Mr. Abner Mosaase (International Secretary of the ANC Youth League)
Dear Abner,
I refer to the notice put out by the ANC Youth League in support of Israel Apartheid Week and ask you to kindly examine my comments below in RED.
Message of Support from the ANC Youth League on the launch of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) in South Africa
Message of Support from the ANC Youth League on the launch of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) in South Africa
– Delivered by Abner Mosaase (International Secretary of the ANC Youth League)
– 10 March 2012
The African National Congress Youth League joins progressive voices in marking the 9th International Israeli (Not “Israeli”, Abner, but “Israel”. Israeli implies that it originates from Israel which couldn’t be further from the truth) Apartheid Week (IAW) campaign. Our support and endorsement of this campaign is in light of our conviction that indeed the Israeli regime is guilty of the crime of apartheid. We are also convinced that the Israeli version of apartheid is much brute in its force (Sorry Abner, but may I respectfully suggest “much more brutal” …? ) than we could have ever imagined the South African version to be.
Israel’s usage of brute force in the form of bombs, its ability to end huge numbers of innocent lives in the name of defending itself against liberation fighters is one example of the many ways in which it is worse than apartheid South Africa. The successive government of Afrikaner nationalists, from Malan to De Klerk, never dropped bombs Townships even when they knew that armed cadres of different military wings of liberation forces were amongst the people. Naming liberation fighters terrorists is an old trick in the book of oppressive regimes, this will not deter us seeing that Israel’s warmongering and disregard Palestinian life is in the extreme.
(Well, where do we start … Tell me , Abner, do you know anything at all about the history of this conflict? Do you know when and how it started, the promises made to the Jewish people of a homeland of their own going back as far as 1917 and how and why these promises were broken? Do you know anything about the 3000 years of history that ties the Jewish people to this region and the manner in which they were scattered by, first, the Babylonians and then by the Romans? What do you know about contemporary history like how the so-called June 4th 1967 “borders” (which aren’t borders at all but merely armistice lines) came into force and which have never been negotiated into formal borders? What do you know of UN Resolution 242 and its implications with regard to all parties concerned?
No mention have you made, Abner, of the Palestinian’s use of thousands upon thousands of rockets, mortars and missiles (estimated at over 12,000 in a matter of eight years), all aimed at civilian towns in Southern Israel, generally launched at a time when children would be on their way to school, while, during Israel’s last incursion into Gaza, missiles easily reached as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
All that appears to concern you, Abner, are Israeli “bombs” which are in actual fact hi-tech missiles designed to home in on their target with such accuracy as to reduce collateral damage to its very minimum. Had Israel indiscriminately dropped bombs during it last incursion into Gaza, do you not think, Abner, that the number of deaths would have far exceeded 140, most of whom were Hamas fighters? In contrast, does it not trouble you that President Bashir al-Assad of Syria has killed over 70,000 of his citizens during the past two years? If so why don’t you say so?
“Bombs” simply don’t figure when Israel attacks areas in which civilians shelter. Indeed, Israel has the ability to “end huge numbers of innocent lives in the name of defending itself”, Abner, which makes one wonder why it hasn’t used this enormous military advantage to simply bomb Gaza and the West Bank to smithereens! I’m sure you would appreciate how easily this could be accomplished were Israel that way inclined. I have no doubt that given the opportunity, this would be the strategy of the Arabs who have openly voiced this desire many times in the past.
But what all this has to do with Apartheid, Abner, is a total mystery and shows scant understanding by the Youth League of a system with which you claim such familiarity. Your statement …
Israel’s usage of brute force in the form of bombs, its ability to end huge numbers of innocent lives in the name of defending itself against liberation fighters is one example of the many ways in which it is worse than apartheid South Africa.
… reveals a total lack of understanding of the very issue – namely, your claim that Israel is an apartheid state. On the one hand you talk about a system designed to keep different racial groups apart (apartheid), while on the other you compare it to a legitimate military action taken against Hamas terrorists, (recognised as such by the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the USA), who have indiscriminately attacked innocent civilians through a variety of means including suicide bombings, ambushes, drive-by shootings, home invasions and rocket launchings, to name just some. These despicable actions you then refer to as being those of “liberation fighters” while you cynically decry Israel’s acts of self defence. In your desperate attempt to tie Israel’s actions of self-defence to apartheid, you then cite this self defence as being worse than apartheid! How is it possible to compare the two? If apartheid can legitimately be compared to a war of self-defence, where does fact, common sense and moral equivalence begin and end?
