Rodney Mazinter to The Cape Argus

The Editor

The Cape Argus

Dear Sir

In reversing Obama’s amoral abstention in the Security Council exactly one year ago that gave rise to the upsurge of attacks on Israel by its enemies, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in casting an American veto set matters right in two powerful speeches in the self-same Council last week. She said, inter alia, that the consequent resolution “is illustrative of a preoccupation which has produced this series of unbalanced and unrealistic texts on Middle East issues” and “It does nothing to advance the cause of peace.”

In the same vein she said: “…some have threatened violence on the street, as if violence would somehow improve the prospects of peace” and that it sets back “the prospects of peace in the Middle East.”

She made the telling point that “…by misplacing the blame for the failure of peace efforts squarely on the Israeli settlements, the resolution gave a pass to Palestinian leaders who for many years rejected one peace proposal after another. It also gave them encouragement to avoid negotiations in the future. It refused to acknowledge the legacy of failed negotiations unrelated to settlements.”

She went on to point out that “2334 gave new life to an ugly creation of the Human Rights Council: a blacklist of companies operating in Jewish communities. It is yet another obstacle to a negotiated peace. It is a stain on America’s conscience that we gave the so-called BDS movement momentum by allowing the passage of Resolution 2334…. We did not stand beside Israel on December 23, 2016. We will not make that mistake again.”

Monessa Shapiro to the Mail & Guardian

Two years ago a Hamas delegation visited South Africa and met with Parliamentary officials.   We, the ordinary citizens of South Africa, were staggered and angry.  That our government should sink to the level of affiliating with a terrorist organization seemed inconceivable.

And yet, it has become worse.  Two important calls, both with far-reaching implications, have been made this year.   Firstly, the University of Cape Town is in the process of deciding whether or not there should be an academic boycott of Israeli universities.   And secondly, the ANC will decide at its forthcoming conference, if it should downgrade the Israeli Embassy in South Africa.   It would appear, from an article in the Mail and Guardian –‘Africa’s struggle is a major pillar in the Palestinian struggle’ that Hamas is, if not behind these calls, then certainly endorsing them.

Hamas is not a movement, as the M&G would lead us to believe, but rather a terrorist organization.   The EU, Canada, Israel, Egypt and the US have all listed it as such.   It has willfully and intentionally murdered thousands, including many of its own people.  During the 2007 take-over of the Gaza strip from the PA it threw dissenters off buildings and summarily executed anyone whom they felt did not tow the party line.  It has within its charter the call to murder all Jews.   Its children grow up on a diet of hatred for Jews and the virtue of murdering Jews and Israelis is ingrained in them from birth.  In addition, it calls for and works openly towards the destruction of Israel.

The South African government has called for two states for two people. They would have us believe that, like many of us, their aim is for a prosperous Palestine alongside an equally prosperous Israel, with the two peoples living at peace.  Worthy and commendable.   But so futile.  For to take policy directives from Hamas is to negate the two-state solution.    In May this year, a so-called change in Hamas policy was announced at a press conference by  Khaled Meshal in Doha ( the Guardian May 2017):  “Hamas advocates the liberation of all of Palestine but is ready to support the state on 1967 borders without recognizing Israel  or ceding any rights,” he said.  So even this “new” policy maintains the right to destroy a neighbouring country and refuses to recognize it.  In February  Yahya Sinwar was chosen as leader of Hamas in the Gaza strip.    Responsible for wide-scale terrorism and the murder of Palestinian collaborators with Israel Sinwar was placed on the US terrorism blacklist in 2015.   Just a few weeks ago he told a gathering of young people in Gaza: “Over is the time Hamas spent discussing recognizing Israel. Now Hamas will discuss when we will wipe out Israel.”  (Forward October 19 2017)

On 8 October Israeli and Palestinian women marched for peace.   The Palestinian women were termed ‘traitors’ and ‘whores’ by their fellow Palestinians.   Discussing this happening Bassam Tawil, writes in the Gatestone Institute (October 11, 2017)   “….for many Palestinians, the priority remains making peace with Hamas and not Israel. Why do they prefer peace with Hamas? Because they identify with Hamas’s dream of destroying Israel and killing Jews. It may be an unpleasant  truth, but that is the bottom line.”

And the bottom line in South Africa is fairly similar.   To identify with Hamas, to heed its call, is to identify with its dream of destroying Israel and murdering Jews.   Neither the ANC nor the editors of The Mail and Guardian can have it both ways.   By giving Hamas full page coverage, you the Mail and Guardian are sending a clear and strong message to South African Jews.   And so too will the message of the ANC be undeniable if, at its forthcoming conference, it follows the invocations of those who desire the death of Jews.

Victor Gordon to The Pretoria News:“TUT CUTS TIES WITH ISRAEL”

PRETORIA NEWS

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

“TUT CUTS TIES WITH ISRAEL”

This past week, Israel woke up to the shattering news that the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), rated an  impressive 1511^th  in the world, has resolved to cut all ties with academic institutions in Israel.

