Apartheid, Zionism and the SA pro-Israel establishment

They – the South African pro-Israel establishment – chose to benefit from racism, used Apartheid to defend the settler colonial Israeli project, and were part of the soft power of Apartheid South Africa’s diplomacy. We remember that IDF staff served as advisers to the SA Defence Force and police in their fight against the South African anti-Apartheid liberation movements.

By REDERWAAN CRAAYENSTEIN

I want to acknowledge and engage the submission of the Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Cyril Harris, to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on November 18, 1999. This will enable me to address pressing issues that are relevant today.

I did not write this from an archive that we have named in the name of an anti-Apartheid struggle hero. All the names, dates and events come from literature that is already published and peer-reviewed. There is a very good dedicated academic centre at our university at the foot of the mountain. There is nothing original in this article, except the facts that I am telling it and how I am telling it. We have lived through this. In another moment – sometime in the future – someone else will likely write something similar. Just go to the available archive and peer-reviewed material. The evidence will be out there.

I write this to help people understand the bizarre anti-justice decisions of the mainstream South African pro-Israel establishment. Then we might better grasp their positions on Israel after Apartheid, including the legal actions in defence of Israeli violations of international law. We can also see how they take politicians, local government officials and journalists on paid trips to Israel so these individuals can become propagandists for a regime that commits crimes against humanity and genocide, the gravest of crimes.

Many in South Africa wish us to forget a particular period of our history. Unless we know this history, we are unlikely to understand what the pro-Israel lobby is doing today.

Chief Rabbi Harris came to the TRC to apologise on behalf of the Jewish community for its past shortcomings. He viewed the TRC as a wonderful chance to heal and build a better life for everyone in South Africa. The sense of brotherhood and sisterhood was electrifying for the Chief Rabbi. The TRC was about misconduct and forgiveness.

He stated that the Jewish community did not start Apartheid and that many within it disagreed with the system. Every Jew felt uncomfortable with Apartheid but, in some way, benefited from it. He quoted someone shunned by the community who said that many of the advantages gained by the Jewish community during Apartheid were built on the systematic denial of rights to those classified as non-white.

The Chief Rabbi argued that Professor Steven Friedman was mistaken because there were still impoverished Jews. He apologised to the TRC for the benefits Jews claimed under Apartheid. Then, he moved on without pausing.

He pointed out that more than half of the white defendants in the Rivonia Treason Trial were Jews. He referenced Kader Asmal, who stated that the Jewish community ‘produced proportionately more heroes in the struggle against apartheid than any other so-called white group’.

He stated that many Jews voted for liberal political parties such as the United Party, the Progressive Federal Party, and later the Democratic Party.

He went on to mention that some individual Jews did participate in liberal NGOS such as Jews for Justice and Black Sash. The broader Jewish community was silent, acquiesced to, and accommodated the Apartheid regime. The reasons are many, he said, including mere acceptance of the reality of Apartheid, cowardice, and fear. He stated that Apartheid was a very repressive regime.

He thanked God that democracy had arrived. He said that the Jewish people did not have the numbers to confront the Apartheid regime. After the Holocaust, Jewish people all over the world only wanted to survive. He said that he was not condoning the silence but was trying to explain it.

He then produced a Rabbinical ‘fatwa’ that justifies silence when the ruling authorities dismiss the protest without consideration. Dissent might enrage the unjust ruler and worsen the situation.

The essential lesson of the Jewish experience, he said, was that the Jewish community in South Africa should have done everything to oppose Apartheid. He asserted that pursuing minority self-interest could not be justified when the rights of the majority are so brutally denied. He went on to quote Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who summed up all the teachings of the prophets of the Jewish Bible in one sentence: ‘Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself.’ The Chief Rabbi did not specify what it meant for the Jewish community. He admitted to the silent indifference of the Jewish community in the face of Apartheid.

