Africa-Press – Lesotho. ewish community leaders have said that President Ramaphosa has reassured them that Pretoria does not intend severing diplomatic ties with Israel. In a meeting with the community leaders, Ramaphosa also denounced anti-Semitic behaviour towards Jewish people in South Africa — “including the boycott of Jewish-owned businesses” — as well as Islamophobia.
He also condemned Hamas for its attack on Israel on 7 October and demanded it return the Israeli hostages it took in that attack and is still holding.
Leaders of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and SA Zionist Federation (SAZF) said after meeting Ramaphosa on Wednesday that he “re-iterated Dirco’s public position that there was no intention to sever diplomatic ties between Israel and South Africa.
This position appeared to contradict the ANC support of a resolution passed in Parliament last month calling on Pretoria to sever relations with Israel because of its bombardment of Gaza.
The government had indicated already that it regarded this resolution as purely advisory and was not obliged to implement it. But the SAJBD’s statement was the clearest sign that it does not intend doing so.
Ramaphosa did not refer directly to this in his statement on the meeting. However, he did say he had told the Jewish leaders that SA would not return its diplomats to its closed embassy in Tel Aviv until Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza has ended.
All the diplomats in the embassy were recalled last month. The SAJBD also said that Ramaphosa had told them that it was Israel’s decision, not South Africa’s, whether Israel’s ambassador to South Africa Eliav Belotsercovsky returned to this country.
Israel recalled him for consultations just before the ANC-supported Parliamentary resolution to cut ties with Israel was adopted. The SAJBD said that its National Director Wendy Kahn, had shared a presentation with Ramaphosa “on the documented threats and incidents against the Jewish community, including:
Calls to expel the Jewish representative bodies from the country; Incitement by a PAGAD leader to ‘decentralise the war. Let’s take the war to them right here’;
Marches on Jewish areas on the Sabbath to ‘Shut down the Zionist enablers’; Assaults on Christian Zionists and Jews on the Sea Point promenade; Threats to close a Jewish School and threats to bomb that school;
Boycotts of Jewish businesses; and The rise in antisemitism that has spiked from nine incidents in the previous year to 125 incidents, during the same time period, including an increase in physical assaults.
” The SAJBD and SAZF represent most members of the Jewish community in SA.
The SAJBD also complained about South Africa’s “inconsistency in its approach to Israel compared to how it has dealt with every other global conflict.
It has singled out the Jewish state, removing its embassy from Tel Aviv while it retains its embassy in all other conflict-ridden areas, including Russia and Ukraine.
In so doing, it has compromised the religious rights of Jewish South Africans and compromised its ability to act as a trusted intermediary for brokering a peace deal”.
However, the board said that Ramaphosa had agreed “that it was important to ‘leave the window open’ to engage. ” International pressure on Israel mounts
In his statement, Ramaphosa strongly condemned the “genocide” which he said was being inflicted on the Palestine people in Gaza and called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
He met SAJBD leaders as the UN General Assembly made its strongest call for an end to the war in Gaza, voting overwhelmingly to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
While the General Assembly vote increases the political and moral pressure on Israel to stop its bombardment of Gaza — and also increases political pressure on its main ally America — it has no direct force because it is non-binding.
The US was one of 10 nations which voted against the resolution while 23 abstained and 153 countries including South Africa voted for the resolution. In Pretoria, Ramaphosa’s office said the SAJBD leaders had petitioned him to:
Restore full diplomatic recognition of Israel, including the re-opening of the South African embassy in Tel Aviv and providing assurances that the Israeli embassy in Pretoria will not be closed to enable the return of the Israeli Ambassador to South Africa;
Speak and/or act against the boycott of Israeli and Jewish businesses in South Africa; and Protect the South African Jewish community against anti-Semitic incidents and/or attacks.
“President Ramaphosa reiterated the South African government position on the current conflict in Israel and Palestine that the South African government:
Stands with the people of Palestine who have endured over seven decades of apartheid type of brutal occupation; Condemned the attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 on Israeli citizens, including women and children;
Calls for all hostages to be returned; Condemns the genocide that is being inflicted against the people of Palestine, including women and children, through collective punishment and ongoing bombardment of Gaza;
Calls for the International Criminal Court to investigate all the atrocities and war crimes committed in Israel and Palestine and to hold all those responsible to account; Calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities to allow for more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza; and
Calls for the resumption of negotiations between Palestinians and Israel that will lead to a two-state solution along the 1967 internationally recognised borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
“President Ramaphosa indicated that the South African diplomats based in Tel Aviv will remain in South Africa for consultations during the current state of conflict, however, the government will endeavour to make available all the necessary support that is required by South African citizens in need of assistance.
“The President further emphasised the government’s denunciation of anti-Semitic behaviour towards Jewish people in South Africa, including the boycott of Jewish-owned businesses, and Islamophobia.
The SAJBD confirmed that Ramaphosa had told it that the closure of the SA embassy in Tel Aviv was only temporary and that it would not be opened for the duration of the war.
“He assured the delegation that during this temporary closure, Dirco would assist South Africans in Israel with consular support.
“The delegation acknowledged the work done by the security cluster in protecting the Jewish community,” the SAJBD said.
“The delegation also acknowledged the President’s communication where he said that South Africans stand firm against all forms of prejudice, including antisemitism.
The President emphasised that, as per the Constitution of our country, they will ensure that the Jewish community are protected. He committed himself to speak out against antisemitism and especially the attacks on Jewish business.
The SAJBD trusts that this will be an ongoing initiative of the Government. ” The SAJBD added that Ramaphosa had assured it that Hamas does not have an office in South Africa, as some members of the Jewish community had suspected.
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