Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts

Thursday, March 09, 2023

From Ian:

Ilan Halimi’s murder and the whitewashing of Muslim antisemitism
Seventeen years ago, a Parisian gang calling itself “the Barbarians” lured a twenty-three-year-old cell-phone salesman named Ilan Halimi onto its turf, tortured him for three weeks while reciting Quranic verses, and then left him to die by the roadside. Halimi’s murder is often seen as the beginning of the current era of anti-Semitic violence in France. Eleanor Krasne comments on the repeated failure of the French government, and even of Jewish leaders, to confront the sources of such violence:

The French authorities initially neglected to explore the anti-Semitic nature of the crime, but after a three-week search, they finally caught the gang’s leader, Youssef Fofana. When the case went to trial, Fofana wore a t-shirt that said “Allahu Akbar,” and when asked to state his identity said, “My name is Arab, armed African rebellion Salafist barbarian army, and I was born on February 13, 2006 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.” In other words, Fofana boasted of his allegiance to Salafism, a political-religious movement within Islam that seeks to establish a global caliphate. . . . Fofana was also saying that he was “born” the moment Ilan Halimi died.

Muslims are not solely responsible for French anti-Semitism, nor is every Muslim an anti-Semite. However, radical Islam’s role in French anti-Semitism must not be overlooked. Yet . . . French and American organizations that . . . advocate for Jews seem to shy away from confronting the radical Islamic theology behind these attacks, particularly when commemorating Ilan Halimi’s murder.

Confronting modern-day anti-Semitism in France means confronting the ideology behind it. France is home to 450,000 Jews and a growing community of over three million Muslims. Simone Rodan Benzaquen, the American Jewish Committee’s director in France, wrote in 2017 that Islamic anti-Semitism in France is a result of a variety of factors, “including manipulation of the Palestinian cause, failure of integration into French society, radical preachers and the funding of mosques, and satellite television stations broadcasting a steady stream of anti-Semitic discourse.”

Unfortunately, Benzaquen is correct, and other organizations must join her in facing the reality of Islamic anti-Semitism in France.
ITP: Another Gaping Hole in the Islamist Antisemitism Con
In its statement promoted by CAIR's national office, CAIR-New York Executive Director Afaf Nasher also noted "the disturbing rise in anti-Asian bigotry nationwide."

"All Americans, regardless of their background," he said, must be able to walk down the street without fear of a racist attack."

This is true. Correspondingly, there has been a disturbing rise in antisemitic bigotry in New York city and nationwide. A Times of Israel analysis of NYPD data found an anti-Jewish attack every 33 hours in New York. Masoud presents a clear example of the danger such blind hate about Jews and the Jewish state can pose.

But CAIR cannot bring itself to acknowledge, let alone condemn him. This is an organization with a decades-long record of antisemitism, including co-founder and Executive Director Nihad Awad's repeated insinuations that Jews are "pushing the United States" to advance policies "at the expense of American interests."

In 2014, as ISIS rampaged and Hamas terrorism instigated war in Gaza, Awad called Israel "the biggest threat to world peace and security." Awad also believes Tel Aviv is "occupied" territory. His San Francisco director Zahra Billoo believes pro-Israel Jews are out to hurt Muslims and should be shunned entirely. CAIR stands behind her.

CAIR claims it merely criticizes Israeli policy, as if the question whether a country should exist is a policy up for debate.

Was Masoud merely criticizing Zionists? His "veil of 'anti-Zionism' is pathetically thin in this case," prosecutors wrote. "As an initial matter, the defendant is not an equal opportunity anti-Zionist. He did not attack 'Evangelical Christians . . . who identify with the State of Israel' ... Instead, he repeatedly attacked Jewish men."

In October, CAIR condemned antisemitic material left outside homes in Wyoming.

"Those targeting the Jewish community with antisemitic hate must be repudiated by all Americans," CAIR national spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. "The mainstreaming of bigotry in any form must never be tolerated or excused."

But CAIR mainstreams antisemitism when it stands by frothing haters like Billoo, and when it cannot muster the nerve to condemn an ideological ally like Sadaah Masoud. Antisemitism can't be viewed conditionally. If you can't even bring yourself to condemn premeditated beatings of random Jews, you can't expect to be believed when say you oppose antisemitism by condemning leaflets.
America's Tradition in Fighting Boycotts of Israel
In 1975, President Gerald Ford called for regulations prohibiting U.S. companies from "complying in any way with [the Arab] boycott," and declared emphatically that the United States would not "countenance the translation of any foreign prejudice into domestic discrimination against American citizens." Congress quickly heeded the call, passing not one but two pieces of critical bipartisan legislation: the Ribicoff Amendment assessed steep tax penalties against U.S. companies that participate in the Arab Boycott, and the Export Administration Amendments of 1977 directed the president to prohibit American companies from joining the Arab boycott. In signing that law, President Jimmy Carter acknowledged that the Arab Boycott, though nominally focused on Israel, was in fact "aimed at Jewish members of our society." The U.S. Office of Antiboycott Compliance has been enforcing this regime ever since, on the bipartisan understanding that the boycott of Israel constitutes a tool of discrimination, not protected expression.

And the federal government was not alone in its anti-boycott effort. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, at least 13 states—red and blue—took aggressive legislative steps to prevent U.S. companies from joining the Arab boycott. New York's rule was strikingly similar to the anti-BDS laws of today. In fact, it went further, prohibiting "discrimination," "boycotting," or "blacklisting" based on "national origin" or because a person has done business with Israeli firms. When Gov. Michael Dukakis signed the Massachusetts bill into law, he explained that he wished to send an "unequivocal message" that Massachusetts would "not stand for this type of blatant discrimination" against its Jewish residents.

Today's anti-BDS laws spring from the same pair of political judgments that animate this 50-year tradition of anti-boycott legislation. The first is that the boycott isn't speech, but instead economic conduct that can be freely regulated, consistent with the First Amendment. And the second is that, in the case of Israel, the boycott constitutes discrimination, and not desirable social action.

The tradition of anti-boycott legislation lives on because its historical foundations are fundamentally true. The first boycott against the Jews of Israel took place in the 1890s, and its organizers—the Arab political associations of Mandatory Palestine—could not have been clearer about their anti-Jewish objectives: "Don't buy from the Jews," they declared, "come and bargain with the Arab merchant... We must completely boycott the Jews." And in 1933, as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem grew in political prominence, he called for systematic boycotts against the Jews of Palestine and urged Nazi Germany to do the same.

BDS's appeal to "history and tradition" should ring hollow. For 50 years, state and federal law makers have regulated Israel boycotts, on the understanding that they were conceived in antisemitism and cannot escape its taint. In the court of history, it's the state lawmakers, and not the activists, who enjoy the upper hand.

Wednesday, March 08, 2023

From Ian:

Overhaul protesters gear up for ‘day of resistance’ throughout the country Thursday
The protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul plans was set to conduct a second major campaign to disrupt daily life in Israel on Thursday, in what activists are calling a “day of resistance.”

