South African Muslim Network (SAMNET) recently wrote a letter to the eThekwini-based Rising Sun Newspapers, a community newspaper owned by conglomerate Caxton Publishers and Printers. The letter questioned ‘the increasing volume of promotional content published in Rising Sun newspapers specifically highlighting the activities of the pro-Israel charity Afrika Tikkun.’
The letter points out that the activities promoted by Afrika Tikkun in its advertisements mostly take place in areas outside KZN, which have little relevance to the primary readership of these local newspapers. Why not promote the local work of charities within Durban?
The only purpose of this coverage would seem to be to promote Afrika Tikkun. While the letter does not deny the beneficial work carried out by Afrika Tikkun, it points out that this organisation has multiple Zionist and pro-Israel affiliations.
While the newspaper highlights Afrika Tikkun’s good work, it omits its silent complicity in such crimes as grave as genocide. Despite being ostensibly non-political, Afrika Tikkun has a close relationship with the Israeli embassy, helping to launder Israel’s image here in South Africa. The South African Zionist Federation has even used Afrika Tikkun to promote an Israeli government delegation seeking to sell Israeli water management technology, including its notoriously expensive, and energy intensive, desalination plants in South Africa.
This is not surprising considering that the CEO of Afrika Tikkun, Marc Lubner, is also the chairperson of the SA-Israel Chamber of Commerce. As a result, the Chamber of Commerce has created a partnership with Afrika Tikkun, which seems to use the charitable profile of the latter to promote Israeli agri-business industries that are linked to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in South Africa. It should be stating the obvious that using a non-profit organisation to promote for-profit initiatives is unethical. It is even more so when used to profit businesses operating out of an apartheid regime.
With links to such Zionist organisations and the Israeli government, it is no surprise that Afrika Tikkun has failed to say a word with respect to the genocide in Gaza which has so far included the murder of well over a hundred thousand Palestinians and the deliberate starvation of two million. It is part of a complex of organisations that work together to conceal and whitewash such atrocities. Given all this, SAMNET’S letter could not be more reasonable. Readers and advertisers should rethink their association with this newspaper if it continues to associate with Zionist organisations.
In reaction to the letter, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) initially released a clip on Facebook titled ‘SAJBD condemns SAMNET’s Attempt to Silence Jewish Philanthropy in SA Media.’ The post has since been deleted.
Prior to its deletion, members of SAJFP saw the video in question. In the pose the SAJBD so typically assumes — one of outraged victimhood — the video saw the SAJBD accusing SAMNET of bullying and intimidation. It also accused SAMNET of undermining fundamental constitutional freedoms – of having the gall to ‘instruct’ and to ‘threaten’. We wish the SAJBD would show even the tiniest grain of concern with respect to the bullying, intimidation and coercion of Palestinians, let alone their slaughter, torture and genocide; but it seems far less sensitive on that front.
Aside from the content of the SAJBD video, various issues around its subsequent removal raise questions. The video was posted by the Board alongside the original letter sent by SAMNET to Rising Sun in its comments section. This included the private details of SAMNET’s Dr Faisal Suliman as well as the CEO of Rising Sun, an unethical decision that could potentially have led to harassment and that also may be a violation of the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act. There is also the question of how a private letter sent by SAMNET to the CEO of Rising Sun found its way into the hands of SAJBD, and whether this points to a breach of the publication’s own confidentiality rules.
While the video has been removed, an article in The Jewish Report repeats much of its talking points. What seems to be missing is an understanding of the fact that SAMNET’s opposition to Afrika Tikkun has nothing whatsoever to do with the organisation’s philanthropic work and everything to do with its links to the genocidal Israeli state through organisations such as the JNF and the SA-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
While the SAJBD seizes on the opportunity to paint Afrika Tikkun as a great benefactor of children, its complicity in Israel’s atrocities, the murder, orphaning, and maiming of children, is strategically forgotten. This is not a surprise as the SAJBD is just as complicit.
Perhaps the SAJBD thinks advertisers and readers should not have the right to choose where to advertise and what to read. Perhaps it thinks the right to support a genocide trumps all other rights. Perhaps it thinks Israel’s crimes against humanity can just be erased from public awareness by conveniently failing to mention them. South African Jews For a Free Palestine disagrees and supports SAMNET’s stance on this matter without any reservation.