Response to the Chief Rabbi's statements on the ANC's position on Palestine

14 July 2014

We are appalled by the one sided and blinkered response of Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein to the ANC Deputy Secretary General, Jessie Duarte's, statement on the Gaza attacks (see Sunday Independent report).

The ANC's unequivocal stance in the Palestinian crisis is consistent with the global outpouring of anger and a desire to see an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.

One would have expected a more sober and calming response from a man of the cloth. The Chief Rabbi's response, together with that of the myriad of Zionist lobby groups in South Africa, deflects from the real issues at stake in this conflict, namely: the rights of the Palestinian people to national self-determination; the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands; the indiscriminate targeting of civilians - particularly women, children, the aged and the disabled; and the flagrant disregard of international law and international humanitarian law.

The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation condemns the attempt to personalise this matter by targeting the ANC's Deputy Secretary General, and the alleged threats by the "Chief Rabbi" against the Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Obed Bapela. Deputy Minister Bapela reported at a solidarity rally in Lenasia on Sunday that the Chief Rabbi had called him after the release of the ANC statement and asked him to disassociate himself from the statement and further demanded that it be removed from the website of the ANC. When Deputy Minister Bapela indicated that this would not be done, it's was reported that the Chief Rabbi indicated that there would be "consequences" for the ANC.

While we deplore the loss of all life, be it Palestinian or Jewish, we cannot turn a blind eye to the stance taken by the Chief Rabbi. The report of the Deputy Minister on the conduct of the Chief Rabbi is particularly worrisome for the Foundation.

 The crisis in Palestine will not be hidden away from the South African public through such crude attempts at curbing the expression of views that are not the liking of the Chief Rabbi and others.

Statement issued by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation @KathradaFound, July 15 2014

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