He further explained how the Jewish community engages in Tikun, which involves repairing and making things right. If someone usually buys a packet or tin of kosher food, they should buy extra. The additional groceries are then donated to the nearest synagogue to provide food for the hungry. This is how post anti-Apartheid shopping makes reparations for Apartheid-era complicity, one can at a time.

And he went on to highlight other social welfare projects involving the Jewish community.

He then illustrated how Israel’s expertise is applied to the situation in South Africa. Computer literacy, planting spinach, and basic adult education are included. Seventeen African countries receive assistance from Israel in areas such as solar energy and water conservation. The Israel Trade Union Organisation has been training many workers in trade unionism.

He said that older people were used to Apartheid and that the younger generation was more interested in the democratic process.

Israeli racism and settler colonialism did not even register with the Chief Rabbi or the TRC Commissioners. The commissioners’ response to the Chief Rabbi leaves much to be desired. They seemed grateful that he blessed them with his presence.

Israeli racism and settler colonialism did not even register with the Chief Rabbi or the TRC Commissioners.

The commissioners’ response to the Chief Rabbi leaves much to be desired. They seemed grateful that he blessed them with his presence.

I look back and do not know what this Chief Rabbi apologised for. The commissioners probably weren’t interested either. It seems to have been performative rather than genuine. The oppressed were reconciling with themselves at the TRC.

Let me clarify some of the things which the Chief Rabbi did not say but should have mentioned with deep shame.

It is a fact that until 1948, South African Jews faced genuine anti-Semitic hatred from both the English- and Afrikaans-speaking communities. The English-speaking communities demonstrated a more subtle form of anti-Semitism that reflected the evolving attitudes of the British, due to the United Party’s governance. General Jan Smuts of the United Party was cautious of the extreme Nazi Afrikaner anti-Jewish populism. The 1930 Quota Act was an attempt to placate that fervent anti-Semitism.

DF Malan, JG Strijdom, Hendrik Verwoerd, and BJ Vorster were all ardent Nazi sympathisers. These figures served as the public faces of anti-Semitism, openly endorsing Nazism and fascism, and advocating anti-black racism.

For those unfamiliar with genuine anti-Semitism and fascism in South Africa, it is helpful to remember that on April 2, 1936, the South African Christian National Socialist Movement, founded by Louis Theodore Weichardt – held a protest rally against what they called the Jewish-controlled City of Cape Town council. Five other Nazi-inclinded organisations, the Greyshirts, travelled across the country. The Greyshirts had around 10 000 active members.

Anti-Jew English and Afrikaners

The Quota Act of 1930, which limited immigration by Eastern European Jews, was a compromise between English and Afrikaner anti-Semites. Jews were regarded as a threat to Christianity and could not be integrated into the Nordic fabric of the white community. That was the language of the self-proclaimed Nazis and fascists like DF Malan, who exploited popular anti-Semitism until the 1948 election.

Being anti-Jew was central to the identity formation of the Afrikaner in South Africa. Major figures such as Malan, Strijdom, Verwoerd, and Vorster were prominent in this regard. In fact, there was later a split from the National Party (NP) with the formation of the Herstigte Nasionale Party by Albert Hertzog in 1969, the Conservative Party founded by Andries Treunicht in 1982, and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging of Eugene Terreblanche in 1973. These breakaway groups accused the NP of being out of the fold, so to speak, of the anti-Jewish and pro-Christian cultural politics.

Until 1948, the mainstream Jewish community, for which Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris had sought forgiveness and made appeals, saw no issue in uniting to combat anti-Semitism and anti-black racism. In this context, ‘black’ referred to everyone who was not white. Accordingly, black became a symbol of political solidarity rather than a description of skin colour.

As Adolf Hitler was systematically destroying European Jews, the same self-declared Afrikaner Nazis and fascists conscientized, organised, and mobilised to persuade South Africa to adopt similar Hitler-like policies. Verwoerd, who would later succeed Strijdom as Prime Minister, led a delegation to Prime Minister J B M Hertzog to oppose the entry of Jews affected by the Nazi Holocaust into South Africa. The 1936 Aliens Act was designed to prevent German-Jewish immigration to South Africa.