The day notably includes plans to block roads around Ben Gurion Airport in an attempt to make it difficult for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get there for his flight on an official visit to Italy. This in addition to marches, temporary workplace strikes, the blocking of main thoroughfares, disruption of train services and rallies outside the homes of top government officials.

The protest events were laid out in detail on a dedicated website and map (Hebrew), with organizers promising “many surprises,” indicating there were more planned actions that had not been announced publicly.

“It is a civic duty to resist the dictatorship and this is the only way to return Israel to the path of democracy. This is a great battle for the independence of Israeli citizens against the tyranny that will destroy what we have built here for over 70 years. We call on the entire public to participate in protests,” the organizers said in a statement.

Protest heads have specifically called for demonstrators to block roads around Ben Gurion Airport when Netanyahu and his wife are scheduled to depart on their flight to Italy. The trip previously faced setbacks when national carrier El Al was unable to find a crew to man the prime minister’s flight — an issue blamed on crew shortages but which may have also been affected by growing public anger at the government as it pushed forward with efforts to weaken the justice system.

Some media reports indicated Netanyahu was looking at possibly taking a helicopter to the airport to avoid the expected road disruptions.

A major rally in Tel Aviv was to set off from the city’s Habima Square. In addition, protests by workers from the tech sector were planned at 15 locations around the country.

Police said they too were preparing for the demonstrations, with 3,000 cops set to be deployed across the country.
Ruthie Blum: IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi should call his troops to order
Those who defended Bar’s remarks (delivered several weeks before the Knesset election) did so on the grounds that terrorists apprehended by the Shin Bet told their interrogators that internecine strife in the Jewish state was bolstering their confidence and resolve. In other words, since perception influences enemy actions, security bigwigs have a responsibility to monitor and caution about pitfalls in this realm.

It’s a logical position, particularly in view of the gleeful way in which the international Arab and Iranian media outlets are depicting the present crisis in the country. That they’re being given a serious boost by the Israeli press may be extremely disconcerting, but it’s the price—and privilege—of free speech.

Soldiers don’t enjoy this luxury, however. On the contrary, their individual ideologies are irrelevant to the assignments they are charged to execute. Halevi has the duty to remind them of this in no uncertain terms. His failure on this score only encourages the very foes that the IDF, thankfully, is still fighting on more than one front.

“When we are on the battlefield, we don’t look to the right and left to discern the political views of our brothers and sisters,” said Netanyahu on Monday, after attending a Purim megillah reading at a Border Police base in the Jewish community of Beit Horon. “We [do it] with the knowledge that together, shoulder-to-shoulder, we are storming our enemies, in order to safeguard our security and future.”

This, he stressed, “is the first and most important foundation of our existence in our land. It rests on the deep understanding that whatever the controversies among us, we are always united against those out to kill us. This is how it was during all of Israel’s wars.”

He went on: “Refusal to serve threatens this existential foundation, and thus has no place in our ranks. Israeli society always condemned the refusal to serve.… We never allowed it a foothold—neither in the regular army nor in the reserves; neither in the security forces nor anywhere else. It had no place in the War of Independence, the Oslo Accords or in the disengagement [from Gaza]. There is no room for it now, nor should there be in the future…. because the minute that we give this illness legitimacy, it will spread and become systemic…in controversies to come.”

Netanyahu concluded with a Purim analogy.

“When Haman sought to find the Jews’ weak spot, he said, ‘There is one people that is scattered and divided.’ But…we rose as one; we banded together and achieved victory for generations. We will do it again this time, as well.”

It’s a message that Halevi would do well to hear, heed and repeat.
Ben-Dror Yemini: Leave the IDF out of the protest
This is one of the most legitimate protests in Israel's history.

Some have tried to quash it by pointing out a handful of Palestinian flags flown at rallies, but for every such flag, a thousand Israeli flags were raised, so that fell flat.

Others claimed the protest wasn't about the judicial overhaul at all but rather an attempt to overrule the will of the voter, but that too missed the mark. This protest's success lies in its expansion to more and more audiences, it's not merely a left-wing protest. Prominent religious and right-wing figures have also joined in, and while most of them don't take the streets, they make their voices heard by appealing for dialogue and broad consensus.

Are they too anarchists? Who are you trying to fool?

As for those screeching voices on the margins flying the BDS flag, let them, they clearly do not represent anything.

But the protest also brings the pain. The fissure is here. And 37 out of 40 pilots of the Israeli Air Force's elite 69 Squadron declaring they won't report for training is the closest thing to mutiny.

We must not allow this terrible scourge to become the face of the protest for there is a fine line where a protest shifts from an opposition to the government to an opposition to the state. There are too many elements on the left that had done so, there's no need for the protest to tread the same line.

Crossing that red line would only harm the protest since it draws its success from the fact that it has become a consensus in and of itself, and public opinion polls show as much.

As soon as the protest crosses these red lines, it will become a sectoral protest of the extreme left. This was not the intention of the pilots who declared that they won't report for reserve duty, but this may be the result. So yes, we must apply pressure to prevent harm to democracy. But there is no need for the protest to exacerbate that harm.


The Caroline Glick Show: Politics is poisoning the IDF
Mob violence against Sara Netanyahu; 37 out of 40 elite Air Force reservist pilots refusing to show up to duty. These are, but two of the most recent examples of the protests against the judicial reform proposed by the Netanyahu government.

To discuss the shocking turn of events and the leading role that retired leftist generals are playing in the left’s efforts to coerce the government to shelve its efforts to restore Israeli democracy, the guest on this week’s show is Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi.

Avivi is the founder and CEO of the Israel Security and Defense Forum (Habithonistim), a social movement and think tank comprised of retired senior officers, soldiers and concerned citizens working to reinstate the Zionist ethos in the IDF. Glick and Avivi also discuss at length the issue of Iran, which the United States now acknowledges had become a threshold nuclear state..

In addition, Glick devotes her opening remarks to an analysis of the central (hostile) role the Biden administration is playing in the events on the ground in Israel.

Thursday, February 02, 2023

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: The Role of NGOs in Supporting the International Criminal Court (ICC) Investigation
On December 20, 2019, then Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda announced that she intended to investigate alleged war crimes in the “State of Palestine” and filed a request with the Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber to confirm her jurisdiction. On February 5, 2021, the Pre-Trial Chamber in a controversial 2-1 opinion confirmed the Prosecutor’s jurisdiction. On March 3, 2021, Bensouda announced the launch of a formal investigation.

This move is to a significant degree the product of consistent and heavy lobbying of the ICC for over a decade by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Throughout, these NGOs have been central to promoting the Prosecutor’s activities: lobbying the Court to accept the Palestinian Authority, filing complaints, representing “victims,” and submitting briefs. Key NGOs include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, FIDH (France), and Palestinian and Israeli NGOs. The European Union, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and other European governments have provided tens of millions of dollars to anti-Israel ICC campaigns and lobbying. In some instances, the European funding was explicitly earmarked for NGO activities vis-à-vis the ICC.

