Victor Gordon to Finweek: Re: “Human rights: ANC’s focus not solely on Israel”

FINWEEK

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Re: “Human rights: ANC’s focus not solely on Israel”

Sanele Nkompela is quite correct. The world does not have to wait until all other conflicts and brutality around the globe are solved before it can take action against Israel.  But it must also tell one something when all other conflicts and abuses of human rights are pushed aside or, at best, given no more than lip service while Israel is the recipient of a relentless barrage of vilification without any consideration for her particular circumstances or narrative.

Even within this op-ed devoted to the unrelenting  condemnation of the Jewish state, there was just a passing reference to our government’s condemnation of the slave trade in Libya while reaffirming our continuing effort to work with the Libyan authorities (in what fashion?) and the international community to stamp out this crime against humanity.

Our solidarity with the people of Western Sahara and Cuba was also reaffirmed in no more than 12 words. No call to close the Libyan embassy in protest, or that of Morocco, the occupying power of Western Sahara, or that of Cuba for the abuse its communist rulers heap upon their subjects – not to mention Syria, which has killed almost half a million citizens over the past 5 years.

How many debates has the ANC held; how many resolutions have been passed at ANC conferences and how many ambassadors have been recalled in protest against these countries?  … Not one! So, forgive me if I start to smell a bias that quite obviously goes far beyond mere disenchantment with the plight of the Palestinians which, in truth, they’ve brought upon themselves by devoting all their energy and resources to the destruction of Israel.

Do I smell anti-Semitism?

We are asked to accept that Israel, which has been under threat of annihilation for the past 70 years during which it has fought 7 defensive wars and has been the recipient of over 700 hostile resolutions in the General Assembly and over 400 in the Security Council (plus 10 out of the eleven emergency meeting called in the entire history of the UN), is the most important abuser of international law and of human rights. Everything else pales into insignificance. The hypocrisy of the ANC’s sanctimonious, one-sided stance is palpable.

The continual dishonest reference to Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East as an apartheid state is a blatant lie with which our government finds favour, despite the clear evidence that it is simply untrue. With Arab political parties and Arab MP’s serving in the Knesset, Arab judges serving the judiciary, an Arab judge on the bench of the Supreme Court and complete freedom of the press, speech, association, gay rights, as well as the sharing of all public facilities and institutions, the lie of “apartheid Israel” is clearly obvious to all with even basic powers of reason.

The claim that members of the IR commission were “fed up with the failure of Israel to respect  international law”,  makes no attempt to clarify which aspects of International law Israel is guilty of ignoring. Why were these self-same saviours of humanity not fed up with the deaths of 500,000 Syrian civilians?

The day that the Palestinians take up the repeated offer from Benjamin Netanyahu to sit down and talk about meaningful peace will be the day that the ANC will no longer need to be fed up about Israel. The question is; if peace were to be made between Israel and the Palestinians – something the Palestinians/Hamas/Hezbollah/Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have never seriously pursued, what new soft target will become the ANC and BDS’s next whipping boy?

So far there appears to be little enthusiasm to find one.

Rodney Mazinter to The Cape Times

The Editor

The Cape Times

Dear Sir

Day zero when taps run dry looms, if not this year, then next. With a four-fold increse in population over the past twenty years, and continuing growth and lower rainfall expected, we are staring a calamity in the face.

Cape Town’s dams began visualy receding over the past three summers. This problem was exacerbated by inefficient irrigation and lack of a long-term plan, including desalination. In 2016 officials at Israel’s embassy, with decades of experience in water security in a desert environment, alerted national, provincial and local governments in South Africa. Israel has trained water technicians in more than 100 countries, and it offered to bring in experts to help South Africa.

 South African officials for what appeared to be ideological reasons ignored or rebuffed the no-strings Israeli proposal. They wanted no help from Jerusalem.

The government, or at least its dominant party, persists in its negative political stance where it seems to be ready to sacrifice the well being of its citizens rather than to ask for help from Israel.

Instead we looked for help from Iran which is not known for its water expertise. Water shortages in that country gave rise to the recent Iranian protests and largely untreated sewage was discharged into nearby waterways. An Iranian agriculture minister predicted that as many as 50 million Iranians—around two-thirds of the population—would need to be uprooted because of growing potable water scarcity.

Israel brought a team of water professionals to Cape Town. Neither the mayor, also strongly hostile to Israel, nor any senior municipal official would see them.

Why Cape Town insists on taking this dangerous route is a mystery. The Palestinian Authority has worked with Israel on a range of water projects since 1995. Israel offers training for Palestinians in wastewater management, infrastructure and security. Israel also provides the Palestinian Authority with more than half its water for domestic consumption in the West Bank. And it pipes more than 11.4 billion litres of water into Hamas-controlled Gaza each year.

In the decades of its exeistance, the country has developed an apolitical, technocratic form of water governance. Israelis pioneered desalination, drip irrigation and the specialised reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture. Although Israel is in the fifth year of a drought, today its citizens can count on abundant water. Not Cape Town.