In 1939, the South African government voted in favour of Britain to go to war against Germany. That enraged the pro-Nazi Afrikaners in the Ossewabrandwag. Here, Verwoerd was prominent.

Between 1938 and 1948, Afrikaner identity was rooted in being anti-British, anti-Jew, and anti-black. The mainstream Jewish community opposed both anti-Semitism and anti-black racism. They addressed these issues in their official meetings, public media, and synagogues.

1948 was a pivotal year in the South African Jewish community. On May 14, 1948, Israel was declared a state, and on May 26, 1948, the NP, a party of Afrikaner Nazis and fascists won the elections in South Africa. The Jewish community had hoped that the NP would lose. After coming to grips with the reality of the election results, they believed the NP government would not be as anti-Jew as they had feared, given 50 years of popular Afrikaner anti-Jew hatred.

The NP government informed Jews that, as white people, they would not face discrimination under Apartheid. South Africa was also the first country within the British Commonwealth to recognise the State of Israel.

Prime Minister Malan required a maximum number of white individuals to ensure the functioning of Apartheid South Africa. The NP government informed Jews that, as white people, they would not face discrimination under Apartheid. South Africa was also the first country within the British Commonwealth to recognise the State of Israel. Malan also assured the Jews that his government would permit all Jews to serve in civilian and military roles in Israel and facilitate the transfer of goods and currency to Israel. Furthermore, in 1951, South African Jews were eligible to join the NP. DF Malan was the first Head of State to visit Israel in 1953.

When DF Malan retired in 1954, he was celebrated by the mainstream Jewish establishment, which gave him official recognition in their Golden Book as the Moses of the Afrikaner people. That Apartheid was against everything in the Ten Commandments and the rest of the prophets like Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah was irrelevant. He was no longer anti-Jew as he now become pro-Israel. His anti-black racism was a matter on which they remained indifferent. Malan was succeeded by Strijdom and later by Verwoerd. These leaders were self-declared Nazis.

In 1966, the South Africa Jewish  of Deputies (SAJBD) and the South African Zionist Federation sent ‘warm’ messages of congratulations to Verwoerd’s successor, Vorster, who was a member of the anti-Jew Ossewabrandwag.

These leaders were self-declared Nazis. The mainstream Jewish community sent this racist a letter of congratulations on his appointment as prime minister.

Sharpeville, in March 1960, was a significant event for Apartheid South Africa. It marked the start of the isolation of the Apartheid regime. The South African Jewish community remained silent. Their sense of social justice from the Torah appeared limited to protecting Jewish self-interest in South Africa and Israel abroad. An Apartheid government tainted with the mark of Cain was their political ally. They expressed outrage at the killing and dispossession of Jews overseas but stayed mute about the violence, displacement, and dispossession committed by the Apartheid government. The Jewish community turned a blind eye as cities in South Africa were ethnically cleansed and non-white populations confined to bleak Apartheid ghettos. They saw nothing, said nothing, and did nothing. They kept their heads bowed. To them, South African Jews had no stake in anti-black discrimination.

Percy Yurtar, the lead prosecutor for the state in the Rivonia Trial (which Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris mentions), was more than just doing his job. It is unclear why Nelson Mandela exonerated Percy Yutar. This prosecutor was excessively aggressive, to the point that NP minsters in the justice and police portfolios regarded him as the go-to prosecutor in anti-terrorism trials from the 1960s and 1970s. Yutar became Deputy Attorney-General in Transvaal and Attorney-General in the Orange Free State. The mainstream Jewish establishment celebrated him. When the Rabbi in Yutar’s synagogue criticised the Apartheid regime, he was fired by Yutar. The few other anti-Apartheid rabbis who spoke in the language of Moses and the prophets of Jerusalem lost their jobs overnight.