According to the legal principle of “complementarity,” the ICC is only authorized to investigate when a country’s judicial system has proven unwilling or incapable of prosecuting cases that fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Even if there is evidence of alleged war crimes, the Court is supposed to respect serious local investigations.

Importantly, as part of the NGO Durban Declaration and accompanying BDS campaigns, advocacy organizations have sought to turn the ICC into a court of universal jurisdiction. Like their exploitation of the UN and other international frameworks, these NGOs seek to use the ICC for demonization and to brand Israeli officials as “war criminals.” In contrast, the ICC was created for the explicit and narrow purpose of prosecuting individuals accused of specified crimes, and not for political legal warfare.
NGO Monitor: NGOs Blame the Victims: A False “Massacre” in Jenin and “Legitimate Resistance” outside a Jerusalem Synagogue
On January 26, 2023, the IDF conducted a preemptive counterterror operation in Jenin, during which nine Palestinians – eight of whom were armed members of Islamic Jihad and other organizations – were killed. The Palestinian Authority, reviving the blood libel from Jenin in April 2002 (Defensive Shield), accused Israel of committing a “massacre” and Gaza-based terrorist organizations launched rockets at Israeli cities.

The next day (Friday night, January 27), a Palestinian murdered seven Israeli civilians outside a Jerusalem synagogue; a few hours later (Saturday morning, January 28) a 13 year-old Palestinian shot and wounded two Israelis in a separate incident in Jerusalem.

NGO responses to these incidents reflect an immoral agenda that stands in direct contradiction to the human rights mandate that they and their funder-enablers claim. Palestinian, Israeli, European, and international NGOs and their officials that commented on Jenin before the Sabbath terror attacks repeated the PA propaganda of a “massacre.”

Other NGOs appeared to justify the terror attacks in Jerusalem, or otherwise blamed Israel for the targeting of Israeli civilians. Even those groups that directly condemned the terror attacks simultaneously included condemnations of Israel. One NGO, the Rights Forum (Netherlands), bizarrely denied that the murder of Jews because they were Jews constituted antisemitism.

Importantly, several very vocal and active Israeli advocacy NGOs, including Adalah, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, and Yesh Din, appear not to have issued statements.
The Tragic Palestinian Children's Crusade
On December 12, 2022, 15-year-old Jana Majdi Zakharna was killed during an IDF operation in Jenin. The IDF's investigation revealed that the girl was shot to death on a rooftop as she stood in proximity to a Palestinian gunman who had opened fire at Israeli troops below and that she assisted the gunmen by observing the soldiers' movements.

The Telegram channel "Jenin Al-Qassam," which serves armed Palestinian groups in the Jenin region, has published instructions for "Jihad fighters" that deal with the use of children "to conduct visual observation and information gathering." The Telegram channel also noted that Jenin has a network of observation units staffed by "young people" assisting terrorist groups by documenting on video and delivering reports about the activities of IDF forces.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has written that under international humanitarian law, "Individuals whose continuous function involves the preparation, execution, or command of acts or operations amounting to direct participation in hostilities are assuming a continuous combat function."
Biden Admin Announces $50 Million in New UNRWA Funding
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday announced $50 million in new funding for a UN agency that is dedicated solely to the descendants of Palestinian refugees and which has been widely denounced for propagating antisemitism, eliciting rebuke from a top Senate Republican.

Speaking in Ramallah alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken said that the money, alongside the $890 million the Biden administration has already provided to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) in the past two years, was intended to “rebuild” the relationship between the US and the Palestinian Authority.

“All of these steps are part of the longer term ambition to re-establish, but then not just re-establish, rebuild our relationship, as I said, with the Palestinian people and with the Palestinian Authority,” Blinken said. “And this will allow us to more effectively work toward the goal of Palestinians and Israelis enjoying equal measures of democracy, of opportunity, of dignity in their lives. We believe that that can be achieved by a realization of two states. President Biden remains committed to that goal.”

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, slammed the move Wednesday.

“The Biden Administration is far too eager to give out US taxpayer dollars to UNRWA,” Risch told The Algemeiner. “I do not support a single US taxpayer dollar going to UNRWA without serious reform, in part because their textbooks continue time and again to include antisemitic content. That is why I will be re-introducing my UNRWA Accountability & Transparency Act which would halt funding to UNRWA until all of its antisemitic issues are thoroughly addressed.”

Saturday, December 01, 2018



On Friday, I reported that the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, voted to rename Sandton Drive after PFLP terrorist hijacker Leila Khaled.

It turns out that the US Consulate in Johannesburg is on 1 Sandton Drive.



I hope that the US State Department lodges a serious protest against being forced to reside on a street named after a terrorist who hijacked and then blew up an American plane, TWA flight 840.

(h/t Tomer Ilan)




We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Friday, November 30, 2018



From the Sandton (South Africa) Chronicle:

The Joburg City Council on 29 November adopted a motion to rename Sandton Drive after Leila Khaled.

Martin Williams, Ward 90 councillor, posted a statement on the Ward 90 Facebook group that read, “… The DA were outnumbered when the EFF and ANC voted together.

“As an affected ward councillor, I undertake to ensure adherence to correct policies and procedures. The people of Ward 90 shall have their say.”

Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg, Herman Mashaba, and Councillor Sergio dos Santos also issued a statement regarding the proposed name change.

The statement read that a motion was tabled in Council to move that the City rename Sandton Drive to ‘City of Ramallah’ Drive.

A further amendment to the motion was tabled and accepted, calling for the motion to rename the road after Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said the statement.

Mashaba further said in the statement: Therefore, the nature of the motion was substantially altered. It is the view of the DA that in this case, the motion would need to return to the Programming Committee for review and then serve at the next Council meeting.
Leila Khaled, of course, is an unrepentant terrorist who hijacked airplanes in the 1970s.

The only pushback on the Facebook page of this newspaper is that there is no money to change street signs while basic services are lacking for the people in that community. But no one really is concerned over naming a street after a terrorist.

The newspaper articles from South Africa about this don't say who Leila Khaled is, so it is unclear if they are doing this in spite of her terrorism - or because of it.

South Africa is now more anti-Israel and pro-terrorist than most Arab states.

 (h/t Tomer Ilan)


We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Friday, May 08, 2015

One of the supreme ironies of those who claim Israel is "an apartheid state" can be seen from this 1997 article, by David Kaplan, recently rediscovered, which describes Israel's involvement in helping the blacks of South Africa during the apartheid era.




