Brian Josselowitz
It’s a complete waste of money which could have been put to better use. All the advertisement does is preach to the converted and I doubt whether many people could be bothered to read that long screed of type. And as Sifrin rightly points out, the SA Zionist Federation has given the enemies of Israel and the Jews lots of ammunition to put across their vitriolic comment.
This is despite the Sunday Times’ statement that they do not publish letters or material that will stoke racial hatred. But watch the letters the “paper for the people” will publish this Sunday!
The SAZF lives in a world of its own, and yes, it takes up the cudgels against anti-Semitism and does its best to change people’s views of Israel by taking journalists (and others) on junkets to the Holy Land.
Trips like those do not change people’s opinions and if they do write anything positive, there is always a rider – and their views will be heavily sub-edited in the newsroom.
According to Sifrin the SA Friends of Israel, a Fed initiative, is planning to broaden the scope of the campaign; this will just be throwing good money after bad.
What the Fed needs is to utilise a professional public relation company to guide and give advice on how to polish Israel’s and by extension, the Fed’s image through the press, through well-considered opinion pieces and letters to the editor, apart from the media team’s excellent contribution.
There are some excellent Jewish PR agencies in Johannesburg who could do the job.
In the same issue of Jewish Report I note that the SAJB has invited President Jacob Zuma to be its guest of honour at its biennial conference in Johannesburg. To what end? This is the man who along with his colleagues, warmly embraced Hamas.
As long as people like Obed Bapela and International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who had a lot to say about dual citizenship and the Gaza conflict, are his advisers, he is certainly not going to say anything of substance. In fact he will most likely giggle and stumble his way through his speech, not even having the decency to read it beforehand.
Just another sign of disrespect he has for the nation at large.
Milnerton
