Towards a Constructive Foreign Policy on Israel

It is misleading to suggest, as many South African commentators have done, that the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is a function of Israeli aggression. Nor is it acceptable to compare Israel to Nazism, as was done by the African National Congress (ANC) last week. Rather than seeking to drive divisions between Israel and South Africa, it is important to drop such partisan invective and start working towards a closer and more constructive diplomatic relationship.  

Over the past week, several hundred missiles have been fired from Gaza into Israel. The South African Zionist Federation reports that over 100 of these had to be intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, which targets only those missiles likely to land in heavily populated civilian areas.

Organisations such as Human Rights Watch have previously condemned such rocket attacks as ‘deliberately and indiscriminately' targeting civilian areas in Israel. In a 2009 report, Human Rights Watch also found that many of these attacks are ‘deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures', and thus categorised them as ‘war crimes'. Human rights organisations have also repeatedly warned about human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings, perpetrated by Hamas in Gaza against its own civilian population and political rivals.

Yet the South African debate makes little mention of these abuses or of Israel's right and responsibility to defend its civilian population from harm. Consider how many other societies would react to such a rain of missiles over so many years, and Israel's response could be interpreted as one of remarkable self-restraint. This does not, of course, excuse abuses where these are perpetrated by Israeli security forces. Nor does it justify acts of deliberate Israeli provocation, such as the extension of Israeli settlements into the West Bank.

The debate in South Africa is so one-sided, that it is rarely mentioned, if at all, that Israel, for all its political problems, is the leading example of a multi-party democracy and thriving economy in the Middle-East. Most South Africans are not aware, for example, that last week Arab members of the Knesset spoke out forcefully against Israel's military actions in Gaza. By contrast, most of Israel's regional neighbors have deplorable records on freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. However, these seldom attract the public attention, let alone the vitriol, that is reserved for Israel.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that such one-sided criticism is the thin edge of a creeping anti-Semitism that explains much global criticism of Israel. Such anti-Semitism, once a feature of both Afrikaner nationalism and British imperialism in South Africa, must not be allowed to take root in our country again. Yet too often in recent years both ANC and government leaders have made slurs against South Africa's Jewish population that sail too close to an anti-Semitic wind.

In 2009, for instance, South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister, Fatima Hajaig, told ‘a deliriously cheering crowd' that the West was ‘in the grip of Jewish money'. This, as David Saks rightly commented in the Mail & Guardian, amounted to ‘Jew baiting'. In 2013 a particularly offensive incident occurred during the performance of an Israeli musician at Wits University, when protestors aligned to South Africa's Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel screamed slogans such as ‘kill the Jew' at concert goers.

No serious condemnation from the ANC or the Government - which support the boycott movement - was forthcoming. What should have been nipped in the bud has continued as late as this year when the ANC leader in the Western Cape, Mr Marius Fransman, (at the time also deputy foreign minister) suggested that the opposition Democratic Alliance government in the Western Cape was favoring Jews over Muslims in that province. The ANC's comments last week - that Israel is akin to a Nazi-state - should be considered in this context.

The pity is that given our own difficult political history, South Africa should be well poised to help broker resolutions to flashpoints such as Gaza. But when leading commentators and politicians instead engage in slurs and encourage boycotts and the isolation of Israel, we deny ourselves the chance to play any constructive role.

A far better approach would be to revise South Africa's foreign policy on Israel towards one of constructive engagement that looks for areas of common interest and understanding that could help bring the warring parties together. Israel might then find the South African government, given its close historical ties with the Palestinian movement, a particularly useful peace-broker. For our own part there is an extraordinary amount that South African policy makers could learn from Israel in areas ranging from water-policy and agriculture to the creation and incubation of a high-tech industrial sector.

Instead, the partisan tone of the current invective and debate in South Africa seems designed to inflame tensions and drive people apart. It provides yet another unfortunate example of how South Africa is throwing away any pretense at being a serious player in global foreign affairs.

Frans Cronje is CEO of the Institute for Race Relations.

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