Ample evidence in the hands of two South African attorneys may be used to launch a compelling case against South Africans who unlawfully serve in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) writes SOZARN BARDAY.
‘WE are ready. When you come home, we’re going to arrest you,’ warned Naledi Pandor, Minister of Dirco on March 5, 2024. This warning was echoed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Minister in the Presidency of South Africa in November 2023.
Despite these utterances, it remains the sole prerogative and mandate of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to proceed with action against such individuals, typically referred to as lone soldiers. They are volunteers for the IDF and they are recruited by the IDF as reservists. It appears the term ‘lone soldiers’ is intended to evoke empathy for them as unfortunate immigrant soldiers with no family in Israel.
Israeli security service law stipulates that Israelis, even those who hold dual nationalities and who permanently reside abroad, are to enlist in the military. Such conscription applies to both males and females at the age of eighteen. Thereafter, soldiers are placed in the reservist unit.
Following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, over 300 000 reservists were reported to have been mobilised from over the world. The Lone Soldiers Centre specified that there are 7 000 lone soldiers enlisted in the IDF. Of these, 45% are immigrants from Jewish communities around the world, and 59 of them are South Africans enlisted in combat units. However, these statistics do not reflect the proportion of soldiers who have dual South African and Israeli citizenship..
However, the recruitment of lone soldiers did not commence on October 7, 2023. It dates back to 1948 with the establishment of the Machal Force, and is part of the broader ‘settler colonial architecture’ according to Zeenat Adam, a former diplomat and international relations analyst.
Cases of South Africans named as possible respondents to legal charges for serving in the IDF date back to 2009. Lieutenant Colonel David Benjamin, is a South African who was reported to have been involved in the ‘planning and commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Operation Cast Lead’ in 2009. This 22-day massacre in Gaza took the lives of 1 417 Palestinians, 83% of whom were civilians.
Following Operation Cast Lead South African attorney Yousha Tayob and his team meticulously drafted the Gaza Docket and identified 73 South Africans serving in the IDF. Among them is one Tony Woods who openly boasts about his military exploits on social media. However, many social media pages of such recruits were shut down as soon as they became aware of the pending legal action.
Tayob asserts that the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act 15 of 1998 (FMAA) requires proof of ‘actual service in the military.’ He adds that the act outlaws ‘even assisting or sowing a button or cooking food for a soldier that participates in such activities.’
At the time, the investigating officer wanted proof that the photos of lone soldiers were taken in Israel and that the military uniform was that of the IDF. It was further noted that two police stations in Johannesburg, Norwood and Sandringham, were identified as recruiting and training centres, utilised by the reservist core and Israelis. This was done under the guise of individuals undergoing South African Police Reservist training. One lone soldier was even found to have trained in Krav Maga, a form of martial arts used in the IDF and by commercial farmers in South Africa. Despite this, the investigating officer insisted on direct evidence.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) maintains the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) ‘has not granted permission to any South African to participate in the Gaza conflict’ and has further acknowledged that they are ‘aware that some may be serving in the IDF without clearance.’
Another South African attorney, Ziyaad Patel, is working on the Gaza Docket and the SA Zionist Terrorism Corridor Probe. Patel emphasises that the law is clear. ‘South African national citizens or institutions can’t unlawfully get involved in the facilitation of recruitment of soldiers to serve in a foreign army,’ he says.
The probe is described as a ‘comprehensive criminal docket’ based upon ‘sustainable and irrefutable evidence’ which has been submitted to the South African Police Services and the National Director of Public Prosecutions. It focuses on how South African citizens were trained and recruited in the IDF during Operation Cast Lead, as well as the Freedom Flotilla Humanitarian Aid Vessel Raid (2010), Operation Pillar of Defence (2012), Operation Protective Edge (2014) and in the May 2021 war.
A number of soldiers serving in the IDF were identified, and some details of the recruitment process were revealed. These include a formal application by a volunteer, travel to Israel and induction into the IDF as a reservist.
In some cases social media posts by soldiers corroborate the findings of the probe as several recruits proudly announced their service in the IDF during Operation Protective Edge. Some of them refer to this as ‘making Aliyah.’ This recruitment system is entrenched in institutions like secondary schools where impressionable Jewish youth are potential recruits.
Keren Hayesod, an official fundraising organisation for Israel, and Israel Centre South Africa, a Jewish agency for Israel, are key agents in marketing opportunities to serve in the IDF. Sar-El and Telfed are part of a global lone soldier recruitment network that assists in recruitment procedures and enlistment in the IDF.
This recruitment process is intentionally opaque and designed to evade detection and breach of the law. Step 3 in the process, as illustrated in the graphic above, involves a travel itinerary of the volunteer to an interim second destination designed to conceal any direct route of travel between South Africa and Israel. In addition, if the volunteer has dual citizenship, he or she can use a South African passport to travel to the interim destination, and an Israeli passport for the onward flight to Israel.
It appears that South Africa is becoming a prolific recruiting ground for the IDF. Despite ample undeniable evidence, the NPA has not prosecuted the lone soldiers and organisations in the Gaza Docket and the Corridor Probe.
Public outcries are growing as even another complaint was lodged this year with the NPA. Whilst the warnings issued by the international relations minister may offer hope to social justice activists, it remains the sole prerogative of the NPA to prosecute lone soldiers in breach of the law. The history of accountability and prosecution of mercenaries’ activities questions the prosecuting authority’s competency to successfully prosecute lone soldiers fighting in the IDF.
Had the NPA set a precedent and prosecuted soldiers and institutions in the Gaza docket and the Corridor Probe, this action may have deterred others participating in Israeli war crimes.
- Sozarn Barday is an attorney based in Cape Town and has a particular interest in human rights law.