Rolene Marks to the Huffington Post

To the Editor

Mia Swart’s blog “Israel’s Deportation of African refugees “Racism of the worst Kind” refers.

Nearly every country in the world is facing difficulties due to the influx of refugees or migrants from countries where there is conflict or declining economic opportunities. For many, Israel with its thriving albeit flawed democracy and freedom, is a magnet for those seeking better opportunity.

There is almost a pathological obsession with Israel in the South African media that borders dangerously on hatred. Not a day goes by without some kind of coverage, some of it not even remotely true. While we are speaking nearly 300 civilians have been killed in the Ghouta region of Syria, many of them children, and this barely registers. But onemention of Israel and one is sure to see a sensationalistic and outrageous headline.

At the outset, the above mentioned headline would anger South Africans, and rightly so. What news outlets fail to grasp is the facts and nuances of the situation in Israel who while imperfect, is not alone with facing similair crises.

The author invokes the “legacy of the Holocaust” which apart from being a cheap shot also negates South Africa’s own history of gross human rights abuse and racial discrimination. It is profoundly hypocritical that South Africa, that houses the Lendela Repatriation centre which many including the SA Human Rights commission, Medecins Sans Frontieres and other international human rights organisations have harshly criticised for the appalling conditions that African migrants whose numbers dwarf that of Israel, points a finger at the Jewish state.

It is a profoundly difficult situation for Israel and many have taken to the streets, including African migrants, to protest. This is democracy in action but let’s also examine the hard facts:

1)  Israel is a magnet because of its freedom and economic prosperity. This became especially true after European countries began enforcing harsh laws against illegal immigration from Africa.

2Unlike refugees who are fleeing war or persecution, economic migrants leave their countries in search of better work opportunities. “Refugee” is a legal status that is given on an individual, case by case basis. A person qualifies as a refugee based on international laws, conventions and treaties which Israel has signed and abides by.

3)  The majority of the estimated 54,000 African migrants are from Eritrea (34,000); 13,500 are from Sudan and South Sudan; 800 are from Somalia; and thousands of others are from the Ivory Coast, the Congo and other countries compared to the over 250 000 in South Africa.

3 Israel has treated African migrants humanely as opposed to South Africa where many have been killed, tortured and who can forget the  man from Mozambique who was set alight in the street?

4) Many have expressed in interview a sense of relief at being in Israel where they are physically secure, and face no police harassment.

5)  Many have found work and some have been able to open their own small businesses and their children are being educated in Israeli schools.

6) Israeli human rights groups and activists assist African migrants and work to protect their rights.These migrants did not attempt to settle in any other Middle Eastern country. Instead, they paid large sums and risked life-threatening dangers to reach Israel. They had to trek across the Sinai desert, risk being shot by Egyptian police, and avoid the danger of rape, murder, torture, and extortion by Bedouin smugglers.

The solutions are not simple and few countries offer repatriation with a small financial stipend as Israel does. This issue has many in Israel doing deep soul searching. Perhaps it is time for South Africa to do the same.

Victor Gordon to the Mail & Guardian

MAIL & GUARDIAN

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Re:  “South Africa does not need the help of Israel to solve our drought” by Rumana Akoob,

As disquieting as the lies and dishonest propaganda may be within the article “South Africa does not need the help of Israel to solve our drought” by Rumana Akoob, equally disquieting is the realization that a worthy publication of the repute of the M&G is prepared to air such misleading, unsubstantiated information.

Whether South Africa takes up Israel’s offer to assist with its water problems or not is neither here nor there. Israel has an abundance of water totally due to its commitment to find answers  to  complex problems that had to be solved if the country were to enjoy a water-stable future in the midst of a desert. Israel’s willingness to share this expertise with whoever might wish to benefit from it remains on the table.

In an effort to denigrate the reasons behind Israel’s offer to help, Akoob resorts to the same old lies that have been bandied about for years and, in doing so not a single fact  or claim is backed with a reference to any respected source.

Not only has Israel through its Water Authority (Mekorot) ensured that Jordan, the West Bank and even the inherently hostile Gaza receive more than adequate supplies of water, the three entities (excluding Hamas) co-operate in the planning, distribution and management of these supplies. It is one of the areas where co-operation between Israel and its neighbours is maintained at a high level.

Clearly, Akoob knows nothing of this. If she does she appears unwilling to admit to it.

What she also ignores is the undisputable fact that the Palestinian authorities do little to maintain   the infrastructure of their water system, as well as the worrying aspect of sewerage disposal and spillage which has increasingly contaminated potable drinking water. The result is that 33% of Palestinian water is lost through structural mismanagement and lack of maintenance (Israel 11%) while direct contamination of the water supply by untreated sewerage are just two major reasons for water problems in the Palestinian areas. There are several others.