From numerous phone calls, emails and SMS’s received from Israeli family and friends desperate for further news, one can only conclude that this could be a death blow to academic progress and status in the Jewish state.

Considering that of Israel’s seven universities all are ranked within the top 500, with the Technion rated 93 and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at a not too shabby 101, we can only hope that these institutions can weather the storm and absorb this lethal blow to their prestige.

Curiously, all my attempts to clarify what connections the TUT currently have with any Israeli institutes have come to nought. Could it be that there aren’t any to start with?  Just a thought.

Allan Wolman to eNCA

To eNCA News Channel;

 

My news channel of choice is eNCA which purports to present “proper news not propaganda” and has repetitive clips of “need to know” and “KNOW MORE” telling us that this news channel reports fairly without bias or agenda!

 

Yesterday eNCA devoted almost 10 minutes to an interview with Mohamed Desai of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) during its 6pm news cast. Desai, who is openly hostile to Israel, was given a platform to vilify and vent his distorted and disingenuous narrative about Israel.

 

Again your 8pm news bulletin devoted the first 20 minutes of its newscast to similar attacks on Israel by Prof. Farid Esack, also of the BDS campaign. Esack, who is well know for his open hostility to Israel, was also afforded the same platform but he was given double the time to present his distorted views, knowing full well that there was no one present during the interview to challenge his statements.

 

Regrettably (and not to the credit of eNCA at all) the interviewer lacked sufficient information about that subject as well as about the aims and policies of the BDS campaign whose agenda, unlike a similar campaign here in S.Africa, advocated for a regime change: it does not call for regime change in Israel but for the total destruction of the Jewish State and it has never supported the idea of a two state solution.

 

How can your audience “KNOW MORE” if only one narrative is presented? Given that the channel invited both Desai and Esack, why was there no representative of the Israeli embassy, the S.A. Zionist Federation or the Jewish Board of Deputies present to give their views on President Trump’s announcement of the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital? It seems that your audience only “needs to know” what you want it to know.

Rodney Mazinter to the Cape Argus

The Editor

The Cape Argus

Dear Sir

The Cape Argus of December 8 devotes pages criticising the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. To be Israeli in the world is to face unique challenges not even contemplated by other countries. In international competitions, athletes will sometimes forfeit rather than compete against Israelis. Universities will impose sanctions on Israeli academics that they’ll impose on no one else. Israelis find themselves barred from entering numerous countries. And when defenders of these double standards bleat about “Israeli occupation,” remember that they don’t impose the same penalties on nations with far worse records on human rights. That is textbook anti-Semitism.

The refusal by Western countries to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital didn’t prevent the Palestinians from hurling rocks from the Aksa Mosque at Jews worshiping below, running them over with trucks and stabbing them in the street.

While the threats of violence should be taken seriously, if “stability” means the perpetuation of double standards, the isolation of Israel, and continued grovelling to threats of violence, then it’s time to call the Arabs’ bluff.

If Europe doesn’t have the moral strength to even recognise Israel’s capital, it gives aid and comfort to those who impose unique burdens on the Jewish state. Will America’s Arab allies — nations that depend on its alliances to confront a growing Iranian threat — forsake their own national security to protest an embassy location?

Appeasing those who threaten violence doesn’t reduce it. It encourages it. The more concessions are offered, the more the Palestinians believe even greater violence will deliver them final victory. That’s why the Oslo offer of a Palestine state led to the Second Intifada; that’s why the expulsion of Israeli residents from Gaza led to the all-out rocket onslaught against civilians in southern Israel.

The Arabs need no excuse to try to murder Israelis.

Rodney Mazinter to The Cape Times

Dear Sir

Neither UN/UNESCO resolutions, nor declarations by governments, leaders, and the Cape Times (Dec 8) can impose a solution on the issue of Jerusalem, nor can they or any Arab country dictate the outcome of negotiations.

The PLO and Israel agreed in the Oslo Accords that “the issue of Jerusalem” is a “permanent-status negotiating issue” that can only be settled by direct negotiation between them with a view to settling their respective claims. The U.S. President, as well as the presidents of the Russian Federation and Egypt, the King of Jordan, and the official representatives of the EU were among the signatories as witnesses to the Oslo Accords.

Subsequent politically-generated resolutions and declarations by the UN, and others, attempting to revise and distort the long history of Jerusalem and to deny basic religious, legal and historic rights of the Jewish People and the State of Israel in Jerusalem, have no legal standing and are not binding. They represent nothing more than the political viewpoints of those states that voted to adopt them.

Acknowledging the facts that Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel and that locating the embassy in Jerusalem is the absolute prerogative of the United States and should in no way prejudice or influence the peace negotiation process. It is simply an acknowledgment of a long-standing factual situation and rectification of a historic injustice.

Statements by the King of Jordan, the Palestinian leadership, and Arab leaders that recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or locating the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem will endanger the peace process and bring a wave of violence, are nothing but empty threats and unfortunate attempts to threaten a sovereign government and incite violence and terrorism. Surrendering to such threats would would not only be a sign of weakness, but be a dangerous precedent.