Western Cape ANC chief calls for a review of relations with Israel
The ANC in the Western Cape has denounced Israeli ambassador Arthur Lenk for what it calls his unheard of "attack’ on the governing party
A war of words has erupted between the ANC and Israel’s embassy in SA with the party in the Western Cape calling on the government to review trade, immigration and diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. This was after Israeli ambassador Arthur Lenk said the ANC’s "aggressive anti-Israel statements and bias have separated it from the positions of a vast majority of African states and the views of millions of South Africans". The embassy issued his statement amid an uproar over DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s visit to Israel. The embassy said the ANC used anti-Semitic language "beyond the pale in the 21st century". "In the past it has used horrific Holocaust imagery to attack Israel. This time it talks of political parties being ‘funded and controlled’ by supporters of Israel, using the oldest and ugliest tropes about Jews in politics." ANC Western Cape provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said it was unheard of for a foreign representative, a guest of SA’s government, "to attack the gove...
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