Barring of antisemitic film a victory against dangerous hate speech

More than three years after the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) lodged a complaint against the antisemitic film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, the Film and Publication Board (FPB) decision to refuse it classification has been formally gazetted, bringing the lengthy process to a successful end. 

The decision means that the film cannot legally be screened or distributed in South Africa, including online. Though widely described as a “ban”, the SAJBD stressed that the correct legal terminology is “refused classification”, a decision first communicated in December 2025 and now finalised through its publication in the Government Gazette. 

Makhosazana Lindhorst, acting chief executive of the FPB, outlines the reasons for the decision in the Gazette. “The film’s assertion that the Holocaust is a ‘falsehood’ is a direct advocacy of hatred based on identifiable group characteristics, serving to trivialise immense suffering and perpetuate antisemitism,” she says. 

“The explicit text comparing Jews to ‘parasites among the nations’ is an egregious act of dehumanisation. This language has a well-documented history of justifying discrimination, violence, and genocide, clearly demonstrating hatred,” she continues. “The film posits ‘five major falsehoods’ aimed at concealing Jewish ‘nature’ and protecting their ‘status and power’, inherently promoting antisemitic tropes.” 

The SAJBD was alerted to Hebrews to Negroes in June 2023 when it was screened at the Soweto Theatre. The Board was alerted by its counterparts in the United States, where the film’s producers live. They have been involved in distributing anti-Jewish conspiracies, films, and social media for many years. 

The 2018 film, directed, written, and produced by Ronald Dalton Jr, promotes the belief that some people of colour, including black Americans, are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites. One of its core ideas is that the Jews of today aren’t Jews but have culturally appropriated the religious heritage of black people and covered it up. 

The film includes claims of an international Jewish conspiracy that aims to oppress and defraud black people. It quotes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Henry Ford’s The International Jew; conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, and quotes attributed to Adolf Hitler that appear to be fabricated. 

“The frequent and unmitigated use of racial slurs such as ‘Negro’, ‘Kaffir’, and ‘Coolie’ constitutes hate speech,” says Lindhorst in the Gazette. “The content, as presented, incites hatred and spreads dangerous misinformation, failing to provide the objective and informed perspective required for a bona fide documentary. Acknowledging that a bona fide documentary must adhere to historical accuracy, by denying the Holocaust, the film fundamentally fails this criterion.” 

For the SAJBD, which pursued the matter for more than three years, the gazetted notice matters not only for the film itself, but for what it says about the limits of freedom of expression in South Africa. 

“The FPB has refused classification of the film. This decision makes it clear that freedom of expression cannot be used as a cover to vilify and spread hatred against an entire community based on their identity and beliefs,” said Wendy Kahn, national director of the SAJBD. 

“This outcome is an encouraging demonstration that South Africa’s regulatory bodies, established to prevent free speech from crossing into hate speech, are effectively carrying out their mandate. In doing so, they are upholding the constitutional rights to dignity and equality that belong to every South African. Although these processes take time, the SAJBD persists and ensures that issues of this nature are resolved,” she said. 

The SAJBD presented its case against the film to the FPB in June 2024, with Dalton Jr appearing to defend it. The FPB subsequently upheld the complaint and refused the film classification. 

Now that the decision has been gazetted, knowingly broadcasting, distributing, publicly exhibiting, selling, hiring out, or advertising the film constitutes an offence, carrying a possible fine of as much as R500 000, five years’ imprisonment, or both. 

“It is heartening to know that there are limits to speech in our country, and when it crosses into hate speech and the impugning of the dignity of a community, or is incitement to violence, this is not permitted,” said Kahn. 

She explained that this is momentous because it can set a precedent for other antisemitic films. 

“Freedom of speech is an important constitutional right in our country. However, there is no absolute freedom of speech, and when it crosses into hate speech, it becomes prohibited. The SAJBD has successfully lodged several hate speech cases with the SA Human Rights Commission, the Equality Court, and now the FPB. Our intention is never to curb free speech, but rather to protect our community against material or speech that infringes on our right to dignity and incites violence,” she said.