On Yom Kippur last week, a member of our community, Rodney Plett, hurled racist abuse at Abdur Rahmaan Aziz on a street in Norwood, some of it outside a synagogue.
The video is painful to watch. No South African should ever speak that way. No one should have to be spoken to in that way.
It is never easy to criticise a member of one’s own community in public.
Nevertheless, last week the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) took that step, as did Chabad of Norwood, because our condemnation of this racist language needed to be voiced.
We were contacted by many members of our community who were appalled by what they saw. It was evident that these views do not reflect the attitudes and values of our community.
I set this out first because it matters and because Ebrahim Fakir’s column, “Sorry: The easiest word” (Mail & Guardian, 25 September), is a mischievous and defamatory response to the statements made by the SAJBD.
Early in his column, Fakir writes that the assailant’s conduct “cannot reasonably be imputed to an entire community”.
He then spends most of the column doing exactly that.
Plett’s views, we are told, must come from somewhere. In determining the “somewhere”, he targets blame on the “Zionist community”; its educational, cultural and political spaces; and ultimately the
SAJBD itself, which he accuses of crafting the narratives that dehumanise Muslims.
The libellous statement has no basis in reality. On the contrary this could not be further from the truth, as the SAJBD has frequently called out Islamophobia, racism and all types of hate, including recently in condemning the online abuse and Islamophobic smears directed at Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Yusuf Cassim.
Fakir fails to cite as proof any SAJBD statement, school lesson or programme. The only evidence offered is the incident itself, used to prove its own cause. Blaming any collective for the wrongdoing of one individual is blatant bigotry. The Board condemned the individual. That is the correct response to one person’s hate speech. It is not a confession of collective guilt and to imply that is libelous.
Fakir then goes further.
He presents one man’s outburst as the actualisation of a deep-seated supremacy and impunity, supposedly bred by Zionism and Zionist theory.
This argument is nonsensical and offensive.
Zionism is the movement for the self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland. Around 96% of South African Jews feel a connection to Israel and, for most of us, Zionism is simply part of what it means to be Jewish.
To claim that an individual’s racist rant in Norwood reveals the hidden essence of that belief is not analysis. It is caricature aimed at delegitimising and demonising the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community.
SA Jewry, like every South African community, has a constitutional right to freedom of belief and association.
We are told, too, that calling the incident isolated is a “cowardly script”. But “isolated” is a statement of fact.
If Jewish South Africans were regularly threatening Muslims in public, there would be a pattern of incidents to point to. The column points to none.
The Board, it seems, is condemned whatever it does. Had we been silent, we would have been accused of condoning the assailant. Having spoken, we are accused of admitting responsibility.
Nor does the column acknowledge the hate that Jewish South Africans have themselves endured in our country over the past three years, with an escalation of incidents targeting our community.
As an example, the Cape Town Ulama Board posted a graphic of a shoe crushing a cockroach with a Star of David on its back. By any imagining, this is hate speech.
Depicting Jews as vermin to be stamped out was the stock-in-trade of Nazi propaganda and calling a people cockroaches was the language that preceded the genocide in Rwanda. This was published by an Islamic organisation in Cape Town.
Not one Muslim organisation in this country voiced their objection nor expressed any outrage.Likewise, when a rabbi in Johannesburg was assaulted by two Muslim males, and swastikkas were used in demonstrations outside Cape Union Mart, we did not hear any condemnation from Muslim leadership.
We do not hold Muslim South Africans responsible for that image of a cockroach or for the acts of a few rogue individuals, any more than Jewish South Africans should be held responsible for the assailant’s words.
But when one of our own crossed the line, we said so publicly.
Jewish and Muslim South Africans have lived as neighbours in this country for generations and have warm business, professional and other relations.
For almost two decades, we have worked alongside other faith communities to confront xenophobia, most recently at the Presidency’s meeting with faith leaders only three months ago.
Our Constitution promises every one of us equal dignity, whatever our faith.
The true South African spirit of reconciliation was shown by the rabbinic leader of the Chabad of Norwood community, Rabbi Rodal, who, after this upsetting incident, immediately reached out to Aziz.
Additionally, in a letter sent to his community he stated: “Chabad of Norwood is committed to fostering a community built on dignity, respect and mutual understanding.
“We value the multicultural character of Norwood and believe that people of every background deserve to feel safe, respected and welcome.
“We appeal to all the communities in Norwood to not allow this unfortunate incident to divide us.
“The words and actions of one individual do not define the values of our congregation or the community we strive to be.
“Instead, we hope that we can use this painful incident as an opportunity to build bridges, strengthen relationships and deepen our understanding and respect for one another.”
It is so unfortunate that in contrast to these sentiments, Fakir chooses to exploit this incident to fragment Johannesburg society by demonising one of its minority communities.
Wendy Kahn is the national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies