SAJBD responds to Thapelo Amad images supporting Hamas
Today, shocking images were posted by former Johannesburg mayor and Al Jama-ah city councillor Thapelo Amad showing him posing with an assault rifle while declaring his unequivocal support for the Hamas terror organisation. This follows Amad’s having also incited violent attacks against anyone who supported Israel in a previous post reading, “Death to the Zionist Israeli and its supporters for killing innocent civilians, i.e., women and children”.
This post tells you everything you need to know about this party and the outrageous extremes that the anti-Israel fanatics are prepared to go to. It should not be necessary to remind people of the horrific crimes of Hamas, including documented rape, torture and kidnap. These are the people that Al-Jama-ah chose to align themselves with. The need to use a gun as a prop tells us all we need to know for the desire for peace. This pathetic posturing does nothing for the plight of innocent Palestinians in Gaza. Nor clearly is it in the interest of peace.
Amad’s latest inflammatory posts come less than 24 hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that there “is no place in South Africa for violence or threats of violence against those who hold contrary views” and further urged South Africans not to allow the Israel-Hamas conflict to turn them against one another.
Prof Karen Milner, national chairman of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, said that Amad’s posts exacerbated an already dangerous situation in which attacks on the Jewish community, a number of them violent, had increased almost ten-fold since the outbreak of the current conflict in the Middle East.
“This kind of incitement is unacceptable for any South African, but it is all the more deplorable from a political leader. We call on President Ramaphosa to address this very serious issue and for Cllr Amad to be strongly censured for his reprehensible conduct” she said.
Statement issued by Prof Karen Milner, National Chairperson, SAJBD, 21 November 2023