Israel’s usage of brute force …. is one example of the many ways in which it is worse than apartheid South Africa.
I refer once again to this paragraph with a question: You state that Israel’s use of “brute force” is one of the many ways in which it is worse than apartheid South Africa. What are some of the many other ways, Abner … I’m curious to know.
The successive government of Afrikaner nationalists, from Malan to De Klerk, never dropped bombs in Townships even when they knew that armed cadres of different military wings of liberation forces were amongst the people. Naming liberation fighters terrorists is an old trick in the book of oppressive regimes, this will not deter us in seeing that Israel’s warmongering and disregard of Palestinian life is in the extreme.
The Nationalist government never dropped bombs on townships, Abner, because, unlike Hamas, the black population never gave them cause to do so. Yet, ironically, the bombings that did occur during those dark days in our history did, in fact, originate from the ANC and not the Nationalist government! Other than some other insignificant acts of sabotage that took place every now and then, the Nationalists never had to contend with a single missile, randomly fired at a town, never mind the 12,000 that Israel has had to endure over the past eight years. Compared to Hamas and Hezbollah, the ANC acted with a unique sense of honour.
But while we’re discussing “bombs”, Abner, should we not refer to the epidemic of suicide bombings perpetrated by the Palestinians against Israeli civilians which caused the deaths of well over 1200 victims? Has Israel ever carried out any similar actions against the Palestinians?
Had this occurred in South Africa, I have little doubt that the reaction would have been as that of any other government responsible for the safety of its citizens. We can only imagine the outcome.
Naming liberation fighters terrorists is an old trick in the book of oppressive regimes, this will not deter us in seeing that Israel’s warmongering and disregard of Palestinian life is in the extreme.
If naming liberation fighters, ‘terrorists’, is an “old trick”, Abner, so is naming terrorists, ‘freedom fighters’. The difference lies in the cause. We must ask ourselves whether the cause is just and whether the methods employed to achieve its goals are acceptable.
When you attack a sovereign state at the very moment of its legal creation and then persist in doing so for over 70 years, simply because you don’t wish to share even a sliver of the territory that you erroneously and selfishly regard as belonging to you alone, your cause is not just.
When 3000 years of indisputable history endorses the claim of the new State to that sliver of land and you ignore these historic facts, your cause is not just.
When the San Remo Conference of 1920, the League of Nations in 1922 and the United Nations in 1947 all endorse the legitimacy of the Jewish claim to sovereignty over this sliver (which has never been abrogated) and you still choose to ignore this, your cause is not just.
When the safety of the new-comer’s citizens is of no regard and not a word of criticism is levelled against those who kill and maim using so-called martyrs who blow themselves up in buses, pizza parlours and Passover Seders, your cause is not just.
When you rely on the anti-Israel resolutions adopted by the UN Human Rights Council to add weight to your argument but neglect to mention that the vast majority of its members are comfortable critics of the Jewish State (ensuring an automatic majority), your cause is not just …
… and finally, when you slander a fully democratic state (recognised as such by the prestigious independent think-tank, “Freedom House”) as a practitioner of the foul system of Apartheid – despite the reality that a true democracy cannot, in tandem, possibly practise a policy like apartheid, it shows a scant understanding of what apartheid actually is and was, and what forms the basis of Israeli society. All it proves is that you have purposely chosen the label of “Apartheid” knowing full well that it is an emotive one, guaranteed to evoke a negative response against any country bearing its label. Again I say, your cause is not just.
The ANC YL condemns the imperialist umbilical cord (please explain the meaning of an “imperialist umbilical cord”. It’s far too elevated for my limited intellect) between Israel and United States of America which sustains Israel’s apartheid assault on Palestinians. We mark this relationship as the fundamental incentive for the utter arrogance and aggressiveness of the Israeli regime in the ways in which it deals with the Palestinian demands for self-determination.
Are you aware, Abner, that the Arabs (Palestinians) and Jews were both offered self-determination as far back as 1937 by the Peel Commission and again by the United Nations in 1947. The Jews accepted the partition of the territory (which was now a mere 10% of that originally defined as constituting the Jewish State) while the Arabs rejected the offer and announced their plans to annihilate the new Jewish State on the battlefield. This offer of self- determination was offered again by Israel, immediately following the Six-Day War in 1967 only to be rejected once more, as well as in 1999 at Camp David and once again by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008. Every offer was destined for the proverbial scrap heap. So much for the Palestinian demands for self-determination.
