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Why Does The South African President Need An Enemy, And Why Israel?

Why Does The South African President Need An Enemy, And Why Israel?

South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane visited Israel and Palestine this week, triggering angry condemnation from the ruling ANC party which accused him of forging ties with a country that backed apartheid.

The charismatic leader of South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance party met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a private visit to Israel, just two days after South African President Jacob Zuma renewed his call to South Africans not to visit Israel, Jerusalem Post reported.

The ANC accused the DA of being on the wrong side of history, choosing the oppressors and not the oppressed.

In a statement, the ANC sought to distance itself from the DA, saying, “We, unlike the DA, call out Israel for its racism against African refugees, we condemn Israel’s apartheid policies and its violations of international law including building of illegal settlements and the inhumane Gaza siege.”

The DA’s official position on the Palestine-Israel question is that it supports a two-state solution and peaceful coexistence with Jerusalem as the shared capital, Jerusalem Post reported. It described visits to the region by party leaders as fact-finding missions.

At a Jan. 8 celebration of the ANC’s 105th anniversary in Soweto, Zuma discouraged South Africans from travelling to Israel and said the party supports the Palestinian demand for self-determination, Citizen.co.za reported.

Maimane said a “two-state solution is still what we must pursue,” and his trip was an effort to foster peace, The Citizen reported.

The ANC said it was aware of Maimane’s Israel trip, and suggested a rising chorus of voices against Israel. In its statement, the ANC said it was joining fellow South Africans in condemning the visit by the DA’s Maimane to Israel and to Israel’s prime minister.

“The ANC together with other progressive organizations and forces is not surprised by the DA’s visit to Israel and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the ANC statement said. “At a time when the world is increasingly standing up against Israel’s illegal settlements, including the United Nations Security Council, it is a pity that the DA is endorsing the Israeli regime instead of condemning its violations of international law.”

The ANC said it has the backing of the majority of South Africans, and will implement strict measures against countries violating international law and committing human rights abuses.

Zuma has endured overwhelming criticism from South Africans over charges of corruption and cronyism. Citizens voiced their displeasure at the polls in the August municipal elections.

Losing the Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan areas in the 2016 election means all major South African areas are now controlled by the opposition Democratic Alliance except for Durban, Bloemfontein and Kimberley, Media Alternatives reported:

It is a major upset for the ANC, a political movement which has ruled South Africa for the past two decades. Having once stood on the shoulders of giants such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu, the party is squandering its struggle legacy under Jacob Zuma.

The narrative of the “oppressed” is a safe place for Zuma, said columnist and author Howard Feldman in a News 24 report.

Jacob Zuma does not want South Africans to see a country that interrogates its prime minister for accepting cigars as gifts. He does not want you to see a country that jails its members of parliament for accepting bribes and corruption. So much more convenient it is for him to retreat to the narrative of the “oppressed”. Because that is the safe place where once, a long time ago, South Africa may have had the ability to show the world about transformation.

Israel has challenges. Major ones. And the solution is not visible and tangible. Her history is littered with the murder of her children and the tragic consequences that follow. Tokyo Sexwale spoke of the tears of Israelis and Palestinians being tears on the same face. Mmusi Maimane has chosen, like other leaders in the South African political arena, to go and see it himself.

The Democratic Alliance is trying to take South Africa back to its dark days of apartheid by forging relations with countries like Israel that supported the oppressive regime, said  pro-Palestinian group Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions, Citizen.co.za reported.

Maimane visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories to listen and learn about the conflict first hand, said DA spokeswoman Phumzile Van Damme in a Jerusalem Post report.

“He is there to discuss how South Africa should be playing a more constructive role in bringing the parties together for peace. He is also here, as a person of deep faith, to visit some of the most important holy places that are of spiritual meaning to him,“ she said.

Maimane met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Issac Herzog, leader of the opposition Zionist Union. A meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled, but cancelled, Van Damme said.

“Mr Maimane met with Palestinian officials in Ramallah and Rawabi, Palestinian human rights activists, as well as senior representatives of the Palestinian and Israeli business community to discuss how business and trade can be used to advance peace when politics is failing to make progress,” she said.

A two-state solution where Israel and Palestine exist side by side “is the position of the South African government as well as the United Nations,” Van Damme said.

Israeli treatment of immigrants

Approximately 27,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2016, a slight decrease from 2015, according to a joint report from the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Immigration Absorption, The Algemeiner reported.

However, immigration was up significantly from certain locations including from South Africa and Brazil. Russia continues to be a leading source of immigration to Israel, with 7,000 new arrivals in 2016.

Israel received 272 South African immigrants in 2016 compared to 236 in 2015, Jerusalem Post reported. By comparison, the U.S. sent 2,900 immigrants to Israel in 2016, Jerusalem Post reported.

At the end of 2013, 135,500 Israelis of Ethiopian origin were living in Israel. About 85,900 were born in Ethiopia while 49,600 were born in Israel, according to Jewish Virtual Library.

In May 2015, Ethiopian Israelis protested years of systemic racism by the government, AFKInsider reported.