Is Zionism growing in South Africa?

NEWS ANALYSIS

What does it mean to be a Zionist? Is Zionism growing in South Africa? These are precarious questions in 2024. 

Israel’s invasion of Gaza, launched after the Hamas attack on civilians last October in which more than 1  100 people died and about 240 were taken hostage, has now raged for eight months. Nearly 40 000 people have died in Gaza and tens of thousands of others have been displaced. 

Much of the international community has condemned the excessive force exercised in civilian-dense areas. This includes South Africa, which has asked the International Court of Justice to declare the conflict a genocide.

But on South African soil, opinion is never unanimous. What it means to be Zionist, and the movement’s conflation with other ideologies, has become the source of much ill-tempered debate. 

Many who are sympathetic to the Israeli cause argue that a majority of the Jewish community now identifies as Zionist; they also frequently view Zionist criticism as synonymous with antisemitism. 

But other Jewish people are quick to highlight that there is a distinction and that their religion does not tie them to an allegiance with Tel Aviv.

The World Zionist Organisation, established by Theodor Herzl in 1897, defined Zionism as an ideology or political movement aimed at establishing “a national home for the Jewish people secured by public law”.

In his diaries, Herzl — known as the father of Zionism — mused about possible places a Jewish state could take shape. This homeland would be outside Europe, potentially in Latin America. But by 1904, Herzl began to focus on what he believed was the Promised Land or Eretz Yisrael from God to Abraham and his descendants. 

“It is difficult to conduct statistics on Zionists anywhere in the world, not because the ideology has infiltrated to various parts of the world but merely for the fact that it is often mixed with Judaism, the religion,” said University of Witwatersrand head of history research Professor Noor Nieftagodien. 

The South African Zionist Federation has refuted that Zionism is not growing internationally, adding that support and sympathy for the ideology in South Africa has grown. 

“We have received an immense show of support over the past few months [and] it has always been our sense that most South Africans support Israel’s right to exist,” 

said the federation’s spokesperson, Rolene Marks. 

According to the Kaplan Centre of Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town, 96% of South African Jewry have some connection to Israel, and the vast majority of the population identifies as Zionist.

In an opinion piece published in the Mail & Guardian, deputy director Charisse Zeifert and analyst Adam Charnas at the South African Jewish Board of Deputies wrote: “We are proud to be Zionists. We are, however, bemused by the tokenism of a few ‘good’ Jews, who do not speak in our name.” 

The governing ANC has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white dominance, which restricted most black people to “homelands” until 1994.

In this strategic drive, to strengthen ties with Africa, Israel claimed kinship based on a shared history of suffering. 

In 2017, at a summit with the Economic Community of West African States in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of “a natural affinity” between Israel and Africa, because “[w]e have, in many ways, similar histories. Your nations toiled under foreign rule. You experienced horrific wars and slaughters. This is very much our history.”

In a research study, titled Christianity in Africa: The Cost of Loyalty to Zionism, Marthie Momberg responds to Netanyahu: “One cannot assume that former experiences of injustice guarantee a shared future agenda or values between parties.” 

Africa4Palestine director Muhammed Desai said the idea that Zionism is growing is rooted in its propaganda and based on the relations Israel has with the West. 

“If we see the energy that South Africans have for Palestine, how is there an idea that Zionism is on the rise in South Africa and with the country’s history, I strongly doubt that South Africans will stand for oppression,” Desai said. 

Despite the government’s stance on Israel and Palestine, there have been opposing views to International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor’s decision to cut ties with Tel Aviv. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has repeatedly criticised the government for supporting Palestine and recalling its diplomats. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African Christian Democratic Party have shared similar sentiments to the DA. The IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa told parliament that recalling the ambassador would lead to regressive diplomacy. 

Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie also distanced himself from a working relationship with the ANC in Johannesburg over the ruling party’s favour of Palestine.

But Ahmed Haroon Jazbhay, an executive member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network, said there is an “assertion that the Zionist entity is a settler colonial project”.

Solidarity with the Zionist cause is not only limited to perceptions of Jewish orthodoxy. 

Recently, 14 members of the Shembe Church, also known as the Nazareth Baptist Church of South Africa or iBandla lamaNazaretha, visited Israel to show solidarity with the Jewish state. 

“We’re here to say, ‘Not in our name as South Africans.’ We must make it clear that Israel isn’t an apartheid state,” Bishop Nkosi Phakama Shembe said at a prayer meeting organised by South African Friends of Israel earlier this year. 

The church claims to have eight million followers, mainly from KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. 

Nieftagodien, however, warns that organisations or institutions make remarks supporting Zionism while not understanding its deeper meaning and its values. 

“There is no one in particular but there is a lack of knowledge when it comes to people understanding what Zionism is and what that means in a South African context,” Nieftagodien said.

The South African Jews for a Free Palestine commended South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice. The organisation added that Zionists should be held accountable for the “evil” acts being committed against the Palestinian people. 

“The relentless visuals of watching the death, starvation and destruction meted out by Israel on a defenceless population locked into a concentration camp is unacceptable to most people with any humanity,” said the organisation’s Rina King.

The South African Jews for a Free Palestine said misinformation about Judaism and Zionism has led to every Jew being held accountable for acts of Zionism. 

 “Zionism is a Jewish ideology with the idea of a political project committed to an exclusively Jewish state and Zionism has necessitated displacing indigenous Palestinian people,” King said. 

According to a religious group of orthodox Jews, the Neturei Karta and Satmar Hasidism, Zionism is a violation of the will of God. The group believes that only God should reunite Jews in the Promised Land. 

King added: “Jewish people were wronged during the Holocaust, however Palestinians should not have been made to bear the brunt of Germany’s evils.”

About six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust and 250 000 were expelled from Germany under the Nazi regime during World War II.

In December, Pandor announced that South Africans are expressly forbidden from joining the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) under the Regulation of the Foreign Military Assistance Act 15 of 1998. 

Any person who joins the IDF can be prosecuted for fighting in a war that South Africa does not support.

Pandor’s move was criticised by Jewish organisations, who said the minister’s threats “aren’t credible”.

While the National Prosecuting Authority has not succeeded in prosecuting people who have joined foreign military forces, the government has forbidden its citizens from participating in any foreign armed forces. 

In 2015, about 100 former South African soldiers reportedly left to train the Nigerian military to combat Boko Haram. The then defence minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, reportedly called for their arrest upon their return to South Africa. Information on whether these arrests and prosecutions took place is not readily accessible.

While the number of South Africa’s Zionist population remains unknown, the Lemba, who live in South Africa Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, have long held that they are Jews by descent, cultural anthropologist Noah Tamarkin wrote in The Conversation.

But the Lemba have not expressed affiliation with the Zionist community in South Africa. 

Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) leader Julius Malema, who identifies as a Lemba, has for years voiced his support for the Palestinian state but he differentiates between Jews and Israel. 

“When we say ‘Israel’ we’re referring to the state of Israel, not Jews. There are a lot of progressive Jewish people, so we must never use the EFF stance on Israel to perpetuate hatred for the Jewish community,” he said. 

To move ahead, Nieftagodien suggests dismantling Zionism in all its forms.

“The only solution would be to dismantle Zionism and only then can Palestinians and Jews think of living together as equal members of one political community,” he said.