South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) condemns the provocative decision of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) to hold their upcoming ‘Zionist Connect’ conference in Cape Town in an arrogant display of just how disconnected it is from South Africa’s values. It is a grubby event being held in a secret location and attended by screened participants who are required to make their identity numbers available to the organisers for the purpose.
We believe that it is important to highlight the ways in which this event serves as pro-war propaganda for Israel and contributes to the ongoing dehumanisation of the entire Palestinian people. It is a dehumanisation that allows for the relentless murder of Gazans, which many experts and organisations have termed a genocide, and which has only slowed due to the tenuous current ceasefire.
We note, with disappointment but not surprise, that not a single action on the part of Israel’s current farright settler government has been considered cause for criticism or even concern by the SAZF. Always an organisation that has supported the Israeli state regardless of its actions, since October 7 the SAZF has retreated even further into a Zionist bubble. For the SAZF, the actual facts – e.g. the IDF’s killing of over 17,000 Palestinian children in just 15 months – are irrelevant. As a tool of Israeli “Hasbara” propaganda, the SAZF treats Israel as a nation immune from both criticism and consequences. Just last week, Israel committed yet another crime against humanity by blocking all aid from reaching Gaza’s starving population. While the SAJFP described this as “contrary” to “foundational Jewish values”, the SAZF provides constant cover for Israeli crimes, preventing any accountability.
It is also unclear whether the event is even legal under the South African Constitution. Although the Constitution, our supreme law, guarantees “freedom of expression”, such “does not extend to propaganda for war; incitement of imminent violence; or advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm”.
It is safe to say that pro-war propaganda, the whitewashing of Israel and the shielding of those who serve it from the consequences of their war crimes are the main aims of the SAZF’s upcoming “Let’s Talk” conference. A look at the line-up for the event reveals a list of names synonymous with insidious Zionist political agendas.
The keynote speaker is Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who only a few weeks ago called for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza’s residents, relocating them to Qatar. Before this, he served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, where he made no secret about his disdain for the intergovernmental organisation. In a display of contempt, he shredded the UN Charter in front of its General Assembly as a response to its decision to increase Palestinian rights within the UN, and calls for Palestine to be made a permanent member of the 2 | P a g e body. More recently, he declared the UN in its entirety a ‘stain on humanity’. In his departure speech, Erdan labelled Israel the “most moral country in the world”, a desperate and absurd claim, considering the evidence of Israel’s human rights violations that has been mounting for decades and laid bare on a global scale since October 7th. If genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, torture and starvation represent the behaviour of a moral country, it is worth wondering what Ambassador Erdan would consider to be immoral.
Other speakers are similarly known for their seemingly unquestioning support and absolute sanction of everything Israel does. They include: Gusti Yehoshua Braverman, who is at the forefront of efforts to redefine antisemitism as criticism of Israel, thereby enabling anyone who opposes Zionism, Jews included, to be labelled antisemites. Not one to beat around the bush, she titled a 2018 blog post Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism. Daniel Braun, another speaker is a South African-born TikTokker, whose account parrots Zionist propaganda talking points. Professor Adam Mendelsohn, who has filed a court case against the University of Cape Town (UCT), challenging the university’s moderate resolution to prevent relations with academics affiliated with the Israeli military will be speaking too.
SAJFP opposes the inherently racist and dissembling narrative that is ceaselessly perpetuated by Zionists. This narrative is tailor-made to enable the ongoing brutalisation of Palestinians and to provide a cover for Israeli crimes. We advocate for a state that is a state for all who live in it and which does not assign nonJews a lower citizenship status. We believe those subject to ethnic cleansing in 1948 should have the right of return – as their right in international law.
Talkshops that constantly reiterate the essential nobility of Israel and the barbarity of its opponents will not work to conceal the truth indefinitely. This upcoming conference is no exception, offering the SAZF another opportunity to preach to the converted, entrenching a communal delusion that it is the response to Israeli actions that is the problem rather than the actions themselves. SAJFP stands with the majority of South Africans, who see through this thin propaganda and continue to believe in, and work towards, the total liberation of Palestine.
Media inquiries: [email protected], or phone: +27 62 491 1948