SOUTH AFRICA 2003-4

 

There was a 20 percent decline in antisemitic incidents recorded in South Africa during 2003, notwithstanding continuing anti-Israel sentiment that was exacerbated by the unpopular US-led war against Iraq. With rare exceptions, moreover, those incidents were not of a violent nature, and the total was markedly lower than those of other leading Diaspora communities. On the negative side, there was an increase in the dissemination of anti-Jewish propaganda, particularly on radio while hostility toward Israel in the mainstream media continued unabated.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

There are an estimated 80,000 Jews in South Africa, out of a total population of some 45 million. The community is located principally in the two main urban centers of Johannesburg (50,000) and Cape Town (18,000), with other important communities in Durban (2,700) and Pretoria (1,500), and smaller ones in Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, East London and the country districts.

The exodus of Jews, as well as of other South Africans, which began in the 1980s, has continued since the introduction of non-racial democracy in 1994 due, inter alia, to an unprecedented rise in crime. A wide degree of pessimism remains regarding the future of the country under black majority rule, given the widespread failure in post-colonial African societies. The ongoing political and economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe, including racially motivated discrimination against sections of the white minority population, has fueled these fears. Nevertheless, recent figures suggest that the emigration rate is slowing down, partly due to South Africa’s sound economic performance in the post-1994 era and a continued commitment to the democratic principles adopted at the time of transition.

Emigration has significantly weakened the community, both in terms of the loss of potential leadership and the financial implications. As a result, rationalization and consolidation initiatives have been instituted in all the major centers to ensure the continued running of the various communal organizations, including day schools and aged homes. In recent years, a number of young people strongly committed to the future of the country have been appointed to important leadership positions.

The Jewish community remains highly cohesive and well-organized, boasting an impressive network of educational and welfare institutions in all its major centers. Over 80 percent of Jewish children are currently enrolled in Jewish day schools, the rate of intermarriage is under 10 percent and levels of Jewish identity are remarkably high when compared with other Diaspora communities.

South African Jews have from the beginnings of Jewish settlement played a prominent role in the political, economic and cultural life of the country and continue to do so in the post-apartheid era. There are, however, significantly fewer Jewish MPs than was the case immediately following the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), as the central representative body of the community, meets regularly with key political leaders from across the political spectrum.

 

POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

The ruling party in South Africa is the African National Congress (ANC), which controls two-thirds of the seats in the 400-member House of Assembly. The official opposition in Parliament is the mainly white-supported Democratic Alliance, whose leader, Tony Leon, is Jewish.

The ANC, which during the apartheid years had close ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, has shown a pronounced pro-Palestinian bias in its statements on the Middle East conflict. It has also been prominently involved in promoting anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations. In April 2003, during the UN Human Rights Commission's annual session, procedural maneuvers led by South Africa and the African group resulted in continuation of the discussion on whether the term ‘antisemitism’ should remain in the resolution taken at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban regarding racism, xenophobia and related intolerance, and/or whether the terms antisemitism and islamophobia should appear together.

 

Extremist Groups

Muslim Extremism

There are about one million Muslims in South Africa. Islamic extremist movements tend to have small but militant followings, and are active mainly in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces. They include Qibla, which has ties with the Lebanese Hizballah, and the Islamic Unity Convention. The Media Review Network (MRN), a Muslim media advocacy group which overtly promotes the ideologies of Muslim extremist organizations abroad, remained active and vocal during 2003. The MRN has established various front organizations such as the Free Palestine Campaign. While generally steering clear of blatant expressions of antisemitism, the MRN continues to propagate Holocaust denial material through its website.

The US-led war to overthrow Saddam Husayn saw the emergence of the Anti-War Coalition, a loose umbrella body for radical, predominantly Muslim-supported anti-Israel groupings, which combined vociferous demonstrations against the coalition countries with attacks on Israel. The Muslim Judicial Council, generally viewed as a relatively moderate Muslim voice, is in practice not far removed, if at all, from the more militant organizations in terms of the sentiments its spokesmen have expressed on the Middle East conflict.

 

The White Right

The White Right was responsible for a series of bombings in 2002 aimed at installations rather than at people (see ASW 2002/3). While it adheres to a wide array of antisemitic ideologies, Jews are evidently low down on their target list, and at present the White Right does not pose a serious threat to Jewish life in South Africa.

 

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITIES

A total of 32 antisemitic incidents was recorded in South Africa during 2003, down from 40 the previous year. While attitudes toward Israel, and particularly toward PM Ariel Sharon, continued to be very negative in the mainstream media, this did not spill over into overtly hostile comments about Jews in general as occasionally occurred in 2002.

