Al Jama-ah attacks Jewish Board over freedom of speech

Fringe anti-Israel political party Al Jama-ah accused the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) in Parliament on 4 March of curtailing freedom of speech.

Al Jama-ah’s parliamentary representative, Shameemah Salie, tabled a motion without notice, launching an attack on the Jewish community’s representative body.

She claimed that the SAJBD was targeting individuals at pro-Palestinian protests for expressing their views. She framed the protests as a necessary struggle against the “Zionist Israeli entity”, and accused the SAJBD of attempting to silence so-called “justice-loving citizens” who oppose what she called “genocide in Palestine”.

She attempted to portray the SAJBD as the aggressor, calling on Parliament to intervene against “groups who support apartheid and Zionism”.

Salie apparently did this in response to repeated calls by the Cape SAJBD and members of the public to the Cape Town mayor, city officials, and police, for stricter law enforcement with regard to the anti-Israel protests causing havoc in Sea Point.

Thousands of people signed a petition opposed to the intimidation tactics employed by protesters, who have turned the Sea Point promenade into a hotbed of harassment through verbal and physical assault and breaking other laws.

There has been an “alarming escalation” in aggression, said Daniel Bloch, the executive director of the Cape SAJBD, including the use of swastikas and rhetoric inciting violence against anyone who supports Israel.

At the recent protest on 22 February, protesters printed the names and faces of randomly-selected South African Jews onto “wanted” posters, demanding that they be arrested. A group of about 15 protesters allegedly assaulted a pedestrian, beating him with flagpoles while verbally abusing him.

“The Cape SAJBD recognises and respects the constitutional right to protest as long as these protests are peaceful and are free from hate speech and the incitement to violence,” said Bloch.

“Unfortunately, the recent demonstrations in Sea Point have increasingly crossed legal boundaries. We are investigating several incidents of alleged antisemitism, as well as physical assaults on pedestrians by members of the anti-Israel motorcade. We will continue to monitor things and take action when necessary.”

On the same day as the Al Jama-ah attack in the National Assembly, an article by Bloch was published in the Cape Jewish Chronicle, exposing the escalating violence and lawlessness at the Sea Point protests.

He detailed how, for the past 17 months, anti-Israel organisations, led by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions coalition, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, and others, have orchestrated repeated protests, motorcades, and demonstrations that have disrupted traffic, violated local by-laws, and led to harassment and the verbal abuse of pedestrians and motorists.

The Cape SAJBD, wrote Bloch, recently sent a formal letter to the mayor of Cape Town, the premier of the Western Cape, and the provincial commissioner of the South African Police Service urging them to take action to uphold the law and protect residents and visitors.

Bloch emphasised that though the Cape SAJBD respects the constitutional right to protest, these demonstrations have exceeded legal parameters. He highlighted repeated instances of motorcades blocking roads, causing excessive noise disturbance with loud hooting and smoke machines, and protesters verbally abusing and intimidating pedestrians and motorists. He further explained that during a motorcade protest on 9 February, a bystander was physically attacked by an aggressive group of demonstrators but was too afraid to press charges. In the same motorcade, several vehicles illegally stopped outside La Perla restaurant, where protesters left their cars to verbally assault patrons, a scene captured on video and widely circulated online. Given the escalating confrontations, Bloch said, the Cape SAJBD had requested that these protests and motorcades be halted entirely.

The SAJBD immediately condemned Al Jama-ah’s attack, exposing the party’s long history of anti-Jewish incitement and intimidation.

The Board rejected the accusation that it was curtailing freedom of speech, calling it “contemptible” and ironic, given that it was the anti-Israel lobby that continuously seeks to silence Jewish voices.

The Board pointed out that since 7 October 2023, the Jewish community had faced heightened violence and intimidation, and that the leader of Al Jama-ah, Ganief Hendricks, was a known supporter of Hamas who had relentlessly attacked Jewish communal organisations.

The SAJBD reaffirmed that South Africa is a democracy that enshrines freedom of expression and that the Jewish community won’t be bullied into silence. The Board also thanked the African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front +, and Democratic Alliance (DA) for rejecting what it described as a “libellous attack on the South African Jewish community’s elected representative body”.

DA Member of Parliament Michael Bagraim dismissed Al Jama-ah’s claims outright, ridiculing the party’s obsessive fixation on Israel. Bagraim noted that the 4 March debate in Parliament had nothing to do with Israel but was focused on United States funding programmes, particularly PEPFAR (the US President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), yet Al Jama-ah still seized the opportunity to attack the SAJBD. Whatever was being debated in Parliament, Bagraim said, Al Jama-ah found a way to twist it into an anti-Israel diatribe. He likened its behaviour to an almost “demonic” obsession, joking that if chickens got bird flu, the party would blame Israel.

Bloch reaffirmed that the Cape SAJBD was committed to protecting the community from intimidation and violence and was investigating several incidences of antisemitism.

Bagraim said Al Jama-ah’s latest stunt in Parliament only served to highlight its growing irrelevance. Instead of addressing the real issues affecting South Africans, the party continued to waste time pushing its anti-Israel agenda, distorting facts, and defending those responsible for public intimidation.

The South African Zionist Federation labelled the Cape Town protests “hate fests” and a dangerous display of antisemitism masquerading as political activism.