewed grotesque conspiracy theories against Israel – including the claim that “Islamic State is a Zionist industry.” Khaled’s warm welcome to the country as a fellow comrade by South African political and civil society leaders alike shocked the local Jewish community.
Prior to the onset of IAW, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies – “the political voice and human rights lobby of the country’s Jewry,” according to its Facebook page – reiterated its support for a two state-solution and stated that dialogue between Israel and Palestinians is the best way peace can be achieved.
The SAJBD asserted, “IAW does not seek to support the peace process but rather to demonize the Jewish state through a sustained campaign of slander, defamation, misinformation and emotive bluster. It adds nothing to achieving peace, and is so conducted as to run counter to the values of freedom of expression and association that all South Africans hold dear.”
Countering the BDS SA claim to be the leaders of the new struggle against apartheid, this time in Israel, the Jewish communal bodies contended that BDS actions stood in direct contrast to the ethics of the new South Africa. The community’s right to lead a proudly Jewish existence, with the support of and close ties to the Jewish state while still being an integral part of the diverse fabric of the South Africa, was in line with the ideals fought for by the struggle icons.
For most Jewish South Africans, IAW was a continuation of the bullying of their community by BDS SA – seen previously in its attempted boycott of Woolworths retail stores, where supporters placed a pig’s head in what they thought was the kosher section of the Sea Point branch, and employees and patrons were harassed and threatened; this eventually led to a court order against the movement. In August 2013, BDS supporters at the concert of an Israeli performer sang “Dubula e Juda” (“Shoot the Jew”).
Moreover, BDS SA coordinator Muhammad Desai stated unapologetically, “Just like you would say ‘Kill the Boer’ at a funeral during the ’80s, it wasn’t about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the apartheid regime.” He was further quoted as saying, “The whole idea of anti-Semitism is blown out of proportion.”
In many ways, the worst fears about IAW were realized. At the University of Johannesburg last week, BDS supporters disrupted an address by Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid, who is accused of being pro-Israel for his critical stance on Palestinian policy and the role of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The organizer, SAUJS, was forced to evacuate Eid and end the event early.
At the protest outside the SAZF expo on March 8, demonstrators shouted, “You think this is Israel, we are going to kill you,” as organizers vowed to “Shut down Sandton” to ensure that “no Zionist conference be held on our soil.” This threat to compel South Africans with a different viewpoint to acquiesce was particularly worrying.
“You Jews do not belong in South Africa!” was howled from the ranks when a deputy minister took the microphone to criticize the SAJBD, specifically calling out the name of its national director, Wendy Kahn. Supporters of Israel trying to attend the exhibition needed a police escort to ensure their safety, and were called sell-outs and taunted with chants of “Takfir” (Apostasy) and songs such as “Makuliwe,” (Let there be a fight).”
In the end, only around 200 people turned up at the demonstration; a report by The Star newspaper, which interviewed several protesters, revealed that many of the attendees did not know why they were there and who they were protesting against.
BOTH SIDES have come under fire over the years.
Jewish communal bodies have been challenged by several public “Not In My Name” campaigns, and Jews on both ends of the political spectrum have bucked against their largely consistent pro-Israel stance.
Many in civil society have also argued that the actions of BDS SA during IAW created a climate that encourages anti-Semitism while shutting down any possible, rational debate on Israeli-Palestinian issues. Even widely respected members of civil society who are known as vocal critics of the Jewish state have condemned the tactics used by the BDS Movement as counter-productive to the Palestinian cause.
Benjamin Pogrund – a respected anti- apartheid journalist and friend of the late Robert Sobukwe, the political dissident who founded the Pan Africanist Congress – has leveled a scathing critique of BDS SA.
“BDS is a con run by cynical manipulators.
Hidden in their stated aims is their real purpose – to get rid of Israel. Falsely accusing Israel of apartheid is their weapon. The way to counter their IAW propaganda is to urge students to do what is natural in a university: Do some basic research and think for themselves.”
On the question of Israel being an apartheid state, Pogrund speaks from experience.
“Israel is not apartheid. I know that because I lived under apartheid and opposed it, and I know Israel. Those who say Israel is apartheid are either malevolent or ignorant. They do not know Israel.”
Prof. Milton Shain, a respected academic, author and expert on anti-Semitism in South Africa, sees the country as very important for the BDS Movement. “It is indeed the linchpin in the movement, insofar as some believe the apartheid regime was overthrown because of BDS [tactics].”
Shain elaborates, “While anti-Zionism is not axiomatically anti-Semitism, more and more we see the connection. In South Africa, numerous observers have swung from opposition to Israel to slogans such as ‘Kill the Jews’ or ‘Hitler was right,’ and so forth.”
Within their respective communities, the dueling narratives receive widespread support. Most young Muslims on campus see commonalities of faith and identity with the Palestinian people, and are naturally drawn to BDS SA. Fatima Mukadam, a former head of the Wits Muslim Students Association and a past member of the university’s SRC, fully backs the IAW.
“My support stems from the fact that I see a human rights atrocity and I want to stand on the side of justice,” she maintains.
“I see the importance of raising awareness about this pertinent issue, especially as a South African and the fact that we are a former apartheid state. We have a duty to condemn apartheid that takes place in other countries in the world. In addition, we need our government and other governments to apply pressure on Israel, as apartheid in South Africa fell due to international pressure.”
