JOHANNESBURG — The conflict rages thousands of miles and a continent away, but South Africa is swept up in and divided by the grim conflict sparked by the Oct. 7 rampage by Palestinian Hamas militants across southern Israel and Israel’s bloody retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip.
With deeply rooted Jewish and Muslim communities, South Africa is showing that the United States is not the only country where the Middle East war is sparking fierce debates and sharp political clashes.
On Tuesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted a virtual meeting of leaders in the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) that called for “an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire” in Gaza and intervention by the United Nations. Israel and the United States have opposed that stance.
BRICS issued its statement just before Hamas and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a deal for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow relief to trapped Gaza residents and to swap hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. The tentative deal is not likely to still the debate over a South African role in the crisis.
Radical elements of Mr. Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress have outspokenly condemned Israel and voiced support for the Palestinian cause.
Emma Powell, shadow foreign minister for the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said the government’s blatant tilt toward the Palestinian cause was diminishing South Africa’s diplomatic clout and standing in the region.
“If the ANC were serious about building lasting peace in the Middle East, it would remain at the negotiating table, not abandon it,” Ms. Powell said Tuesday as lawmakers debated a proposed suspension of bilateral ties with Israel until a Gaza cease-fire is in place.
In a televised address ahead of the BRICS meeting, Mr. Ramaphosa condemned the Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and said Hamas should release its hostages. He accused each side of “a breach of international law” but said Israel’s “deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water” to Gaza was “tantamount to genocide.”
Mr. Ramaphosa blamed the war on “illegal occupation of Palestine territory by Israel as reflected in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, which states that Israeli settlements constitute a flagrant violation of international law.”
ANC politicians regularly compare the treatment of Palestinians to apartheid, the system of racial segregation that isolated Pretoria under White rule until ANC leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 after 27 years.
Deep roots
For the country as a whole, the issue is more complicated.
Only one South African is known to be among the Hamas hostages, but the country is home to Africa’s largest Jewish community, estimated at more than 70,000 and active in business, politics and the arts. Some families have been in South Africa for more than 350 years after fleeing pogroms in czarist Russia and the aftermath of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal.
The predominantly Christian nation has long-standing links with Islam.
When the Dutch set up a trading post at Cape Town in 1652, they brought artisans, slaves and farmers from their colonies in Asia, many of whom were Muslim. The city’s oldest mosque still in use was built in 1794. In recent years, thousands of migrants, many of them illegal, have arrived from Pakistan, Bangladesh and West Africa.
In 1948, South Africa and the United States were among the first in the world to recognize Israel.
Since the start of military operations in Gaza, people of all faiths have been carrying Palestinian flags and banners in marches and protests to call for a cease-fire.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attacked a Nov. 12 prayer vigil for Israel in Cape Town. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Karen Milner, an academic who chairs the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, told The Washington Times about concerns for the safety of Jews. She said her board had met with the “security cluster” — an interdepartmental group in Pretoria comprising police, justice and security — and were assured that “no violence against our community will be tolerated.”
Ms. Milner said the country’s “very tough laws” on discrimination needed enforcement. “We are South Africans, and this is where we want to live. But antisemitic chants at some of the marches have unnerved people. And we see hate speech coming from protests in Paris, London and Washington.”
She said the board of deputies was inundated with public calls of support. “But I also have Jewish people asking whether they should hide evidence of their faith and is it safe to visit the synagogue. In a democracy, we should never need to worry about who we are or how we pray.”
Ms. Milner described South Africa as “a very wonderful and tolerant place to live,” but she called on the authorities to “take every necessary step to make sure no one in the Jewish community is at risk of harm or abuse.”
Israeli carrier El Al flies directly to Johannesburg. Until the outbreak of hostilities, tourist numbers were growing in both directions. Israel has no oil and buys about $100 million of coal from South Africa annually. It also has shared its technology for farming in dry zones.
Benji Shulman is director of public policy at the South African Zionist Federation, the country’s oldest Jewish organization, established in the 1890s. He said the real threat could lie in how the Israeli-Hamas war alters South Africa’s overall foreign policy orientation. A strong tilt against Israel could strain relations with the United States as well.
“The government’s embrace of Russia, Iran and Hamas could lead to the United States removing South Africa from the African Growth and Opportunity Act,” he said, “which would be enormously damaging to the agricultural sector and the wider economy.”
Standing out
South Africa has stood out among leading developing nations with its willingness to criticize Israel. On a visit to Qatar last week, Mr. Ramaphosa said he had referred Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for possible war crimes.
Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said she was adding the charge of “apartheid” to the list of Israel’s actions for the court to consider. Under the Rome Statute that established the ICC, apartheid is named as a crime against humanity, though no country has been put on trial for the charge at The Hague.
In Cape Town on Tuesday night, Parliament voted on a motion proposed by the radical minority Economic Freedom Fighters to sever ties with Israel. The manifesto also called for nationalizing banks, industry and farmland in South Africa.
The ANC insisted on an amendment to suspend ties only until Israel agrees to a cease-fire with Hamas and U.N. involvement to create “a lasting peace.” The party used its numbers to push through the motion. The vote is not binding on the president, who has the final say in foreign relations.
Ms. Pandor said a total break in relations was unlikely. South Africa has a representative office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, but the embassy in Tel Aviv maintains contact with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Earlier this month, South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel and withdrew all its diplomatic staff.
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