Instead of ever negotiating with Israel face to face , the Palestinians chose to apply to the General Assembly of the UN for only partial recognition as a non-member state, knowing full well that with the vast, established, majority of support derived from the Arab block, the non-aligned countries, the block of African nations and some members of the European Union, victory would be automatically assured. Sadly for them, this victory is indeed hollow as it fails to meet the criteria of a proper state as defined by the very same United Nations.
This was demonstrated when Israel announced its plans, in what they called the E-plan, to expand its colonial and criminal settlements in East Jerusalem after the UN recognized Palestine as a non-member state.
Check your facts, Abner. There is no such thing as an “E-plan” but there is an “E-1” which is a designated area between East Jerusalem and the town of Ma’ale Adumim. This territory has been under discussion for the building of houses for over 14 years with no further action taken. It has never previously, in any negotiations that have occurred, been a point of contention between the Israelis and Palestinians as the understanding has always been that any land absorbed from the West Bank would be replaced by Israel via a land-swap.
While on the subject of settlements, Abner, perhaps you should be made aware that contrary to claims that Israel is in violation of Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention, this is in fact untrue as Israel has never transferred elements of its population to areas of the West Bank. This has been a matter of free choice.
We call on all US citizens to rise in defence of the values of justice, freedom and equality as they did when we in South Africa faced apartheid; we call on them to hold their government accountable to the point of suspending all the financial and political support that Israel receives from their government which result in the destruction of Palestinian lives.
You might run into a problem with this one Abner as USA values of justice, freedom and equality as very much in sync with those that form the backbone of Israeli society. In Israel they have a completely independent judiciary, freedom of speech, the press and association, and equality in all respects – to openly practise one’s religion, to expect to have one’s religious institutions and symbols protected and maintained, to vote in elections irrespective of your sex, to use all health, education and social services with equal attention, to stand for election for the Knesset (Parliament), to serve as a judge to the level of the Supreme Court, etc.
Tell me Abner, can you do that in any of the Muslim countries?
Our own government must also go beyond condemning the occupation and the actions of the military forces in Israel. Our government must begin to provide itself an ultimatum in its consideration of Israeli policies. The South African ambassador to Israel must be recalled in light of the ultimatum in case Israel does not comply with ending apartheid. This must be done to demonstrate our seriousness in opposition of its fundamental policies of apartheid and colonial occupation.
Again Abner, tell me this; will it finally satisfy you were Israel to withdraw every soldier from every inch of the West Bank? Is this what you regard as the ending of Apartheid? If so, will you guarantee that Israel will not be attacked from that region as she was when she withdrew from Gaza … or will Israel then still be accused of being a colonial occupier which will become the reason for phase 2 of your campaign – the total elimination of the Jewish State?
I await your reply with interest.
Victor Gordon
As the ANC YL we fully support the boycott of apartheid Israel and call on all South Africans to stop visiting Israel (official or business). We must contribute to the international isolation of this brutal regime until it ends its policies of racial and ethnic discrimination against Palestinian people.
In addition, whilst we welcome the DTI’s initiative of labeling all products from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we must extend the boycott not only to these products, but to all products that come from Israel. We encourage the same approach in sports, culture, and academic spheres.
It is therefore is this breath that we condemn the coming of the Israeli pianist Yossi Reshef at Wits University and other parts of the country who is clearly sponsored by the Israeli government. We call on all students to boycott the concert as it only seeks to normalise apartheid Israel. No one must be seen singing with apartheid, particularly in South Africa where we have seen what apartheid policies can do.
(Incidentally, Yossi Rehef received a standing ovation at Rhodes before an almost sold-out audience. There were 12 demonstrators at the entrance to the hall who gave out pamphlets to those who took them. Surely you can do better than that?)
Finally, the ANC YL calls on all the progressive forces in Palestine to unite and rejuvenate the PLO in loving in memory of comrade Yasser Arafat. Palestine must be free, and just like boycotts worked for us in South Africa, they must work in support of the united forces of change within Palestine.
Forward with IAW Forward!
Away with Israeli Apartheid Away!
Media Team Israel 