DIRCO Minister Pandor places Palestinian agenda over interests of South Africans
27 July 2022
The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) is outraged at the speech DIRCO (Department of International Relations and Cooperation) Minister Naledi Pandor made at the Palestinian African Heads of Mission in Africa conference, yesterday (26 July 2022).
Minister Pandor, garbed with a Keffiyeh usually worn by activists who call for the destruction of Israel, used her international platform to divert and deflect from South Africa’s numerous domestic and international failures, including its support for Russia in its horrific war on Ukraine, in order to bash Israel. Pandor, who seems to have free rein to obsess about her personal vendettas, gave a speech that places South Africa at odds with the United States, the free world and the African Union.
Pandor called the concerns that South African citizens have unwittingly spent millions of rands propping up the Palestinian embassy in Pretoria for decades as ‘selfish nationalism’. Extraordinary. Whilst she closes South African Embassies around the world, she squanders funds on a Palestinian embassy that does nothing to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans (nor Palestinians we might add). Minister Pandor must explain why taxpayers’ money is being wasted on a failing embassy that pushes an antisemitic BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) agenda, which is out of line with the South African foreign policy.
In her speech, Pandor positioned criticism of South Africa's stance as being ‘false calls of antisemitism’. It is interesting how she has appointed herself an arbiter of what constitutes antisemitism over groups dealing with this issue on a regular basis. She continues to refuse to engage and pursues the biased approach that South Africa is taking in the Middle East.