That it has been doing so without any fuss or fanfare may explain why so few Israelis or South Africans know about it. A closely kept secrete, the programme has been running since the dark days of Apartheid.On the day that a delegation of the South African Zionist Federation in Israel (Telfed) visited the campus, the atmosphere amongst the participants was jubilant. Met with traditional South African dance and music, the 28th group of participants was celebrating the near completion of their course with a farewell cocktail party.Among the veterans of the Beit Berl programme are over two dozen mayors of South African towns and cities including the present mayors of the country’s two largest cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as those from smaller towns like Randburg, George, and Grahamstown. To that list, we can now add Port Alfred’s mayor, Eric Khuluwe. He tells us,
“Port Alfred is growing at an enormous pace as people are streaming in from the rural areas, seeking employment. The job situation is bleak and we are finding it an uphill battle to provide basic civic services. We have sixty-one local councils in my district and we need to involve as many people on the local level as possible in decision-making. This is the policy of the ANC government and is indicative of the nature of our democracy that empowers people to determine their own destiny. The Beit Berel three-week intensive course was excellent; it widened my horizons and provided practical guidance on team-management. I feel far better equipped to return to my city now and impact on its future. “
Since 1986,over twenty South African Members of Parliament, as well as hundreds of local government officials and ministers of provincial councils have passed through Beit Berel. Patrick Adams, a Coloured man in charge of Emergency & Disaster Management for the Cape Metropolitan Council in Cape Town, says,
“The course was very professional. I am in charge of Reconstruction & Development programmes in the Western Cape region, and my team is currently immersed in running numerous housing and community projects. Not only have I learned a new dimension of problem solving, but I have also been exposed to the problems in Israel and enjoy a greater understanding of the issues here.”

What seems routine today all began in the undercover world of the early 80s when clandestine contacts took place between progressive Israelis and the anti-apartheid forces in South Africa. The local powerhouse behind this project is Professor Shimshon Zelniker, who has masterfully manoeuvered between South Africans, Americans and Israelis, a fascinating amalgam of colourful characters including Hollywood stars, Jewish politicos, civil rights activists, freedom fighters and donors.Zeinicker, a professor of political science at Beit Berel and at UCLA, was a member of Shimon Peres’ advisory team in 1982.
“I was given responsibility for third-world policies, and my first mission was making positive contact with leaders of the struggle in South Africa”
The players in this unfolding theatre of clandestine operations spread across three continents. In South Africa, Clive Menell of Anglovaal paved the way by bringing on board Archbishop Benjamin Tutu. Soon other internationally renown personalities like Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden joined the circle, as did Ethel Kennedy, who twisted Tutu’s arm into meeting with the Israelis.This was the turning point, for what followed was a secret meeting in South Africa between a delegation of Israelis representing anti-apartheid sentiment and prominent Blacks, such as Albertina Sisulu and Ntatho and Sally Motlana.
“We came out of the meeting with a clear mandate for action. Armed with an understanding that there would be no political manifestos and no pictures of politicians kissing each other, but a programme geared solely to assisting in the struggle, we approached Jews in the United States for support. In Israel, Yossi Beilin, Alon Liel, Ruth Baron and myself, among others, spearheaded the programme to be called the Israeli and South African Centres for International Cooperation” (ICIC) and would be based at Beit Berel."

CLANDESTINE RECRUITMENT
The early days saw us
“pounding the pavements in South Africa for some twenty months recruiting support and participants. The success of the operation was predicated on our ability to keep it under wraps.”
Asked how that was possible, Zelniker replied, “You know how porcupines makes love? Very carefully”.

The first group of twenty arrived in 1986 representing three constituencies – Soweto, the Cape Coloured community and Women’s groups.
“We brought in the Histadrut to help in the initial training,” said Zelniker. “After the success of that first group, it was easier to obtain more funding. We approached very prominent, radically anti-Israel, Black leaders in the U.S. and received their blessing. Individual Jews donated large sums of money in the full knowledge that they would receive no recognition, and the American Government very quietly also assisted us in funding.”
Zelniker’s shuttling to and fro between Israel and South Africa was not without risk.
“My associate Ruth Baron was also detained. There were many ways the South African Authorities could have derailed the programme and they made it crystal clear that physical intimidation could be escalated. We were worried about the graduates being whisked away on their return from Israel for interrogation and intimidation, which on occasion did happen.”
Despite all the harassment, including infiltration by the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), the programme flourished.At one point in the late 1980s, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times bumped into a group of Black trainees in Tel Aviv. He thought he had uncovered the scoop of the century – ANC and AZAPO forge secret ties with Apartheid’s ‘ally’!
“He telephoned me and said,‘this is sensational. What’s it all about?” When I explained to him the need for secrecy I thankfully managed to persuade him that the programme and South Africa’s future were far more important than his ego. He dropped the story.”

It was only a year or so after Mandela’s release that the programme’s profile entered the public domain.

“In 1993 we introduced a rural community development programme in the former homelands, and it was then that we came out into the open,” reveals Zelniker.

Today the programme has wide appeal throughout South Africa. Another participant in the present programme is Thabisile Msezane from Boksburg, who runs a day care-centre. Thabasile explains, “In the Boksburg area there were no schools and children loitered aimlessly in the streets wasting away their lives. Each day I noticed a little boy roaming around the shopping centre where I bought milk. He would ask me for money to buy food. I thought,

“What kind of future does this child have?”As I was starting a day care centre, I wanted to enroll this kid and so went in search of his parents. I was directed to a shabby compound behind a farmhouse, where I found his them. While speaking to the boy’s father, the child spread the word amongst his friends telling them he was going to school. By the end of my conversation, I had enrolled another twelve children. Today I have 150 pupils, some of whom walk a distance of twelve kilometres to get to the school.”

Trevor Ngwame, a councillor from Johannesburg, was all praise for the Beit Berel programme.

“We are dealing with the legacy of apartheid – no jobs, lack of housing and poor education. My approach is to offer people hope, and motivate them to organize themselves. We have seen how successful Israelis have been in overcoming insurmountable odds.Like South Africa, this country has never been short of problems and yet it manages to advance amazingly. This is what we want to do. Of course, Israel’s problems are very different, and in the South African context we have to ensure that people see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am not naïve to believe that matters are going to fall into place overnight. While the government must deliver the goods, the people also have to rise up to the challenge and they need the tools to it. This programme has been a tremendous help in this regard.

Zelniker concludes, “As a Jew I have learnt that liberation is not simply about taking the people out of the ghetto. It means taking the ghetto out of the people. To say that I am proud of this programme would be an understatement.”

Friday, November 01, 2013

South Africa doesn't even pretend to be even-handed:
South African ministers do not visit Israel, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said.

"Our Palestinian friends have never asked us to disengage with Israel [through cutting diplomatic relations]. They had asked us in formal meetings to not engage with the regime," she said at a Congress of SA Trade Unions international relations committee meeting.

"Ministers of South Africa do not visit Israel currently. Even the Jewish Board of Deputies that we engage with here, they know why our ministers are not going to Israel."

She said South Africa had not been asked to "close down" its diplomatic relations with Israel.

"We have agreed to slow down and curtail senior leadership contact with that regime until things begin to look better," Nkoana-Mashabane said.

"The struggle of the people of Palestine is our struggle."

She said South Africa had a Palestinian embassy, which was supported "100 percent".

Nkoana-Mashabane said the South African struggle was not just about itself, but also international solidarity.

"The last time I saw a map of Palestine, I couldn't go to sleep," she said.

"It is just dots, smaller than those of the homelands, and that broke my heart."

The meeting was also addressed by a group campaigning for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, who had become a symbol of the Palestinian struggle.
From her very words, it appears that the PLO is directing South African policy in the Middle East. Can anyone imagine a US leader saying that their policy is dictated by what their "Israeli friends" demand?