In the anti-IAW camp are the majority of young Jews on campus. Natan Pollack, national chairman of SAUJS, believes IAW is nothing more than age-old Jew hatred in a modernized form. “The amount of horrendous propaganda and misinformation that we see coming from the other side is highly concerning. The untruths seem to spread like a plague, and this causes the upward trend from year to year of anti-Israel activity becoming anti-Semitism.”
Due to the support IAW receives on-campus, Pollack feels it is the responsibility of groups such as SAUJS to change the hatred to discussions of peace, providing a platform for his members to voice their views comfortably.
“In my opinion, the BDS [supporters] are not truly concerned about the Palestinian people. This can be seen from their counterintuitive methods of boycotts and pursuing of their own political agendas.”
Of course, there are also those whose views differ from those of their communities. Mitchel Joffe Hunter, a young Jewish activist who addressed the BDS SA rally on Sunday, linked his support of IAW to his Jewish ideals of justice. “Is Israel a Jewish state when it is the institution responsible for this systematic oppression of Palestinians? Is Israel a force working for repairing the world when it has created such disrepair in its own midst? How can one answer yes?” he demanded.
Hunter says his 2012 visit to Israel changed his perspective on the Jewish state. “I also saw the discrimination at the checkpoints in Bethlehem, and the rulebound unequal segregation in Hebron. I saw the fear in Jewish Israelis and the propaganda which caused it.”
He continues, “Having learned, I also do. The creation of international solidarity with the Palestinian people and the tactic of boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions is tried and tested, it’s reasonable, and it’s an action that is in line with my Jewish mandate to pursue justice.”
However, there is a small but growing number of Muslim students on campus who have grown disillusioned with the motivations and tactics of BDS supporters. Many of these young people remain fully committed to the freedom of Palestine, but feel alienated by the aggressive rhetoric and divisiveness created by the movement.
“Among the chanting of struggle songs and slogans, I felt a sense of animosity that emanated from these events,” says one such student who wishes not to be identified. “I always wondered how a group of activists could be so passionately involved in protesting against a conflict thousands of miles away, that they could bear such animosity towards a group of people with a different political idea – even while there are far worse conflicts closer to home on the African continent.”
This student pointed to a generation of young South Africans who have grown up after the struggle against apartheid had already been waged and won and, idealizing its heroes, wished to find their own cause to which to dedicate themselves. “But is it fair to try to paint the conflict in Israel and Palestine as a ‘Version 2’ of our own awful past, so that we can satisfy our desires to be struggle heroes like those of our parents’ generation?” Many have been put off by an event that purports to be a promoter of peace, yet singles out one side as the problem. Notes the student: “I have seen IAW cause heated exchanges of words and disgusting displays of distorted statistics and images to provoke emotions, as opposed to stimulate constructive debate… IAW is really only seeking to further tensions.”
INTERESTINGLY, JEWISH and Muslim students coming from Israel were shocked at just how passionately the lines in the Israel-Palestine debate have been drawn in South Africa.
One example comes from the StandWithUS delegation, a Right-leaning Israel advocacy organization that sent 10 young people to South African campuses for IAW. “Some of the BDS people would not shake our hands because we’re Israeli and Jewish,” staff member Ido Cohen says in disbelief. This was a show of disrespect that had never happened to him before, even in the home of the conflict.
Nayef Haib, a Beduin who was also part of the delegation, is surprised at the misinformation on campus.
“They [IAW] just used the students’ ignorance about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for their own agenda.
Their main interest was that no matter what the truth, Israel should be boycotted. And I was there to say the truth no matter what is the cost.”
Haib stresses that most Israelis support lively debate and painful compromises for peace. “I don’t tell you that my country is heaven. Here in Israel the minorities face discrimination, as do all minorities in the world, but it’s not apartheid… In Israel itself, anti-Israel and anti-Zionist ideas are expressed, because Israel is a democracy.”
In the cacophony of competing views it is always the loudest voices, not the most widespread sentiment, which is heard. Students rising above acrimonious narratives and exchanging ideas for peace might be one solution to the animosity, both here in South Africa and in the Middle East.
A case in point is SAUJS’s Give Peace Wings initiative, with the 2015 theme of the #LetsTalkSolutions hashtag. “The aim is to promote an environment in which students from all backgrounds can engage and develop a constructive stance on the way forward in Israel,” says chairman Pollack.
A Muslim student interviewed also states, “I truly believe that if South Africa has anything to share with any troubled region of the world, it should not be the loaning of a very bad word such as apartheid, but rather the clear example of peace and reconciliation.”
At the end of a long week, it is the words of a leading member of Palestinian civil society that most South Africans should heed. “My impression was that South Africa is more interested in solving the Middle East conflict than the Palestinians and Israelis themselves,” says Eid. “Unfortunately, when outside players try and solve an internal conflict, they do so with their own agenda, and these may not be to the advantage of either Palestinians or Israelis.”
While critical of Israel, Eid believes the rhetoric of the BDS Movement is especially damaging to peace in the Middle East – by creating more hatred and polarization.
“As a campaigner for peace and a human rights activist, I am used to hostile reactions from those who disagree with my standpoint. However, even in my own country, I have never witnessed the kind of raw hatred and sheer unreasoning aggression that confronted me,” he says of his visit to the University of Johannesburg.
“The Israelis and Palestinians need enough goodwill to find each other and negotiate a peace settlement. If outside lobbyists wish to contribute to this peace, they should put pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to talk.
“Otherwise, however well-intentioned they may be, they should just stay out.”