 

Violence, Vandalism, Threats and Intimidation

There were no reported cases of Jewish institutions being vandalized in the period under review. Two fairly serious cases of antisemitically motivated assault were recorded, all in Johannesburg. In June, several Jewish youths were accosted by a group of Muslims who shouted abuse at them and then threatened them with a firearm. One of the youths was struck in the face. In November, a Jewish pupil was shot in the arm with a pellet gun from a car occupied by two Muslim men. Volunteers from the Jewish defense Community Security Organisation were alerted and were able to thwart a further attack as well as obtain the necessary car registration details to lodge a case with the police. The perpetrators were subsequently arrested.

There were 12 recorded cases of verbal abuse of Jews, sometimes accompanied by threats. Most were random incidents or a by-product of a general argument between a Jewish and non-Jewish party, but at least two were directly Middle East related. At the Johannesburg memorial day for Israel's fallen soldiers (Yom HaZicharon) function (April), Jewish participants were verbally harassed by a small but vociferous group of demonstrators.

Antisemitic harassment directed against individuals or institutions most commonly took the form of anonymous hate mail. Fifteen such incidents were recorded, the most serious of which was the receipt by the SAJBD and the three King David schools in Johannesburg of an identical letter, signed by the militant British group Combat 18 (see ASW 2000/1). The same letters were later received by the Killarney Mall and a news cafe (Boksburg), two places the letter had stated would be targeted. Each of the six letters included an unidentified white powder, reminiscent of the post-September 11 anthrax scare. On investigation, this proved to be harmless. The letter began “Dear jew, For too long your kind has tormented the White Race. The jews of South Africa will now be crushed, Men, Women, children, the elderly. None will be spared. Combat 18, armed wing of Blood and Honour Int, has established several cells in this country. Their aim is to destroy the jew [sic].”

An unusual form of hate mail involved tampering with one of the computers in a Cape Town Internet cafe, with the result that several users complained of the words “Zakira Alam Death to Jews” being automatically sent to recipients of their e-mails.

Three cases of antisemitic graffiti were recorded, as well as several incidents in which swastikas were daubed on public buildings.

 

The Media

The most sustained and overt example of anti-Jewish propaganda on radio was the broadcasting of a series of ‘comparative religion’ programs on Channel Islam International in the June–July period. In the course of a series of interviews with local Muslim academic Rafiek Hassen, Jews were systematically depicted as a scheming and underhanded people, inveterate haters of all non-Jews and unscrupulous plotters against whom the world should be warned. Overt and distorted attacks on the Jewish religion were used as a basis for this denigration. Talk show host Shafaat Khan endorsed his guest’s statements, commenting on one occasion that Jews nursed “a bitter hatred for the goyims [sic] in their hearts” and that through his program his listeners had been given “a deeper insight into the psyche of the Jew.” He also called on listeners to enlighten their colleagues and acquaintances about “the devious roles the Zionists play, not only in Muslim lives, but also in the lives of non-Muslims,” adding: “We Muslims are on to them and the world of Christendom still has to come to this realization.” Khan was taken off the air by the station following complaints from the SAJBD, and no recurrence of this type of broadcasting has been reported.

During the Gulf War, anti-Jewish conspiracy theories which blamed Jews for being behind the war surfaced frequently on radio talk shows throughout the country. Members of the Jewish community lodged two separate complaints with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, neither of which was upheld.

In the mainstream media, the Tim Modise Show on Radio 702 was regularly used by certain callers, mainly Muslim, to denigrate Jews. Hussein Guffor, a guest on the show, for example, accused Jews of plotting World War II so as to bring about the mass immigration of European Jews to Palestine.

 

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTISEMITISM

A comprehensive Bill of Rights, incorporated within the Constitution adopted in 1996, ensures adequate protection for all citizens, including members of religious and ethnic minorities. In general, a strongly non-racist ethos prevails in South Africa, and this no doubt largely accounts for the fact that antisemitism levels in the country remains low,

The SAJBD, as the recognized Jewish civil rights organization monitors and where necessary responds to antisemitism. In recent years, in tandem with the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), it has had to become increasingly involved in Israel advocacy initiatives as a result of the sharp rise in anti-Israel sentiment in both the media and at government level since September 2000.

The SAJBD was called upon to intervene in cases involving the illicit sale of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as well as the unauthorized use of the logos of a prominent bank and auditing company in advertising the antisemitic tract The International Jew.

The SAJBD, in cooperation with the SAZF, continued to run its Media Team, set up the previous year to respond to attacks on Israel and Jews. The group is made up of professional staff and volunteers, who were successful in getting numerous articles and letters defending Israel published, as well as regular responses on radio talk shows.