Between 1956 and 1967, Israel expanded its relations with African anti-colonial liberation movements and post-colonial African states. In July 1961, Israel issued a statement criticising apartheid. In October 1961, Israel voted to condemn a speech by the South African UN Ambassador. In November 1961, Israel voted against apartheid South Africa at the UN General Assembly.

Apartheid South Africa was furious. They asked the obvious question whether Israel had the right to be as ungrateful as it was given the support that the NP government allowed SA Jews to give to Israel? It also asked whether there was any difference between the separate development policies of Israel and those of South Africa when it came to their treatment of non-Jewish and non-white people, respectively. Verwoerd accused Israel of being an Apartheid state that stole the land from its indigenous people.

Verwoerd’s government cancelled the unrestricted transfer of commodities and currency to Israel.

The mainstream Jewish establishment opposed what would later become the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism – that is, any criticism of Israel is deemed anti-Semitic. They criticised Israel for not abstaining at the United Nations. As far as they were concerned, Israel was being foolish to prioritise diplomatic relations with African and Asian countries over South Africa, which had provided it with everything. They did not merely criticise, by the way. With a formal resolution, the mainstream Jewish establishment passed a measure that would be considered anti-Semitic by the yet-to-come 40 years later IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.

Verwoerd later clarified the government’s stance that their dissatisfaction with the actions of the state of Israel would not in any way harm relations between the NP government and the South African Jewish community. In September 1966, Verwoerd was assassinated, and the mainstream White community praised him in their media. They held an official memorial service in Johannesburg led by the Chief Rabbi. In Cape Town, he was described as a man who provided a moral foundation for Apartheid. Malan was to pass the Moses-like leadership torch of the Afrikaner people to Verwoerd. The latter was described as possibly the most extraordinary Prime Minister ever in South Africa. What was the mainstream Jewish community thinking when it was saying these things about Malan, Verwoerd and later Vorster? They were not silent in the face of Apartheid. They were active collaborators in a project of crimes against humanity.

The main South African Jewish community took it upon itself to serve as an instrument of soft diplomacy for Apartheid South Africa. They succeeded in persuading all Jewish NGOs with consultative status at the United Nations to suppress discussions about Apartheid in South Africa. The NP government couldn’t find the funds to pay for that silence. Globally, Jewish and Zionist organisations justified their silence on Apartheid and their non-involvement in anti-Apartheid activities by relying on the positions of the main South African Jewish community. These same Jewish communities abroad were very vocal about social justice struggles everywhere except in Israel and South Africa. The main South African Jewish community urged overseas Jewish organisations not to criticise South Africa, fearing it could lead to anti-Semitism. The reality was that since 1948, the South African Jewish community had no fear of anti-Semitism.

Prominent Israeli officials have origins in South Africa. For instance, Abba Eban was born in Cape Town and later became Israeli Foreign Minister. Aryeh Louis Pincus, leader of the Jewish Agency, which oversees the World Zionist Organisation, was also from South Africa. By 1967, South Africa had become Israel’s leading trading partner. The 1967 war transformed Israel from a critic in 1961 into a strategic ally. South African Zionists were permitted to transfer 28 million dollars to Israel. South African Jews could serve in both civilian and military roles in Israel. Israel’s diplomatic advances with the frontline – later SADCC – states were welcomed, as they supported Israel at the United Nations. South Africa hoped they could help black people to adopt moderate positions on Apartheid South Africa’s Bantustan policies.

After 1967 South Africa and Israel became strategic allies once again. African countries were guided by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Liberation Committee to support anti-colonial struggle of the Palestinians.

Apartheid South Africa’s money and Israeli technical know-how built the Israeli military industrial complex. Israeli know-how also helped to build the South African military industrial complex and the nuclear industry of South Africa.

Israeli cities twinned with South African cities and Israel was the only country to permit a South African Bantustan to open an embassy.