The version of this article in the Mail & Guardian was headlined "Nkoana-Mashabane: SA ministers do not visit Palestine."

This same minister issued a completely one-sided condemnation of Israel in 2009. She mentions Hamas rockets but only condemns Israel's response.

(h/t @jethrosteve)

UPDATE: A week later, the Aouth African government denies any such policy.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

I mentioned a few weeks ago that a concert by the Daniel Zamir Quartet was coming to Wits University in South Africa in order to make up for the concert by Yossi Reshef last March that was cut short by obnoxious protesters who crashed into the show.

The haters, of course, were going crazy that an Israeli jazz group would be playing. The sponsors, including the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies, took some precautions to ensure that attendees would not disrupt the concert - an eminently reasonable move.

They used a ticket broker who asked all who wanted to purchase tickets for information like their student numbers. However, one ticket broker misunderstood the instructions and told some of the haters on the phone that "only Jews" would be allowed to attend.

This was of course not true, but the BDSers tried to spread the recording and then protested to the university that the event was a "Jews-only" event.

The concert went off today without a hitch and all races and religions were in the audience. As the Wits Vuvuzela reports:

A Wits PhD student, Serge Tshibangu, said the allegations made by BDS were false because he had ordered a ticket and had received confirmation of the order, even though he is “African”: I totally disagree that it is a racist concert.”

Tshibangu said he ordered his tickets on Monday. He had to give his full names and identification number to buy the ticket but he understood it was so his ID number could be checked by Campus Control officers when he arrived at the concert.

Krengel said he “applauded Wits University for upholding the democratic values and freedoms that have made it so fine an academic institution and for its forthright rejection of the intimidatory, bullying tactics of those who do not scruple to undermine those freedoms in order to push their own radical political agendas.”
What has been so far unreported in the media is the bigoted actions of the protesters outside the concert. While the haters said they were going to hold a silent protest - and the Mail & Guardian claimed that they did - a reporter from the Vuvuzela, Emelia Motsai, a journalism student, tweeted otherwise:

Emelia Motsai
Some protesters have tapes on their mouths, some are singing softly. It was said that this would be a "silent protest" #Witsconcert

Protester are now in the corridors of the great hall shouting "down with zionism down" to those who are going into the #Witsconcert

There is no silence in this protest. The protesters are now singing loudly as #Witsconcert attendees arrive.

Some #Witsconcert attendees rolling their eyes as they pass the shouting protesters. another passed by holding up a scarf written 'israel'

"You have the blood of Palestine children on your jersey" shouted a protester to a lady attending #Witsconcert

Some protesters throwing papers at #Witsconcert attendees as they arrive.

'Dubula e Juda" shoot Judah, sings the protesters #Witsconcert

. A campus control officer just confirmed that the auditorium was full.
"Dubula e Juda" of course means "Shoot the Jew."

These lowlifes were claiming that the Jews were acting in a discriminatory way by their bogus charge that only Jews would be allowed. Yet they are the biggest bigots of all.

And news outlet SABC called the BDS movement "a human rights organization!"

UPDATE: The protesters actually justify the chants, claiming that "Shoot the Jew" is not antisemitic!

At some point the protesters threw papers at concert attendees as they arrived. They also sang, “dubula e juda” (“shoot the Jew”), and chanted “there is no such thing as Israel” and “Israel apartheid” as the concert attendees were coming in.

{Muhammed Desai, coordinator of BDS South Africa] said many African people in South Africa when using the word “Jews” meant it in the same way they would have during the eighties. “Just like you would say kill the Boer at funeral during the eighties it wasn’t about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the apartheid regime”.

He said there was no evidence of Jews being harmed because of anti-Semitic impulses, – “the whole idea anti-Semitism is blown out of proportion”. He said if there were anti-Semitic sentiments they would flatly challenge it even if it came from within their protest.
Let's shoot Desai. But by "Desai" I simply mean people who justify saying "Shoot the Jews." Nothing offensive about that, right?

(h/t Joseph)

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Esther Meshoe, daughter of conservative South African parliamentarian, Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, refutes false allegations of apartheid on the part of Israel.




((h/t IsraDocuMentalist)

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Last March, the University of Wits in South Africa sponsored a concert by an acclaimed pianist, Yossi Reshef, who was born in Israel. While the sponsors promised that they would ensure proper security, protesters crashed into the show and ruined the evening for everyone in ways that left many South Africans ashamed.  The University apologized to the people who wanted to listen to the music, and couldn't:
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, deeply regrets that a concert held on its campus last night was disrupted by some members of the University community and representatives of external organisations.

In light of this incident, the University takes this opportunity to issue a public apology to all those who attended the concert. The disruption of this event points to intolerance on the part of some members of the University community and goes against the core values espoused by the University. The University is investigating this matter and will take the necessary action based on its policies, processes and procedures
.Now we will have an opportunity to see if the University of Wits is serious about their words.
Jazz fans are in for a treat as renowned Israeli saxophonist, Daniel Zamir, is en route to South Africa with three other impressive musicians. The Daniel Zamir Quartet – which includes Zamir, Omri Mor on piano, Gilad Abro on contrabass, and Amir Bresler on drums – will perform at the Great Hall at the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday, 28 August.

Zamir is one of the most influential musicians in Israel. He is a virtuoso sax player and composer of what could be defined as “Jewish jazz”, fusing together elements of Jewish sounds and high quality jazz, together with ethnic and world music elements.

“We are thrilled to finally have the Daniel Zamir Quartet coming to South Africa,” says Professor Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, one of South Africa’s foremost composers and composition professor within the Music Department at Wits School of the Arts. “He is such a fantastic musician and is hugely popular, not only in Israel but across the jazz world.”

The audience can expect the unexpected – a unique concert that combines jazz and new age Jewish music, with a touch of the experimental and the Klezmer music genre.

“Lovers of jazz and Jewish music are going to be thrilled by the quartet. They are a relatively young group, and bring to the art of jazz a completely different dimension with their ability to experiment and fuse different genres,” said Zaidel-Rudolph.
One of the leaders in disrupting the Reshef concert is anxious to do the same to Zamir:

We'll see in a few weeks whether the University can uphold its stated values.

Here's a concert with Zamir:



(h/t Steve)

Thursday, June 20, 2013

From BDLive:
THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has taken its anti-Israeli campaign a notch higher, threatening to boycott the use of the newly approved PrePex circumcising device, which it says is made in the Jewish state.

The introduction of PrePex — a nonsurgical circumcising device given the green light by the World Health Organisation — was announced this week during the sixth South African Aids Conference taking place in Durban.

The device was described as cheap, safe and easy to use and would replace the controversial Malaysian-made Tara KLamp during the government’s medical male circumcision campaign.

The Department of Health said the PrePex would be rolled out across the country in the next few months.

HIV/AIDS activist organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign have given PrePex a nod of approval saying it is much safer than the Tara KLamp, which is widely used in KwaZulu-Natal’s health facilities to circumcise men as a way of reducing their chances of contracting HIV.

