With the latest outburst of misinformation and blatant lies from Warren Goldstein, the Zionist chief rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues, we must take stock of the ongoing genocide still taking place in Gaza and the West Bank.
He mentioned nothing of this atrocity, a violation of international law perpetrated by Israel.
As I listened to the very political and passionate speech made by the religious leader, shared on his social media accounts, the chief rabbi seems hellbent on making overt political comments and accusations about how the South African government is treating Israel.
This person has been spreading anti-ANC propaganda since South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the charge of genocide.
He now takes umbrage with the expulsion of the Israeli chargé d’affaires by Pretoria and opted to spread falsehoods and lies about South Africa’s foreign policy choices. This is unacceptable.
This Zionist, who can see no wrong with the genocidal actions of Israel against the Palestinian people, must be called out.
He desperately attempted to suggest that the action against Israel is somewhat also action against Jews, thus yet again attempting to onvoke that old adage of anti-Semitism.
So pathetic in this day and age; nobody falls for that trick anymore, especially because it has been bastardised by Zionists. But most importantly, calling Israel out and showcasing this ongoing genocide does not constitute anti-Semitism. It’s facts.
The myth of our foreign policy being captured by Iran must equally be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
Where is the concrete evidence for this charge? Not innuendos and conspiracies.
Implying that because President Cyril Ramaphosa negotiated the MTN deal many years ago in Iran, he is somehow captured, is disgusting. It is as if to suggest that by you, chief rabbi, speaking in favour of Israel, you are captured. Ludicrous right?
We cannot allow this person to get away with such lies and misinformation. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation must respond harshly and with the facts of the genocide as upheld by the ICJ in its preliminary judgment.
This Zionist campaign must be exposed for what it is. The onslaught of the chief rabbi and the political campaign from the US are clearly coordinated.
The government says the pause in fighting does not erase what has already happened. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed, babies, children and women murdered by Israel; entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and humanitarian conditions in Gaza pushed to extreme.
According to Pretoria, a ceasefire does not cancel the need for legal accountability, especially when allegations involve violations of international law and possible acts of genocide.
I have to agree with one of my learned friends when he states: “The idea that foreign-aligned actors and local political adventurists may enter South Africa’s internal political space, posture as moral authorities, undermine elected institutions, and mobilise against constitutional order, without consequence.
“That is not solidarity. That is not leadership. That is interference and recklessness, and there has to be consequences.”
Furthermore, this principle of sovereignty is settled in international law, most notably the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), which makes three things clear:
• diplomatic actors must respect the host country’s laws;
• they must not interfere in internal political affairs;
• if they do, the host state may declare them persona non grata, without negotiation.
This is normal practice everywhere. It becomes controversial only when power expects exemption. Enforcement becomes “hostility” when Africans enforce it. South Africa has enforced diplomatic discipline before.
As many would recall, recently our own ambassador to the US was declared persona non grata for public political remarks. No one claimed America was undermining democracy. But when South Africa enforces the same rule, enforcement is labelled “hostility”.
What the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, plus national security minister Ben Gvir are doing to the Palestinians is nothing short of cruel and inhumane. History, the ICJ and the ICC will judge them harshly for this genocide.
• Dr Van Heerden is a senior research
fellow at the Centre for African Diplomacy and Leadership at UJ