Israeli cities twinned with South African cities and Israel was the only country to permit a South African Bantustan to open an embassy.

In all this time, when Jewish South Africans, whether practising or not, were critical of South Africa, the mainstream Jewish establishment did not look the other way. They made sure that these people were isolated and ostracised. The Apartheid-era government knew in no uncertain terms that the mainstream Jewish establishment did not support the anti-Apartheid Jews.

When I think of anti-Apartheid Jews then I think of the mendacity and moral collapse of the mainstream Jewish establishment in South Africa that isolated these people as ‘bad’ Jews. The mainstream Jewish organisations, media, synagogues and schools excommunicated these Jews.

I mention them to celebrate them, even though most of them were ANC and SACP (South African Communist Party) people, and I am not.

Ray Alexander and her husband Jack Simons were leading members of the South African Communist Party. After successive bans, they went into exile in 1965 and remained there for 25 years.

Pauline Podbrey was a communist and trade union leader in Durban. She married trade union leader H A Naidoo. She advised her children to identify primarily with the oppressed, starting with Indians and then Jews.

Ronald Segal took responsibility for his privilege and wealth. He was not a communist; his father was a Zionist and a member of the SAJBD.

The Rivonia trialists of 1963 included Jo Slovo, Ronnie Kasrils, Arthur Goldreich, Rusty Bernstein, Dennis Goldberg, Bob Hepple, Harold Wolpe, Hilda Bernstein, Ruth First, Albie Sachs, Raymond Suttner, Baruch Hirson, and Solly Sachs, whose father was a trade union leader.

Albie Sachs, in 1963, when he was a 29-year-old advocate in Cape Town, acknowledged his Jewishness but framed his priorities within the context of anti-back racism.

Ronnie Kasrils, from the SACP, was a leading operative of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

Baruch Hirson, a physicist and later professor of history, was jailed for nine years for his anti-Apartheid activities and for carrying acts of sabotage under the wing of the African Armed Resistance Movement (ARM).

Norma Cranko, a member of SACP, was married to non-Jewish David Kitson. David was sentenced to 27 years for sabotage.

Perhaps a majority of Jews were involved in liberal opposition to Apartheid. Helen Suzman exemplifies this. She was an MP from 1953 to 1989 and did a great deal of work on behalf of detainees. She served as an MP during the administrations of Verwoerd, Vorster, Strijdom, and Botha. While Suzman was a brave MP, she maintained close links with South Africa’s most influential business leaders. I fully support her extraordinary efforts as an MP advocating for political prisoners. I am critical of her connections with racial capitalists who benefited from Apartheid. She also had nothing to say about Palestinians.

Organisations like the Black Sash engaged in legal activism.

Issie Maisels was one of the lawyers for the defence during the Rivonia Trial (1956-1961). He was a prominent and committed Zionist. Joel Joffe was an instructing attorney for the defence at Rivonia. Benjamin Pogrund was a journalist at the Rand Daily Mail for 27 years (1958-1985). He was a close personal friend of PAC leader Mangaliso Sobukwe.

Today, we see South African Jews for a Free Palestine being treated as harshly as the Jews involved in the Rivonia trial and the anti-Zionist former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein. These younger pro-Palestine South African Jews are regarded as outcasts by the children of those who benefited from Apartheid. They repeat the same arguments in favour of a genocidal Apartheid Israel that their parents and grandparents once used to defend Apartheid South Africa. The same soft diplomacy that supported Apartheid South Africa, provided by the pro-Israel lobby in South Africa, is now employed to suppress and outlaw criticism of Israeli Apartheid and genocide.

I can foresee the outlines of a future apology by the Chief Rabbis for defending Israeli Apartheid and Genocide.

