Cape Town, Johannesburg protest for Israel

ANT KATZ

Two well-attended pro-Israel marches took place last week Friday in solidarity with Israel and Jewish students. The Cape Town march on Parliament had over 100 in attendance, while a further 150-odd attended the Johannesburg march on the Gauteng Provincial Legislature where they handed over a petition.

The marches were in support of the culmination of the SA Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS)’ week-long and well-fought annual campus tussle which pits Jewish students and their Israel Awareness Week against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (Israel) group BDS, who hold their Israel Apartheid Week on university campuses.

While the students were holding their final events on the various campuses, the Cape Council of the SA Zionist Federation put together a solidarity march on Parliament while Defend Embrace Invest in and Support Israel (DEISI) International and others delivered a petition to the Gauteng Legislature in downtown Johannesburg.

RIGHT: The Johannesburg march on the Gauteng Legislature to deliver a petition in support of Israel was organised by DEISI International  – Pic: ILAN OSSENDRYVER

Israel Apartheid Week “was once again a dismal failure for BDS and the Palestinian Solidarity Front” on the UCT campus,” the Cape Fed’s Julie Berman told Jewish Report. “Christian Zionists together with members of the Cape Town Jewish community took a stand against anti-Semitism and racism.” She said that some 120 people gathered outside Parliament to show their support.

Dancing in the street and holding both South African and Israeli handheld flags, large Israeli flags and posters condemning racism and anti-Semitism, “the supporters showed passers-by that Israel indeed is a force to be reckoned with and has great support behind her”, said Berman.

The Cape Town demonstration outside Parliament was organised by the Zionist Federation, Cape Council Pic: MARC BERMAN

“DEISI believes that the gathering of blacks and whites, Jews and Christians, South Africans, Israelis and Americans in a public display of their solidarity with the State of Israel and her people sent a clear message to BDS,” she said, congratulating SAUJS and groups like DEISI who had supported them in their campus victories last week.

The anti-Israel lobbyists and their partners should be aware, said Meshoe, that South Africans “will not accept the false labelling of Israel as an apartheid state or the one-sided negative commentary about Israel.

“DEISI wishes to see true peace in the Middle East,” she said, “and desires a meaningful relationship between South Africa and Israel for the betterment of South African lives.”

We say: “No more racism and no more anti-Semitism,” said DEISI vice chairman Mark Hyman.