SA BDS Coalition to oppose CJ Mogoeng's appeal application
14 March 2021
The South African BDS Coalition is once again appalled, but not surprised, that the Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, has rejected the instruction given by Justice Mojapelo from the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) to apologise to the SA BDS Coalition and two other organisations.
The complaints we laid centred on the statements that the Chief Justice made in June last year during a webinar hosted by the right-wing Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post. Mogoeng appeared, along with South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Warren Goldstein, and the event was marketed under the theme “Two Chief, One Mission”.
The timing of the event was not coincidental. The webinar was just prior to South Africa raising objections to Israel’s planned annexation of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley at the UN Security Council.
The Chief Justice expressed the view that criticism of Israel for its occupation and human rights violations against Palestinians is regarded as criticising “God’s Will, which will incur God’s wrath”. With the South African state perceived to be a vocal critic of Israel, Mogoeng was suggesting that the state’s position on Israel’s occupation of Palestine would “attract unprecedented curses upon our nation.”