I write this also to correct any impression that people in the Muslim community, from the 1970s until today, are against Jews as Jews. We adhere to the saying on identity politics: ‘You are what you do.’ We were against South African Zionists because they supported a racist Afrikaner settler colonial project in South Africa, and we were clear then that Zionism is racism. We oppose them because of their support for the Zionist settler colonial Apartheid Genocide in Palestine. We do not care what their god supposedly promised them. There was never a land without a people, for a people without a land.

We criticise but never wholly dismiss anyone. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. In the days of Karbala, we remember that everyone has the potential to be Hurr, regardless of the costs. But we are not naïve. Material interests do not solely determine consciousness as Marxists claim. However, it is not far-fetched to suggest that material interests shape and constrain consciousness, which in turn influences behaviour. There is nothing inherently unchanging about being Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Marxist, atheist, or subscribing to any worldview. We observe your actions and then decide how to relate to you.

Unfortunately, the post-Apartheid ANC leadership has been too willing to rehabilitate the mainstream Jewish establishment. We do not even know why the Chief Rabbi apologised. We do know what his successors will have to apologise for after Israeli Apartheid and Genocide end, just as South Africa’s Apartheid did. We owe our loyalty to the Jews who fought for justice for all during the days of apartheid. We stand with South African Jews for a Free Palestine.

South Africa safest for Jews and Muslims

Jews in South Africa last faced severe anti-Semitism before 1948. Since then, South Africa has been one of the safest places for Jews worldwide. It must remain that way.

I say the same to Muslims, especially those who are bigoted. There is no safer place in the world to be a Muslim, and I hope it stays so. This is not a favour to Muslims. Muslims came to South Africa as slaves, and they helped develop the Afrikaans language, among others. The first people to write in Afrikaans were Muslims, making it an indigenous decolonial response to Dutch dominance. The first school for freed slaves was on Dorp Street, Cape Town.

Many issues face post-Apartheid South Africa. However, despite its flaws, South Africa remains a beacon of hope for the world. The ANC, despite its shortcomings, has played a significant role over the last 30 years. We owe it a debt, and we repay it by holding the ANC to account.

It could have performed much better if its leaders and members had not treated the country as a trough on Animal Farm. That is a matter for another day. We need radical action to address our post-Apartheid challenges.

Former president Thabo Mbeki’s neoliberal policies left us with the mess we face today. The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) would have yielded better results than the macroeconomic strategy, Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR).

For now, at least, we know what Chief Rabbi Harris should have apologised for, and he did not do so. I have also clarified what our issues are with mainstream Jewish cultural politics. It has nothing to do with them being Jewish. They chose to benefit from racism, used Apartheid to defend the settler colonial Israeli project, and were part of the soft power of Apartheid South Africa’s diplomacy. We remember that Israeli Defence Force staff served as advisers to the South African Defence Force and police in their fight against the South African anti-Apartheid liberation movements.

Now, why did Nelson Mandela, Mbeki, Pallo Jordan, Tito Mboweni, and Trevor Manuel not raise these issues? Because when you raise them, you are accused of being an anti-Semite. Quite correctly, when you mention the discredited, disgraceful Protocols of Zion, the Zionist establishment is proper to dismiss you as an anti-Semitic clown running a circus without a licence.

If the South African Jewish establishment sincerely regret their complicity and collaboration with Apartheid and how they escaped retribution, then they could use their lived experience to assist Jewish Israelis in overcoming their bigotry. There can be no security for Jews in Palestine if it relies on the insecurity of Palestinians and destabilisation of the Arab frontline states. Apartheid South Africa attempted a similar racist, genocidal project, and it failed. Yet, South African Jews live in the safest place for Jews anywhere in the world—that is, in a democratic South Africa working towards justice for all, regardless of differences in class, gender, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

The establishment might not take this step towards justice for all. Perhaps some brave soul will want to do what Afrikaners did when they chose to break away and engage in talks about talks. The problem in Israel and Palestine can be resolved within ten years. This is what is necessary, not waging war in the media, in the courts, and on university campuses. No justice, no peace.