But Cosatu on Wednesday signalled it would be a spanner in the works for the PrePex’s introduction. The federation’s spokesman Patrick Craven said while it was behind the government’s drive to circumcise men to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, the federation would not relent on its longstanding call to boycott all Israeli-made products.

Mr Craven said the federation would call for a similar device to be made in South Africa.

"The point is not whether this device (PrePex) is the best or not. What we are saying is that there should be a wholesale boycott of all products from Israel, including this one. We cannot have exceptions," he said.
The existing Tara KLamp has caused serious problems, with some 21% of men using it in trials reporting damage to their penis and bleeding, 32% getting infections and 37% reporting complications. Health officials have been complaining about that device for years. Officials have described it as a "horror."

Some horrific photos of damaged penises from the Tara KLamp can be seen linked here. This is what Cosatu prefers.

The Israeli PrePex device, on the other hand, has been clinically tested to be highly effective even compared to surgical circumcision:
The PrePex device, manufactured by the Israeli company Circ MedTech, works by using an elastic band that compresses the foreskin against a rigid plastic ring that is placed on the inside of the penis's foreskin. The elastic band cuts off the blood supply to the foreskin, which becomes harder, loses sensation and dries out. According to a technical expert from the US government's Office of the Global Aids Co-ordinator (the president's fund headquarters), Dr Jason Reed, the process is similar to that of an umbilical cord clamp.

"Once the foreskin has 'died', a client returns a week later to have the device removed and the hardened skin is then easily cut away," he said.

Although a local analgesic ointment is applied when the inner ring is inserted beneath the foreskin, no local anaesthesia – and thus no needles – are required, as with surgical circumcisions. And because live tissue is not cut, a sterile environment and stitches are not needed. There is usually no bleeding and research studies have shown that pain levels are comparable with, or in some cases lower than, those involving surgical circumcisions.

A study conducted in Rwanda last year found that the PrePex procedure could be performed in one-fifth of the time (three minutes) of an average surgical procedure (15 to 30 minutes). The study also found that most participants using the PrePex device were able to return to work within three hours after the device had been put on, whereas those undergoing surgical circumcisions often needed a few days to recover. Another Rwandan study has shown that the PrePex procedure can be carried out by "low-cadre nurses", unlike surgical circumcisions, which require skilled surgeons or surgical nurses.

Reed said: "Most African countries have a shortage of healthcare providers with surgical skills, particularly doctors, which makes it challenging to perform high volumes of surgical circumcisions. A medical device that would eliminate the need for such constrained resources could help to speed up the process greatly."
Yes, Cosatu prefers that tens of thousands of men be exposed to penis infections, bleeding and pain instead of using a safe Israeli product that could help stem AIDS and other problems in Africa.

Do you think any of them will volunteer to use the Tara KLamp to show their commitment to their sacred anti-Israel cause?

There is no better example of Israel Derangement Syndrome than this. In fact, it is probably a good idea to tweet all the BDS idiots and ask them straight out if they agree with Cosatu here, and believe that the danger to thousands of men's penises (and, indeed, public health)  is a small price to pay to avoid using an Israeli product.

(h/t IAcquisitive)

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Remember the concert by pianist Yossi Reshef that was stopped by Israel-haters who broke into the concert hall and jumped on the stage? A reminder:

Guests and the audience arriving for the concert, were manhandled, shoved by the student protesters and utterly traumatised - some were in tears and shaking.

What values do we espouse at Wits? We talk glibly about freedom to express oneself. A protest does not mean freedom to smash windows to get into the basement, nor does it mean breaking the door to the Atrium, so that a mob can break through into the hall where a civilised classical music concert was in progress.

The music department was assured that the public and the students at the concert would be protected. A group of wellmeaning but utterly helpless security guards could not control the mob.

Our music students were traumatised by the swearing, threats and intimidations in the Atrium when the mob burst in screaming and with vuvuzelas and went berserk.

Is this the kind of freedom for which Wits stands? Is this the kind of message that Wits sends out to the public - that if we don’t like something we are entitled to disrupt and destroy it? Of course the concert had to stop. This was not a political rally - it was a concert.

The haters, naturally, are being brought up on charges by the university for their crimes. But their comrades seem to feel that violently stopping a pianist from playing is considered "free speech" and is something to be admired!

From Business Day Live (South Africa:)
CONGRESS of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Friday added to a call for the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to drop charges of violating its code of conduct against students who disrupted a concert by an Israeli pianist.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the Wits campus in Johannesburg on Friday to demand that the university’s management call off disciplinary hearings, scheduled for next week, against 11 current and former members of its Students’ Representative Council (SRC) who disrupted an on-campus concert by Israeli pianist Yossi Reshef in March.

The concert, which took place during international "Israeli Apartheid Week", was cancelled after 15 minutes after students from, among other organisations, the SRC and the African National Congress Youth League took to the stage in solidarity with Palestinians.

Speaking at the protest, Mr Vavi said that former president Nelson Mandela "would be shocked to hear that students were harassed and now charged by this university". Wits had a proud history of not being intimidated by the apartheid regime and now risked being an instrument of "Zionist racists", he said.

Protesters on Friday handed over a memorandum demanding an immediate end to the charges to Wits management.
In Vavi's memo, we see a master of Orwellian rhetroric:
We stand here, in a free, democratic and post-apartheid South Africa, to affirm our unequivocal support for the right of all people to engage in peaceful resistance in defence of their rights and those of others.

We therefore condemn in the strongest terms the fact that Wits University has charged 11 students (9 of them SRC Members) for participating in an SRC-led protest at the Israeli Embassy-sponsored piano concert in which an Israeli (publicly admitted Zionist) was performing. [The concert was not sponsored by the Israel Embassy, by the way - EoZ]

This concert, and the protest, happened during the Israeli Apartheid Week campaign, which the SRC participated in and endorses. Now, the charges have left our comrades in great fear of being expelled and thus losing their careers. Students learn not only academically, but also through their active participation in extra-mural and political or social mobilisation for the cause of the greater society in which they live. They can't isolate themselves from the conditions surrounding them and their people, within and outside their own immediate boundaries.

The university seeks to demobilize the growing BDS movement and opposition to its silence and complicity with Israel and its actions. We should applaud the student leadership of their bravery and conviction to defend and fight for justice, in particular their opposition to Israeli Apartheid, and voicing their frustration when any complicity is shown by the university authorities on their own campus.

We condemn the university's response of targeting student leadership by charging them. This is not only wrong and undermines the fundamental right to protest, but an indication that the university dismisses the legitimate claims and demands of the students.
Get that? Israelis, and Zionists, have no right to speech, to play music publicly or indeed to be treated like human beings. The students who broke through police lines, broke windows and doors to force themselves in, violently disrupted the concert, intimidated the audience and guests, and terrorized the artist should not only not be charged - they should be admired! But they must not suffer any consequences for breaking the law. That would be wrong.

How liberal!

Luckily, some students at Wits are not falling for this hypocrisy:
Dear Wits Student

I love my University , but I do not love what is happening to it.....