While there is some truth behind the claim that Palestinian consumption is sometimes rationed, it is solely due to Palestinian mismanagement and not because Israel withholds water from these areas.

Ask yourself:  Why would it be in Israel’s interest to do so?  What could be more irrational?

Instead of trying to burn the few bridges that still exist between Israel and her Palestinian neighbours –  not to mention the current relations between Israel and South Africa – Akoob should read the book “Let there be Water” by Seth Seigel.  It is thoroughly researched and highly informative. She might learn something.

Debbie Mankowitz to the Business Day re Day Zero

BUSINESS DAY
LETTER TO THE EDITOR

REFERS: Day Zero pushed out to May 11 as farmers’ water usage falls (5 February 2018)

It has become devastatingly apparent that when “Day Zero” arrives in Cape Town, it’s 3.7 million residents will have to travel to one of 200 water collection points to collect their daily water rations of 25 litres per person.

However, in February 2016, BDS South Africa (Boycott, Disinvestment & Sanctions) elatedly praised a decision to cancel a water crisis conference that was scheduled to take place in Johannesburg.

BDS South Africa statement at the time stated that, “the rug has been pulled from the Israeli ambassador, who will not be able to exploit our very serious water crises for his own cheap publicity and whitewashing of his regime. Israel water technology is not unique or special; such technology is widely available through other more friendly countries.”

BDS uses boycotts, divestment, and sanctions as tactics of political warfare against Israel, intended to isolate it economically, culturally, and politically.

A link to their worldwide government, church and NGO Funding for NGOs involved in BDS shows that their available funding  more than adequately supports their nefarious objectives: https://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/BDS_Table.pdf.

Hence, their relentless campaign against Israel, which ultimately now, is endangering the welfare of the people of South Africa.

It is no secret what Israel has to offer South Africa; Israel is a world leader in desalination, water recycling, water preservation and irrigation, but desalination plants are not build overnight. Besides the horrific plight of the farmers, how will businesses and tourism continue on the intended 25L a day when the rations reach ground zero?

The South African economy could be on the brink as a result of this narrow interest group’s state capture of government’s foreign policy with odious, disingenuous and distorted comparisons of Israel with Apartheid South Africa. There is zero comparison, and this severe short-sightedness on the part of Government has only benefitted BDS public relations, but only in the short run, as BDS South Africa too will have to face that through its manipulations and anti-Semitic lies about Israel, it could bring our beautiful prosperous South Africa and it’s exceptionally industrious and talented people to their knees.

Debbie Mankowitz to The Business Day

BUSINESS DAY
LETTER TO THE EDITOR

REFERS: “The Last Apartheid State” (1 February, 2018).

Contrary to Michia Moncho’s claim that Israel is “The last apartheid state”, 75% of the 8,399,591 people that live in Israel are a Jewish majority, 21% are Arabs and the other 4% are made up of the Druze, Christians, Bahais etc. All enjoy the same equal rights of political and civilian life. These facts alone preclude Israel from Moncho’s disingenuous allegation.

This is in stark contrast to Apartheid South Africa (circa 1993) where the white minority (approximately 5 million) controlled and oppressed the lives of the majority (approximately 35 million) Black people.

Secondly, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) is Jewish land under International law ( San Remo resolution 1920), the majority of Arabs that live there obtained Jordanian citizenship as a result of Jordan’s illegal occupation (1948-1967). Today 98% of the resident Arabs live under the civilian administration of the Palestinian Authority, and hence do not identify with the Jewish state, are extremely hostile and generally wish for a state of their own.

In lieu of the Richard Falk quote, U.N. chief Antonió Guterres rejected a report published by ECSWA, a Beirut-based agency of the world body (ECSWA-comprised entirely of 18 Arab states), which accuses Israel of “apartheid.” The report’s chief author is Richard Falk, a former U.N. official who was condemned repeatedly by the UK and other governments for antisemitism.

In reference to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Canadian parliamentarian and former justice minister Irwin Cotler rejected an offer to join Tutu in his UN investigative mission to Gaza. Cotler was invited to join Tutu in a Council inquiry (2006) into Israel’s “wilful killing of civilians” in Beit Hanoun, but turned it down because the mandate violated “the fundamental principles of due process” by ignoring Palestinian rocket attacks. In the same period, Palestinians were shooting at patients in the Beit Hanoun hospital. Did the Tutu mission, whose terms were dictated by the inequitable UN Human Rights Council, consider those victims? To date, no UN commissioner has ever reported on these victims.

As for the recent comment made by South African diplomat Dr Clinton Swemmer at the UN Human Rights Council that “Israel is the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state”. Recently, the ANC-led government has shown outright hostility towards Israel by wishing to downgrade its Israel Embassy, so it is quite understandable that its paid representative will continue to do its reprehensible bidding. Regarding Moncho’s concern for Apartheid practices, is the writer aware that the 22 Arab Middle East countries actually do practice various forms of Apartheid against other religions, women, and their resident Palestinian brothers?