THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Approximately 85,000 Jews live in South Africa out of a total population of some 43 million. About 85 percent of the Jewish population lives in either Johannesburg (52,000) or Cape Town (18,000), with most of the remainder being distributed among Durban (3 000), Pretoria (1,500) and Port Elizabeth. Most South African Jews are of Lithuanian descent, their forebears having arrived in South Africa between 1880 and 1930. The community has been in steady decline since reaching a peak of 119,000 in 1980, the result of political uncertainty and, lately, of an unprecedented rise in violent crime. However, recent surveys have revealed that a high proportion – about 20 percent -- of those Jews who emigrate ultimately return to South Africa. Despite its diminishing numbers, the Jewish community remains cohesive and well-organized, with a highly developed network of educational and welfare institutions. About 75 percent of Jewish children are currently enrolled in Jewish day schools, with many of the remainder attending private colleges rather than government institutions, where there are fears of falling standards.

The Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) monitors levels of anti-Semitism in the country and where necessary takes action. It has good relations with the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which won 66 percent of the vote in the 1999 election. The new president, Thabo Mbeki, and the ANC are firmly committed to a non-racial and democratic society and have generally been sympathetic toward the concerns and fears of the local Jewish community.

A Jewish Holocaust center was opened in Cape Town in August. Designed to honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, it is also intended to contribute to developing a human rights culture.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

The white right in South Africa is in complete disarray, as evidenced by the 1999 election results. While splinter far right political organizations continue to exist, they pose no immediate threat to the Jewish community. There were scores of such groups operating just prior to the 1994 election, which saw South Africa's transition to full democracy, but little has been heard from them since. The most well-known among them is the Herstigte Nasionale Party (Reconstituted National Party - HNP), whose organ, Die Afrikaner, is the main source of anti-Semitic propaganda from the white right. The HNP broke away from the ruling National Party in 1969 in reaction to departures from the apartheid racist policy, but long before 1994 it had already been reduced to a marginal fringe group. The Internet reveals links between local right-wing organizations and similar ones abroad, amongst them between the HNP and the National Alliance in Britain.

There is evidence of considerable anti-Semitic sentiment within the South African Muslim community, particularly in Cape Town, usually in reaction to events in the Middle East. On several occasions, militant Muslim protestors linked the plight of Muslims in other parts of the world with Israel and world Jewry.

Estimates of the size of the Muslim population in South Africa vary, but according to the 1996 census it was approximately 700,000. The community is highly fragmented and lacks a representative body, which makes it difficult for the Jewish community to open channels of communication. Additionally, the high degree of intimidation and civil strife results in moderates being afraid to speak out.

Islamic extremist movements tend to have small but militant followings and are particularly active in the Western Cape. They include PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, ostensibly a civic anti-crime body, but in practice a front for Islamic militants), Qibla, which has ties with the Lebanese Hizballah, and MAGO (Muslims Against Global Oppression). All three organizations are closely linked. On 5 October, Khalfan Khamis Mohammed, a suspect in the August 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was extradited to New York from Cape Town to face terrorism charges. An article which appeared in Newsweek on 25 October, under the heading “The Islamic Connection: Is Cape Town a Haven for International Terrorists?” referred, inter alia, to a support network operating in the city which helps suspected terrorists go under cover.

Extremist views on the State of Israel and Jews in general within the Muslim community first came to the fore during the 1982 Lebanon War and have been part of the South African scene ever since. Because most Muslims are non-white and hence suffered alongside blacks under apartheid, and because of the close relationship that existed between Israel and South Africa during the last two decades of the apartheid era, Muslim propagandists have traditionally found a sympathetic ear within the majority black population. There is widespread black support for the Palestinian cause but black anti-Semitism, with a few individual exceptions (usually related to labor issues), has not emerged as a problem in South Africa to date.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES

There were three reported instances of vandalism and, unlike in the previous two years, no serious acts of violence against Jewish targets. In March, it was reported that the fence of the new Jewish cemetery in Kroonstad had been broken and graves were spray-painted with the words “Luke 19-10,” a reference to a chapter in the New Testament which states, “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” On 20 April, Hitler's birthday, a pig's head was found on the grounds of the Jewish Crawford College/Carmel School in Pretoria. In July, four Jewish graves were desecrated in a small Jewish cemetery in Kempton Park. Two tombstones were overturned and swastikas painted on them, and graffiti such as “Hitler was right” and “6,000,000 lies” spray-painted on and around the others.

