South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) condemns in the strongest terms the latest, deeply cynical campaign by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) and the Israeli state to weaponise the critical issue of water access in South Africa for political propaganda purposes.
Following the expulsion of Israeli diplomat Ariel Seidman, the SAZF has attempted to frame Israel as a benevolent saviour, claiming the expulsion was an act of punishment against a state “genuinely providing solutions” to our water crisis. This narrative is based on visits by Israeli officials, including Seidman and senior foreign ministry official David Saranga, to communities like that of AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, where promises of water infrastructure, educational support, and health facility refurbishments were made. This incident is believed to be one of several that led to Seidman being declared persona non grata, as this visit to the Western Cape was not declared to The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).
We are aware of the water problems in the Eastern Cape and believe all South Africans, including those from disadvantaged communities, have a right to clean and sufficient water. However, we reject politically motivated attempts by Israel and its supporters to use promises of water aid as a propaganda tool. This is not humanitarianism. This is a calculated public relations strategy designed to whitewash Israel’s image while it commits genocide in Gaza. It is an affront to the people of South Africa, who are being used as unwitting pawns in Israel’s attempts to rehabilitate its image, and a profound insult to the Palestinian people, against whom water is used as a weapon of war.
While posing as a saviour to South Africans, Israel systematically uses water as a tool of domination, displacement, and collective punishment of Palestinians. Israel treats water as a strategic national resource to be monopolised and weaponised, akin to how other states treat oil. By occupying the Mount Hermon region and controlling the headwaters of the Jordan River, Israel exerts total hydraulic control over the region. This allows it not only to exclude Palestinians from their rightful share of water resources, an action that can best be described as ‘water apartheid’; but also to hold sway over the water security of Syria and Jordan. This control over water is a core component of its settler-colonial project.
The evidence of this is stark and current. As the SAZF issues statements, Israel is actively destroying Palestinian water infrastructure in Gaza. A video from earlier this week shows Israeli forces blowing up a drinking water reservoir in Rafah. This is not an isolated incident but part of a deliberate policy. As reported by Middle East Monitor and other sources, the destruction of water facilities is a recurring tactic, and a crime against humanity. This follows the explicit siege policy declared on 9 October 2023, according to which all water, food and fuel would be cut off from Gaza.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking. The same state that promises water solutions in Mthatha actively bombs water reservoirs in Rafah. The SAZF, which sheds crocodile tears over South African children walking kilometres for water, remains utterly silent as Palestinian children die of dehydration and waterborne diseases caused by Israel’s systematic destruction of water delivery and sanitation systems in Gaza.
The SAZF has likewise remained silent as, across the occupied West Bank, settlers and military forces not only seize wells and divert water supplies away from Palestinian villages with impunity, but engage in the ongoing destruction of Palestinian water infrastructure—destroying wells, pipes, and pumps, poisoning sources, and even pouring concrete into wells. This systemic hydrologic control is compounded by forcing Palestinians to pay for ‘Israeli water’ while subjecting them to severe, discriminatory restrictions on water consumption per person, all without any legal consequence.
We stand in solidarity with all South Africans facing service delivery challenges. Solutions must be built on sovereignty, sustainable development, and justice—not on the promises of a regime practicing genocide.
We call on all South Africans to see this Israeli-SAZF campaign for what it is: a desperate attempt to divert attention from the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, and from Israel’s well-documented use of water as a weapon of war. We cannot allow our very real struggles to be used as a cynical smokescreen for crimes against humanity.
Our position is clear: No alliance with an apartheid state. No normalisation of relations with a state accused of genocide. No allowing our water crisis to be weaponised for propaganda.
True justice demands we support the Palestinian struggle for water, land, and freedom, and build our own future free from the manipulative influence of those who deny others these very rights.