SPONSORED FEATURE
THE SA JEWISH BOARD OF DEPUTIES
BDS anti- Semitism
Actions speak louder than words, and in the
case of the BDS, its conduct flies in the face of
the South African Constitution
BY WENDY KAHN
BDS PROTESTS ISRAELI
MUSICIANS AT WITS
BDS HOSTS IAW
PROTESTERS SING
WITS JEWISH STUDENTS
CALLED F***ING JEWS
AND F***ING KIKES
BDS WOOLWORTHS CAMPAIGN
BDS HOSTS LEILA
PIGS HEAD PUT
CALLS TO DEREGISTER
ON KOSHER SHELF
“BDS IS A NON-VIOLENT MOVEMENT AND STRONGLY
condemns all forms of racism, including Zionism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”
We see this mantra being trotted out by BDS
SA every time its campaigns result in antiJewish behaviour. It repeats this refrain in
all its press statements and communications. It seems like it’s becoming a case of
Hamlet’s “the lady doth protest too much”.
It’s probably better to ignore the empty
platitudes and look rather at BDS’s behaviour and track record. The evidence does
not support its desperately held belief
that it is a “human rights organisation”.
In February this year, BDS hosted convicted plane hijacker and politburo member
of the terror organisation the Peoples Front
for the Liberation of Palestine, Leila Khaled,
at the Durban University of Technology
(DUT). Khaled’s speech was riddled with the
usual anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, and I
do not find it surprising that her words at
32 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 82
KHALED AT DUT
JEWS FROM DUT
I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND HOW HATRED OF JEWISH PEOPLE
IN SOUTH AFRICA CAN BRING A RESOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT
BETWEEN THE ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS.
this BDS event evolved into a frightening
call by the university’s SRC for Jewish students to be deregistered from DUT. There is
no coincidence that BDS’s hosting of Khaled
at DUT and the calls to expel Jews from the
campus occurred simultaneously.
The SRC’s fumbling attempt to extricate it
from this anti-Semitic call further exacerbated the situation, as it tried to include
other religious groups into its list of banned
students. Anyone who has a relationship
with Israel should be removed from the
campus. Clearly, a copy of South Africa’s
Constitution should be donated to the DUT
library, so the students will be aware of
Chapter 2 of the Bill of Rights, which guar-
Last year, BDS arranged lynch mobs
around the country targeting Woolworths’
stores. Its protests led to horrific intimidation and threats against shoppers and store
attendants who refused to succumb to its
narrow political views. The BDS campaign
eventually saw a pig’s head being placed on
what was presumed to be a kosher meat
shelf in a Sea Point Woolworths.
I fail to understand how hatred of Jewish people in South Africa can bring a resolution to the conflict between the Israelis
and Palestinians. All BDS is really accomplishing is creating a climate of hostility
against South African citizens who choose
not to share its political stance. JL
PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED
‘SHOOT THE JEW’
antees all South Africans: “Freedom of religion, belief and opinion”, “freedom of expression” and “freedom of association”. Not
surprisingly, these are not tenets they would
have learned from a BDS-organised event.
Unfortunately, it seems this is just one
element of a pattern that is emerging with
BDS campaigns.
In 2013, BDS organised a protest against
a visiting Israeli jazz quartet being hosted
by Wits University. Outside, the protesters
sang ‘dubula e juda’ – ‘shoot the Jew’. BDS
coordinator Mohammed Desai vehemently
defended the singing of this inciting song.
His justification and BDS’s refusal to take
action against him reinforced the organisation’s stance on anti-Semitism.
That same year, BDS organised its annual ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ on campuses
around the country. Again, its hostile
campaign degenerated into numerous incidents of blatant anti-Semitism, including Jewish students on the Wits Library
lawns being called, ‘F-ing Jews’ and ‘F-ing
Kikes’. It is noteworthy that these hideous
manifestations of Jew hatred are observed
during BDS’s annual anti-Israel week.