South Africa’s Christians Rise Up Against Government’s Claim That Israel Has Committed ‘Genocide’
The government of South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, charging the Jewish state with “genocide” in Gaza. The charge is preposterous, and it will be seen to be so as the Israelis continue to lay out their defense. Meanwhile, 86% of South Africans are Christians; only 1.6% are Muslims.
The government’s decision to charge Israel at the ICJ with practicing “genocide” is wildly unpopular in the country.
And now the Christians have been speaking out, expressing their deep distress over the government’s grotesque attack on Israel. The fury over the government’s coming out so strongly, and unfairly, against the Jewish state, might even lead infuriated Christians to mount a political challenge to the ANC.
More on the Christians of South Africa rallying in support of Israel can be found here:
South African Christian leaders oppose ICJ charge: Cannot keep silent
by Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Jerusalem Post, January 10, 2024:
Christians throughout South Africa have risen against the government’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“The African National Congress government and their allies’ decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice has brought us to a place where, like the time of Queen Esther in the Bible, we cannot keep silent,” said Tshego Motaung, head of the Healing of the Nations prayer movement in an article published on the South African Christian website Gateway News. “We cannot keep silent when a government that has failed on its domestic mandate wants to rise as a hero in the global political arena.”…
The first argument made by these Christians is a moral one. Hamas committed unspeakable crimes on October 7, and Israel has a right, and a duty, to defend itself. Hamas wishes to destroy Israel, but Israel has no similar desire to annihilate Gaza. Israel is the victim, Hamas the criminal. The South African government has things backward.
The second argument is one based on the recognition that South Africa stands to benefit economically from good relations with Israel. The Jewish state is a world leader in water management — in desalination, drip irrigation, wastewater recycling, and production of water from the ambient air. It is a world leader, too, in solar energy, and could help South Africa, which gets 50% more exposure to the sun than the United States, increase its use of that renewable source of energy. Finally, Israel could help South Africa develop its own high-tech start-ups, another area where Israel is a world leader.
Third, unnamed “trading partners” of South Africa — presumably meaning the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the members of the E.U. — are likely to look askance at Pretoria for taking the side of Hamas, a group that is widely recognized as a terrorist organization. This may affect their willingness to continue to trade with South Africa, and to cause them, too, to refrain from closer political ties with a country that defends and endorses murderous terrorists.
They [South African Christians] also condemn the government for failing to condemn Hamas’s actions in Gaza.
This failure by their government to condemn Hamas’ atrocities on October 7, and its use of human shields in Gaza, and its kidnapping and cruel mistreatment of Israeli hostages, including children and the elderly, is to South Africa’s Christians inexplicable and insupportable. It has been more than 100 days since the atrocities committed on October 7, and still not a syllable of sympathy for Israelis has been forthcoming from Pretoria.
“Such actions could be interpreted as direct support to Hamas’s tactics, including using civilians as human shields and diverting aid for military purposes and the building of tunnels, rather than humanitarian relief sent to the Palestinian people, which Hamas intercepted,” the letter continued.
The letter from the Christian groups in South Africa notes that Hamas made a choice years ago: it chose to spend billions of aid dollars on its underground network of tunnels. The letter might have also noted that Hamas’ corruption is colossal, and that just three Hamas leaders — Khaled Meshaal, Mousa Abu Marzouk, and Ismail Haniyeh — have stolen a total of $11 billion from aid money meant for the people of Gaza. But that would be too dangerous a matter to raise, given that the ANC leaders are also, like those of Hamas, exceedingly corrupt, with President Ramaphosa alone now possessing about half a billion dollars.
AUTHOR
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The terrorists fled to the Hamas headquarters – the Air Force destroyed the Hamas headquarters pic.twitter.com/WosfzD7poO
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) January 13, 2024
EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
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