[DEBATE] : South Africa’s Jews in the firing line (May 12 , 2009 )

[peter waterman]

I believe that the Australian Zionists are simply repeating the charges -
indeed the whole story - produced by their South African counterparts.

Three points:

1. Anti-Zionists, if they are also democrats and internationalists, will,
must (and overwhelmingly do) make a clear distinction between the two.
Especially if, like me, they happen to be Jews.

2. Cosatu hardly has need of a 'right to reply' (where?). All it needs do
is - if it has not already done so - declare publicly how it distinguishes
between Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism, and to then publicly censure any
of its members who step over or erase the line between the two. It could
also declare it will dismiss any leading officer who does so.

3. Zionists have to recognise their responsibility for conflating, in the
eyes of the world, Jews and Judaism with the State of Israel. (Not to
speak of their identifying with a racist, militaristic state that is, in a
number of ways, WORSE than Apartheid South Africa).

Peter W

-- 
Peter Waterman
Jacob vd Doesstr 28
2518xn The Hague
Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)70 3631539
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Australian Zionists frame-up COSATU. Perhaps somebody there should
demand a right of reply

http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgid=7434


South Africa’s Jews in the firing line


SINCE the end of apartheid, South Africa has been one of Israel’s most
strident critics. The fact that the notorious anti-Semitic conference
known as Durban I took place in SA is no coincidence.

Now, Israel bashing has taken on a new and sinister twist, especially
following the recent Gaza conflict.

Cosatu (Confederation of South African Trade Unions), the influential
trade union movement, (equivalent to our ACTU) has put Israel at the top
of its international agenda.

Why? Because Israel is regarded as the last outpost of colonialism that
still has to be overcome.

The struggle of the Palestinians against the so-called “Zionist
occupation” is seen as being equivalent to the black fight against white
domination.

It’s also a useful distraction for an organisation with a myriad of
everyday problems to deal with.

In a speech to an “International Solidarity Conference” on March 29,
2009, Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini called Zionism a “...version of
global racist domination and apartheid based on the doctrine that Jews
are superior to Arabs and therefore have a right to oppress them....”

He described Israel as an occupying force that had imposed itself on the
Palestinian people and murdered women and children.

A campaign of boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel is
under way that has been sponsored, supported and promoted by Cosatu.

The Jewish community, labelled as supporters of “apartheid Israel”, are
now also in the firing line.

Under the fabricated suggestion that Jewish-owned businesses would not
employ union officials, Cosatu had this threatening message:

“Employers, particularly Zionist employers who would want to try these
old (and failed) trick,s must be warned that we shall not hesitate to do
all in our powers to deal decisively in protecting our members and the
working class in South Africa.”

How they propose to “deal” with whom they consider to be miscreants is
unclear.

An unpleasant altercation that took place outside the offices of the
Zionist Federation in February has heightened tensions.

And then there was the comments made by the SA Deputy Foreign Minister,
Fatima Hajaig at a Pro-Palestinian rally held in Johannesburg in January:

“The control of America, just like the control of most Western
countries, is in the hands of Jewish money and if Jewish money controls
their country then you cannot expect anything else.”

Hajaig later made a muddled apology, but only to President Motlanthe and
not to the Jewish community, and this did nothing to allay fears that
anti-Semitism exists at the highest levels of government in South Africa.

But none are more outspoken than Cosatu’s International Relations
Secretary, Bongani Masuku, who has made a name for himself as a
vociferous critic of Israel.

One commentator though puts it more bluntly: “Masuku hates Jews.”

Masuku has said that any business owned by “Israeli supporters” would be
targeted by workers and he has threatened to make the lives of Zionists
“hell”.

By the beginning of April, the in South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies
had heard enough. They lodged a complaint against Masuku to the Human
Rights Commission (HRC), a statutory body charged with investigating
human rights violations.

The Board has asked the HRC to censure Masuku and order him to stop
making inflammatory statements.
"We want the HRC to ensure that Jewish South Africans are entitled to
express their views, like everybody else in this country."

David Jacobson, Executive Director of the cape division of the Board,
says that the problem with the HRC is that it simply does not have the
capacity to deal with all the matters before it.

This view is supported by David Saks, an associate director of the
National Board, who points to the HRC’s heavy caseload.

But Saks is still optimistic, saying that while a decision is not
expected soon, there is good reason to believe that the HRC will
eventually uphold the Board’s complaint and possibly refer the matter to
the courts.

Watch this space!

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