On 25 August, a bomb threat, which proved to be hoax, was received at King David Linksfield High School in Johannesburg,.

The most serious reported instance of intimidation took place in Cape Town where a complaint was received by the SAJBD from a caller about a Jewish neighbor. The caller stated that he would “send the SS in to sort out the problem” and that he would “rape her and inject her with AIDS.” The police were contacted and after they had visited the caller, no further complaints were received.

In a widely publicized incident in March, a player at the Roosevelt Park Bowling club made an anti-Semitic remark about a Jewish bowler. He was reprimanded and suspended from the club for two years.

Another incident that reached the press was a remark by William Mnisi, a member of the New National Party, who was quoted by The Sunday Independent as saying, “that little Jewboy cares only about Israel and nothing else,” a reference to Tony Leon, leader of the Democratic Party.

Complaints were received in May about one of the lecturers at the University of the Witwatersrand who, during a lecture, had said that when Jews sold a business to one another you could smell a rat, and that in cases of tax evasion it was “back to the Jews.” A number of students walked out in protest. The SAJBD wrote a letter of complaint to the dean, who replied that the lecturer had expressed regret for the action and had undertaken to revise his behavior.

In another campus incident in March, Muslim medical students at the University of the Witwatersrand were accosted by a representative of the Union of Jewish Students for wearing anti-Zionist slogans ontheir lab coats such as “Stop the Jewish killing fields.” Those wearing the slogans removed them and apologized.

Among several anonymous letters received by the SAJBD attacking Israel, Barak and the peace process. was one from February which, among other things, accused the Jews of being slumlords and of exploiting non-Jews.

Anti-Semitic manifestations in the press were largely confined to the occasional letter. However, Jewish conspiracy theories, allegations of Jewish financial power and Holocaust denial appeared regularly in the HNP organ Die Afrikaner. A typical example was the issue of 28 January, which featured an article stating that President Bill Clinton was a corrupt and dishonest puppet of American Jews, “just the man the Jews need.” The paper also published several extremely anti-Semitic letters, the worst in the previous week's issue by H. Klapwijk, who denied the Holocaust, stated that the Jews controlled nine out of the ten biggest Hollywood film companies, the three largest TV networks and 909 of the major newspapers in the US, and claimed that Muslim groups such as PAGAD had arisen because former President de Klerk had put South Africa under Jewish control.

With the election of Ehud Barak and the resumption of peace negotiations in the Middle East, manifestations of anti-Israel/anti-Zionist sentiments declined during 1999, although hostile letters continued to appear in the press on an irregular basis. Many of these letters were initiated by a Muslim group calling itself the Media Review Network (MRN), which placed many of its letters in the largely black-patronized daily Sowetan. MRN Secretary Dr. Firoz Osman was quoted on the front page of the mainstream Citizen as saying that Zionism constituted the last surviving racist ideology, and the Zionist state of Israel the last outpost of apartheid in the world. In August and September, The Citizen carried a number of Holocaust denial letters, together with several strong responses against them.

An anonymous letter, entitled “The Jews, Muslims and Thabo Mbeki,” appeared on the website of the left-oriented national weekly Mail and Guardian. It claimed that the Jews in South Africa had complete control over President Mbeki, adding that while the Muslim countries had helped South Africa in the struggle against apartheid, the Jews and Israel had supported the apartheid regime. The letter concluded, “Let us direct our energies against the real enemy the JEW.” Several responses to the letter and replies from the writer followed.

