South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) chairperson Avrom Krengel has been accused of being “disingenuous” in his attempt to distance the federation from a petition calling for Archbishop Desmond Tutu to be removed as a patron of the South African Holocaust Foundation.
The demand was made in an online petition by SAZF vice-chair David Hersch, Joselle Reuben and Howard Joffe, in response to Tutu’s call last year for the Cape Town Opera Company to withdraw from planned performances in Israel. The petition accused Tutu of making anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements over two decades.
In a statement on Thursday Krengel said the petition was launched “by certain individuals without prior consultation or approval of the SAZF and represents their personal views”.
However, Nathan Geffen, speaking on behalf of Open Shuhada Street, an organisation formed in solidarity with Palestinians and which includes many prominent South African Jews, said Krengel had identified with the views of the anti-Tutu petitioners in a message last year titled, “The Future of South Africa”, in which he wrote: “Tutu’s continued office as a patron clearly needs to be reassessed and addressed by his fellow patrons of the foundation.” In the light of this, Krengel’s move to distance the SAZF from the petition was “disingenuous”. By late yesterday the anti-Tutu petition had garnered 301 signatures. A counter-petition has drawn 2 500.
Reacting, Krengel said Tutu had made many statements about Israel that were hurtful to Jews. However, his role as foundation patron was an issue for the foundation itself.
“Foundation chair Mervyn Smith has said he is seeking a meeting with the archbishop. We respect their autonomy to address the issue,” he said.