I was raised on the ethos that “whoever saves one life saves the entire world.” During Operation Solomon, I sat as a young girl at the dinner table listening to my parents proudly discussing how Israel is a nation like no other. We had this safety net and assurance that no matter where a Jewish person is in distress in the world, the State of Israel would reach out to help them.
Operation Solomon was not the only rescue mission that made my parents beam with pride as we extensively discussed many other operations, from the Jews rescued from Arab states after the 1948 War of Independence to those in the airport terminal in Entebbe. We also felt incredible sadness for the warriors who Israel lost in battle and for those who never came home and never stepped foot on the holy soil of Eretz Yisrael.
Fast forward a decade or so, little did I know that I would be the one relying on Israel to rescue my mother out of the civil unrest that broke out recently in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Watching videos of my home town being vandalized, looted, burned to the ground and destroyed made me feel incredibly sad and angry. Seeing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declare emergency measures added to the intensity of the stress I had been building up since this whole ordeal unfolded.
My mother hasn’t been able to spend any time with me or my son, David, who was born in Israel shortly before the pandemic began. We discussed how it would be better for her to come and live with us, as she is all alone, with no family in South Africa. I couldn’t have anticipated this level of violence a few months ago when we decided it was time for her to join my son and me on our farm here in the Judean Hills.
I filed a request for a parents’ visa with the Interior Ministry, with the help of an Israeli lawyer. But because South Africa is considered “red” – banned country in the coronavirus traffic light system, I have been waiting for a long time for an answer back.
My mum has been sitting on her two suitcases since September last year when everything stalled. I am now worried that she will never be able to join us. I worry that vandals and looters will come next to burn down homes with people inside, as we witnessed over the years happening in rural areas.
I also worry for my South African Jewish friends still living there. Being a former Jewish community leader who worked to promote good relations between South Africa and Israel, I am now saddened and in a state of shock to see these developments unfold.
I wonder if Israel can seize this opportunity to regain our respect and admiration once again, to fly to South Africa and to airlift our brothers and sisters home. If you think about it in lay terms, bringing members of the most educated, resilient and hardworking Jewish community to Israel can only help the local economy grow. They have far more to contribute than anything it would cost Israel to absorb them.
I understand the fears about COVID-19 spreading but my mum and members of the Jewish community of South Africa also understand these fears and would be prepared to stay in Covid hotels if that’s what it takes to bring them home to safety.
They would even do the necessary corona tests and health checks. It’s important to look at Jewish communities in distress through a humanitarian lens and remember that we are all one nation. We can’t sleep in our beds in Israel peacefully if we don’t have compassion for Jewish communities in distress and if we are not actively making plans for them to come home to Israel.
Today it’s me asking help for my mother but tomorrow it could be you needing help for your family and we need a guarantee that Israel has our back.
For years, Israel relied on Jewish communities abroad to survive and to thrive. Now that Israel is a vibrant and strong country existing in its own right as a sovereign state, we cannot turn our backs on the communities that supported the establishment of the state.
South African Jewry’s contribution is huge and the names of South African Jews are on many benches, community centers and even impressively on the restoration of the Old City walls at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. South African Jews fought in all Israel’s wars, helped build the country and punched above their weight when it came to giving money to Israel.
Cry, the beloved country! Israel, do not wait too long to help our Jewish brothers and sisters in South Africa. Please God, they will be safe, and we won’t have to make memorial walls and benches with their names, this time with our heads bowed down in shame.
The writer made aliyah from South Africa in November 2016.