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Derogatory words are increasingly being used in the media and private conversations in SA to describe the governing ANC. Recent events have introduced a new one: hypocritical.
We are all entitled to our views. However, whatever our perspectives on the ghastly situation playing out in the complex Israel-Palestine tragedy, the ANC government’s stance has been embarrassingly inconsistent.
It laid charges of crimes against humanity against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the International Criminal Court, and yet is silent when it comes to crimes against humanity committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
In both instances innocent women and children have been slaughtered. President Cyril Ramaphosa and his colleagues have rightly conveyed their sympathies to the Palestinian people. But other than passingly acknowledging the Hamas atrocities of October 7 they have not publicly conveyed sympathies to families of the Israelis who were butchered, or those who were kidnapped by Hamas.
The Israeli ambassador was summoned by the international relations minister and demarched, a most serious dressing down by diplomatic standards. Yet the Russian ambassador is not censured for his country’s sickening carnage in Ukraine. The Russian embassy remains open, while the ANC demands that the Israeli embassy is closed.
Our president says what is happening in Israel should not divide South Africans. Yet we have him publicly wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh to show his loyalties, and minister Naledi Pandor phoning Hamas and cosying up with international terror sponsor Iran.
A few months ago our president stated emphatically that SA is a nonaligned nation, and that we have no enemies. Such double standards in managing our international relationships are embarrassing.And hypocritical.
Trevor Munday Via email
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Hypocritical foreign policy
Derogatory words are increasingly being used in the media and private conversations in SA to describe the governing ANC. Recent events have introduced a new one: hypocritical.
We are all entitled to our views. However, whatever our perspectives on the ghastly situation playing out in the complex Israel-Palestine tragedy, the ANC government’s stance has been embarrassingly inconsistent.
It laid charges of crimes against humanity against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the International Criminal Court, and yet is silent when it comes to crimes against humanity committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
In both instances innocent women and children have been slaughtered. President Cyril Ramaphosa and his colleagues have rightly conveyed their sympathies to the Palestinian people. But other than passingly acknowledging the Hamas atrocities of October 7 they have not publicly conveyed sympathies to families of the Israelis who were butchered, or those who were kidnapped by Hamas.
The Israeli ambassador was summoned by the international relations minister and demarched, a most serious dressing down by diplomatic standards. Yet the Russian ambassador is not censured for his country’s sickening carnage in Ukraine. The Russian embassy remains open, while the ANC demands that the Israeli embassy is closed.
Our president says what is happening in Israel should not divide South Africans. Yet we have him publicly wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh to show his loyalties, and minister Naledi Pandor phoning Hamas and cosying up with international terror sponsor Iran.
A few months ago our president stated emphatically that SA is a nonaligned nation, and that we have no enemies. Such double standards in managing our international relationships are embarrassing. And hypocritical.
Trevor Munday
Via email
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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