I love my University so much I spent two years homeless and hungry trying to raise money to continue my education, and now I am worried about this great institution, I am sure you are too....

The student representative council, has chosen to ignore the 'R' in SRC, they have chosen to turn our University into their political playground at the expense of our issues.

To be blunt, I do not care about Israel and or Palestine, I am a hungry poor black man and I have more immediate issues that bother me, issues like my inability to buy text books, my inability to raise printing money, issues such as the crowded libraries with few computers, issues such as the Kudu buck machines with no coin slots for the poor students.

I have not heard the SRC speak of these issues for the past three months, all they have been making noise about is the Israel Palestine issue, which is not immediate to me.

Other students have different issues,...

Today the SRC tells us they are fighting for us, for the right to protest, yet the truth is they are telling half the story. They may have a right to protest, but the jewish students also have a right to congregate without being bullied or disrupted. JEWS ARE STUDENTS TOO, THEY DESERVE REPRESENTATION TOO....

Representation requires listening and speaking for all students!

The SRC is not the toy of political parties to be used to divide us and to advance your personal ambition. Your job is not to serve some of us , but all of us.

You do not represent yourselves, or only the palestinian students, your job is to represent all of us....and you have not done that. ...

As a student I feel unrepresented by you, I feel ignored by you, but more importantly I feel like you have come to harm the institution I have sweated blood and tears to be a part of....

You have eroded unity, you have disrupted peaceful gatherings and caused commotion at our University....and you have done this in my name as a student....but I NEVER GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO ....

With love
a Concerned Wits student
We live in a Bizarro world where up is down, black is white, free speech is oppression and violent oppression is freedom.

I have a feeling that the students will not be punished at all. Bullying Jews and Zionists will be considered a human right in parts of South Africa.

Kristallnacht cannot be far behind.

(h/t StevenZ)

Thursday, April 18, 2013

More details about the attack on the Yom Ha'atzmaut concert in South Africa are coming out. While BDS South Africa claims that Jewish security guards attacked them (!), the truth can be seen here:

On Monday evening, April 15th, attempts to sabotage the Israeli Independence day celebrations at the Gold Reef City Lyric Theatre were carried out by over one hundred BDS, COSATU, PSC and MSA members.

The members of these groups together with collaborators began to protest outside of the venue from 6pm. They were shouting, “Down with Israel” slogans, singing and blowing vuvuzelas. One speaker at the event made it clear that these movements are “going to make it so uncomfortable for Zionists to exist in this country” (South Africa) and another speaker stated that, “this will be the last year that they will be celebrating Israeli Independence.” (Which can be viewed as a direct threat to most Jews in SA).

From there, certain members of BDS, the MSA and the SRC’s from three Gauteng universities tried to get into the event as people were arriving. A source has said that “they managed to call the Lyric Theatre office and bought tickets; they even managed to get into the venue however some were stopped at the door by the heavy security (supplied by both the Jewish Community and Gold Reef City) as they looked suspicious.”

A second source has reported that some of the members of the Anti-Israel groups who were stopped at the door by Security (CSO) at the venue, began to cause a fuss saying that “being denied entry is pure racism and unjust” even though these BDS members had a plan to disrupt the concert. “They used the race card against us even though they were planning something sinister” says the source.

However, security measures did not prevail as an hour into the show, a group of the BDS/MSA/PSC ruffians made it into the venue intimidating members of the audience and shouting swear words, “down with Apartheid-Israel – Free Palestine” and “You suck” to the current performer.

Security forces managed to remove them but a sense of uneasiness had already begun to settle within the crowd, “An elderly lady behind me fell to the floor in shock as these guys started intimidating the audience. Her husband had to console her throughout the rest of the concert. It was terrible” says one witness.

Another witness, close to the commotion stated that he had to help settle a shocked woman down. “She was quite a heavily pregnant lady and she started having cramps and pain as a result of the fright caused from the commotion. It was in such bad taste.”

During the closing ceremony of the concert, while world-renown singer Yaniv D’Or’s performed “Eli-Eli”, a Holocaust song written by Hannah Senesh, one of the female protestors who had managed to infiltrate the concert got up and ran on stage screaming “free Palestine” slogans. She together with other members, who had managed to gain access to the concert as well, began to set off stink bombs around the venue, shouting “Israel-Apartheid stinks.”

At this point Yaniv who had very bravely carried on his performance hoping that they would leave, made the heroic decision to pick up the protestor and removed her off the stage while continuing to sing. He handed her over to security forces that were waiting by the stage.

A number of BDS members were arrested on the scene after this disruption, including the daughter of a senior COSATU official. They spent Monday evening in jail and were released at 4am the next morning.
MyShtetl adds:
Gold Reef City had received a bomb threat on Monday night the SAZF has revealed today, while SAPS, CSO & Gold Reef security were trying to contain illegal protesters. SA Jewry is “entitled to celebrate without intimidation and our rights being trampled on!” said the Fed today.

The Fed insists that claims of a violent assault on protestors at Monday’s night’s Yom Ha’atzmaut concert at Gold Reef City “are false and defamatory. On the contrary, it was the protestors who engaged in illegal disruptive actions at a private function, thereby blatantly infringing the right of the Jewish community to celebrate its culture and heritage,” says the Fed.

The Fed claims that Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS-SA) protesters gained access to the event under false pretences, threw stink bombs into the audience, attacked and injured an elderly woman and forced themselves onto the stage, where they attempted to attack the performers.
At Wits University, which saw similarly ugly attacks last month that shut down a concert that featured an Israeli-born pianist, things went a bit better this time:
On a more positive note, celebrations at the Wits Yom Ha’atzmaut party were not disrupted at all as the university implemented a ban on any members of these groups coming anywhere near the festivities. They were threatened with serious disciplinary action. There was also a large contingent of security around the event which deterred any unruly action from taking place. A wonderful time was had by all.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Last night, there was a concert in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg to celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut:


The counter-tenor Yaniv D'Or describes what happened on his Facebook page:

Dear Friends,

Tonight I felt the venom of hatred. During a performance in Johannesburg a group or protestors stormed the Lyric Theatre and shouted some strong pro palestinians slogans as I was singing the wonderful melody of Eli Eli which is written by Hannah Senesh at the time of the holocaust.

They hated me for the wrong reasons. I am a proud Israeli and British citizen and very much supporting freedom for Palestine...

I continued singing as if nothing happened in hope it was a one off incident. I was so wrong. After the break without any particular reason another protestor (female) stormed the stage as I was singing and started shouting again pro palestinian slogans, this time also exploding stinky bombs on stage.

In a state of shock and this time also anger, I found myself hugging her, lifting her on my side while accompanying her back stage before handing her to security. She could have very easily stub me but my impulse was stronger than me and I couldn't feel fear at that point.

Everyone have the right to voice their opinion but interrupting a concert just because of religious or nationality hatred is too much for me. There are other means one should express disagreement. Not like this.

