LETTER: SA wrong to condemn Israel over Gaza attacks

The SA government has jumped on the opportunity to bash Israel for doing what any responsible country would do to protect its citizens against senseless terror and violence. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an Iranian-proxy operating in Gaza and the West Bank, has been responsible for horrific terror attacks and  murders of hundreds of innocent Israeli citizens over several decades, including killing innocent Jews and Arabs at restaurants, buses, markets and other non-military targets.

The PIJ has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, EU, Japan, the UK and others for these unspeakable atrocities. Israel has taken action in the past week to prevent PIJ from carrying out further barbarous acts. It has a moral obligation to defend and protect Israeli citizens against violence, and the SA government should be commending Israel for acting with utmost restraint and caution to save lives inside the country, as well as minimising Palestinian civilian casualties. Instead, the SA government is predictably taking the wrong side in this conflict by deliberately misconstruing the situation so as to pander and signal to anti-Western sentiments that place our country at odds with the modern world.

Not one word has been said by SA to condemn the PIJ’s double war crimes it commits each time it fires rockets and mortars from civilian areas in Gaza towards civilians in Israel. The SA government deliberately ignores the fact that a high percentage of rockets fired by the PIJ are failing on launch, landing in Palestinian areas and killing innocent Palestinians, including children. All loss of innocent lives should be prevented and mourned, but SA does this only when it is convenient to blame the Jewish state. 

We call on the SA government to clarify to the world why it is taking the side of an international pariah organisation responsible for the killings of innocents over a highly responsible and restrained foreign government. We note that not one word of condemnation has been said by our government condemning the brutal war of Russia on Ukraine, nor on numerous other international conflicts. All the opprobrium is singularly reserved for the small state of Israel. Rather than issuing condemnatory international statements, our government should focus on addressing its own domestic failures, including lack of basic care services to millions of destitute South Africans living in poverty, poor sanitation, crime, lack of food, water, housing, electricity, medical services or employment opportunities. 

The SA Zionist Federation hopes that calm will be restored as soon as possible and that the Palestinian leadership realises that Israel is here to stay, and the solution will not be found in militancy and terror. 

Rolene Marks
Spokesperson, SA Zionist Federation

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