Some weeks ago Moira Levy, a former Idasa employee, renounced her Jewish roots in response to Israel's alleged ill-treatment of its African immigrants. As is customary, the self righteous Left vociferously joined the chorus condemning Israel.
Embarrassingly, last week's Sunday Times reported a litany of alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by Bosasa, a private security firm, against refugees at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Gauteng. The litany includes a poor diet, bug-infested rooms, lack of soap and toilet paper, beatings, racism, cramped sleeping conditions, and even deaths.
Lawyers for Human Rights claim that they tackle about ten cases of violations a week while about 30 cases are on the court roll every week. Many detainees have allegedly been held for more than the prescribed period; and apparently Home Affairs is deporting people who are already on the system.
The point is this. The Left is quick to condemn Israel, when matters at home should shame us into silence. SA supports dictator, Robert Mugabe, who drove more than 3 million Zimbabweans out of his country. Destitute and jobless, Zimbabweans are spread around the world seeking better fortunes elsewhere. Swazi King Mswati with his Bentleys and Rolls Royces is bankrolled by the South African taxpayer and in addition, these dictatorships enjoy electricity supplies from Eskom because they cannot supply it themselves.
As the epicentre of the HIV/AIDS pandemic we have much to be humble about, not to speak of the recent the Marikana massacre. While we nestle in the bosom of China with its history of human rights abuse and occupation, we dare to condemn a country that has made numerous attempts to meet its opponent half way. Instead of using our expertise at political negotiations to help Israel and the Palestinian territories sort out its deadlock, Israeli-bashing has become nothing but a euphemism for anti-semitism.
Hundreds of refugees are pouring across Israel's borders seeking refuge from the tyrants SA supports. Around 60 000 Africans live there illegally and in contrast to SA, the Israeli government has offered those who agree to leave voluntarily, a free airline ticket and a grant of 1,000 euros. We fail to understand that every country has immigration and refugee challenges. The question is: how are these resolved? Here our self-appointed watchdogs single out Israel for condemnation while Middle Eastern despots ruthlessly crush democratic uprisings, butcher their own people, and violate the human rights of protesters, the rights of women, gays, and Christians and send waves of émigrés across their borders.
That SA refuses to understand this and continues to single out Israel for criticism shows what a two-faced lot we are. Bashing Israel has become a self-promotion industry and the disinvestment campaign is its marketing tool. We should be attracting Israelis to our shores as the ideal foreign direct investment destination for Israelis.
With its huge growth potential and features that set it apart from other African countries, SA's large Jewish community with its numerous Jewish institutions and a rich cultural life has a vested interest in maintaining cordial relations between the two states.
The book, Start-Up Nation, reveals that the per-capita venture-capital investment in Israel is 2.5 times that in the U.S and 30 times that in Europe. Israel attracts as much venture capital as Britain, France and Germany combined and it has more companies listed on Nasdaq than any other country outside the US and its economic growth has been faster than the average for developed economies in most years since 1995. Between 1980 and 2000, 7652 patents were registered in the U.S. from Israel.
Is this penis envy or what?
This article first appeared in Die Burger
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