Other publications featuring anti-Semitic materials appeared throughout the year, including, in April, the book En Mammon het gese: Laat ons Geld Maak (And Mammon Said: Let Us Make Money), written under the pseudonym Peter Banks. The book attacked Jews, stating, inter alia, that the world had been manipulated by bankers starting with Rothschild and his sons in the 18th century and claiming that the Holocaust was a fabrication

A vehemently anti-Semitic work, My Lewe en Strewe (My Life and Struggle) by General Manie Maritz, was republished as part of a group of works issued to mark the centenary of the Boer War. The book, which first appeared in 1939, contains quotations from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The author had launched an anti-Semitic and pro-fascist movement in South West Africa during the 1930s. The SAJBD is examining current legislation in order to prevent further publication of the book.

The British author and conspiracy theorist David Icke (see also Canada), visited South Africa, appearing on several mainstream radio stations, lecturing and promoting his latest book, The Biggest Secret. The book does not attack Jews directly but makes extensive use of classical anti-Semitic material to “prove" his theories.

The Jewish community was active in confronting anti-Semitism in the media. An advertisement in a November issue of The Financial Mail contained a picture of Adolf Hitler, under which appeared the words: “What if I had won?” and two columns headed “The good things” and “The bad things.” The advertisement stated that The Financial Mail wished to address controversial issues and that an article on this one would be published in the future. In the wake of protests by the Jewish community, the editor apologized and undertook to withdraw the advertisement and to ensure that the article, when it appeared, would not be offensive.

Radio talk shows were the source of several expressions of virulent anti-Semitism in 1999. The most blatant example was on Radio 567 in Cape Town in September. The show, hosted by Jani Allen, a former newspaper columnist once romantically linked with the far right-wing leader Eugene Terreblanche, featured an interview with Keith Johnson, a member of the Militia of Montana, who made numerous hostile allusions to Jews, including so-called Jewish conspiracies, denial of the Holocaust and referring to the Talmud as “that filthy thing” which permitted sexual intercourse with three year-old girls. Allen failed to contradict her guest, who also made a number of openly racist comments. Following the program, there was a formal hearing of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission to investigate complaints about the show. The commission ruled that the program had been offensive and demanded that the station broadcast an apology within seven days.

Jon Qwelane, a popular black talk show host on the mainstream station Radio 702, continued to arouse controversy during much of 1999 (see also ASW1998/9). On 21 February, he hosted Israel communications expert David Olesker and made extremely offensive remarks about alleged instances of racism in the Talmud. Later in the year, Qwelane agreed to write for the national Jewish newspaper South African Jewish Report, in order to respond to accusations that he was anti-Semitic. In an extremely truculent article, he challenged people to prove that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was indeed a forgery. In later talk shows, however, he reportedly discouraged references by callers to The Protocols, saying that the document had been labeled a forgery, without actually stating that it was one.

Several complaints were received about a program called “Adolf Hitler,” which was broadcast on Radio Sonder Grense on 22 August. In the course of the broadcast, some callers made claims denying the Holocaust. The host was alleged to have endorsed these comments and further, invited listeners to get copies of recommended reading on the subject. A follow-up program was broadcast a week later in which many callers phoned in to protest. After listening to a recording of the show, the SAJBD concluded that the Holocaust denial statements had been effectively countered.

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

During 1999, the Jewish community was involved in official initiatives to counter racism and discrimination, The SABJD submitted both written and oral evidence to parliament on the proposed Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Bill, which would make apartheid and similar forms of racism a crime against humanity. Among other things, it asked that the bill be redrafted so as to make hate speech against any ethnic or religious grouping an offense punishable by law and not merely prohibited. In addition, the SABJD participated in a Human Rights Commission (HRC) study on racism in the media.