Sad times.
One responder in Facebook named Sarah Wainer verified the event:
I was at the concert last night. Yaniv gave an incredible performance, what a beautiful voice! How he managed to throw the lady off the stage and continue to sing at the same time, was also amazing!!! :) Thank you Yaniv!
I cannot find a single news story about the interruption. SABC briefly mentions the protesters outside, but nothing about the concert itself being interrupted:
Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) South Africa held a protest outside Gold Reef City in Johannesburg last night, where supporters of Israel were attending a music concert to celebrate Israeli Independence.
It seems likely that the stink-bomb attack was well planned by BDS South Africa, because the hashtag in Twitter for the protest is "IsraelApartheidStinks." According to one anti-Israel tweeter, there were two women arrested - but they were released.

Is the South African community so inured to these obnoxious haters that no one even thinks people throwing stink-bombs in the middle of a performance is even worth mentioning?

(h/t Steven Z)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

The South Africa Jewish Report has an article by Yossi Reshef, the Israeli-born pianist whose concert was shut down by haters at Wits University earlier this month:

The sight before me on the evening of March 12, 2013 was one I will never forget. As I was trying to overcome the sound of noise, singing and vuvuzelas coming from the outside with Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, I was already feeling quite ill from stress.

The moment the perpetrators broke in [to the hall] was somewhat of a relief; at that moment I could stop this fight knowing they had beaten me. Never before as an artist did I ever feel that I needed to fight evil and ignorance but here I was forced to confront a moment in my life where I had to face ugliness and chaos. The music stopped, chaos prevailed.

A classical pianist schedules performances months (sometimes years) in advance. This tour was planned a long time ago after months of hard work and preparation on both my side and that of the organisers.

The Israeli Embassy took no active part, but assistance was offered by Tararam, the South African/Israel Culture Fund, solely with my airfares. Anyone who knows the cost of coming to South Africa and the relatively low fees paid, would understand my gratitude when offered this assistance.

I also felt that it was important for me and for the organisers to show another side of Israel - that of culture - which is not often portrayed in the media. I was warned that there might be protests, but at no point was an “Israel Apartheid Week” (a ridiculous idea in itself, as Israel is one of the world’s finest
democracies) mentioned.

At no point was I ever asked by anyone to postpone or cancel my performances. This fact alone proves that my concerts were a mere platform on which this organised act of violence could occur.

I am a musician, not a politician. I am an Israeli (and a very proud one), but does this make me a representative of my country’s policies? The fact that in many places it is mentioned that I live in Germany (and I am very happily making music there) seems to have no relevance. Had I been living in Tel Aviv, would
that have justified any of these protests?

It is also quite obvious that the perpetrators are fully unaware of my activities which support dialogue and the peace process in the Middle East, among them my eight-year coaching of Israeli and Arab students (Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian and so on) in the “Playing for Peace” project organised by the Apple Hill Chamber Centre in New Hampshire, USA and my concerts with an Egyptian pianist as part of the European Mozart Academy.

However, this clearly made no difference to those bent on disrupting my performances simply because I originate from Israel.

My mission as I see it, is to deal with beauty. I spend most of my waking hours trying to decipher the meaning and content of the great masterpieces, their technical solutions, and their metaphysical realm.

Interrupting with the sound of vuvuzelas at the very end of a Beethoven sonata, one of humanity’s greatest treasures, is no less than a clash of cultures. The violence and hatred seen in the perpetrators’ eyes is something I will never forget.

I feel more hurt for the many people who came to the concert than for myself. An artist can earn no greater honour than the people who display their gratitude by coming to listen to him.

And for this, in fact I am thankful.

I am thankful for all the support I received during this tour, and I want to return to this beautiful country once again to play my music.

On my concert in Stellenbosch, three days later, heavy security was put outside the hall. The demonstrators were already confronted by some of the concert-goers and the concert took place without interruption. I feel there is still hope.
There are also come details on what happened outside the Wits concert:
I have never felt so ashamed to be a Witsie tonight. The artist/pianist who lives in Berlin and carries an Israeli passport, came to Wits as one of (the Department of Music’s) scheduled concerts to give a performance in the Atrium.

Our concert organiser, Prof Malcolm Nay, acted in good faith and was assured by the acting dean, that if there were to be protests, (and it was likely that there would be), the mob would be kept behind a barrier away from the guests and audience who had paid to come and hear an international pianist of repute.

Guests and the audience arriving for the concert, were manhandled, shoved by the student protesters and utterly traumatised - some were in tears and shaking.

What values do we espouse at Wits? We talk glibly about freedom to express oneself. A protest does not mean freedom to smash windows to get into the basement, nor does it mean breaking the door to the Atrium, so that a mob can break through into the hall where a civilised classical music concert was in progress.

The music department was assured that the public and the students at the concert would be protected. A group of wellmeaning but utterly helpless security guards could not control the mob.

Our music students were traumatised by the swearing, threats and intimidations in the Atrium when the mob burst in screaming and with vuvuzelas and went berserk.

Is this the kind of freedom for which Wits stands? Is this the kind of message that Wits sends out to the public - that if we don’t like something we are entitled to disrupt and destroy it? Of course the concert had to stop. This was not a political rally - it was a concert.

As much as the students had a right to a peaceful protest, so did the concert have a right to take place.
(h/t Israel Muse)

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Remember the Richard Goldstone op-ed in the New York Times last week that flatly stated that Israel is not an apartheid state?

At the time I wrote "As night follows day, we can expect the rabid anti-Israel Left who embraced Goldstone as their messiah two years ago will issue vicious condemnations of this piece, and charge Goldstone with being a tool of the Zionist lobby, tomorrow."

Well, tomorrow has arrived. The anti-Israel stunt known as the "Russell Tribunal on Palestine" is meeting in South Africa this week, and its members are furious:

PROMINENT Gaza human rights lawyer Raji Sourani has called South African judge Richard Goldstone a liar, following recent comments he made in the New York Times regarding apartheid in Israel.

Speaking at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign event in the city yesterday, ahead of the weekend Russell Tribunal, the founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza lashed out at Goldstone for saying apartheid did not exist in Israel.

Last month, Goldstone criticised the Russell Tribunal in an opinion piece in the New York Times, entitled “Israel and the apartheid slander”. He wrote that there was no apartheid in Israel, and called the suggestion a “particularly pernicious and enduring canard”.

“It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations,” he said.

But Sourani hit back yesterday, saying that Goldstone “is lying”.

“When he says there is no injustice in Israel, he is lying.”

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign also hit out at Goldstone in a statement read out by the organisation’s Martin Jansen. “The very recent but weak attack by Richard Goldstone on the tribunal not only exposes him as an ardent Zionist, but his shameful U-turn on the Goldstone report demonstrates his bias as a ‘juror’.”
The article also notes the comments from another member of the lynch mob:
Speaking at yesterday’s event, Palestinian refugee Leila Khaled drew parallels between South Africa’s apartheid regime and her own experiences in Palestine.
Leila Khaled is a convicted terrorist who was behind two airplane hijackings. Characterizing her as a "refugee" and giving her a place of honor at this so-called "tribunal" tells you all you need to know about it.

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