DA leader Mmusi Maimane. (Troy Enekvist/M&G)
The Democratic Alliance, in its explanation of Mmusi Maimane’s photo-op with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, says its leader’s trip to Israel was meant to educate the party about the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Maimane’s spokesperson, Mabine Seabe, piously told radio host Redi Tlabi that the DA could not rely on media reports alone to understand the conflict. One might respond that the DA could also consult the history books, the resolutions of the United Nations and so forth.
The DA could also study some public relations.
This is not the first visit to Israel by DA MPs in the guise of fact-finding to inform DA policy. In 2015, DA MP Yusuf Cassim visited Israel with a cohort of other MPs on a “study tour”. At the time, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that the Israeli embassy in Pretoria had written to Israeli airport officials to treat “Cassim in a way that will leave a good impression and preserve the good relations between the DA and Israel”.
But the letter was not enough. Cassim got stuck at a checkpoint and had to call the Israeli ambassador back home to ease him through it. This should have been a reminder of the reality for people not under the special protection of the Israeli government.
Now, as the DA rushes to argue that it had also planned to meet members of the Palestinian Authority, as well as meeting with the Israeli prime minister, the DA’s diplomatic ineptitude is clear. What does it teach them about the conflict to pose for pictures with Netanyahu?
Maimane’s trip to Israel shows that, without the spectre of a corrupt ANC to pit itself against, the DA struggles to define itself. It looks mercenary, not the principled party of liberal democracy.
Furthermore, the debacle shows it’s not just ANC factions that are prone to capture. The DA, too, seems to be struggling to withstand the influence of moneyed outsiders.