News
Extremists threaten Holocaust Centre over Israel stance
Anti-Israel extremists in South Africa have waged a campaign of intimidation against Holocaust & Genocide Centres in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban throughout the Israel-Gaza war, including protesting outside their premises and pressuring their leadership to state that the war was a “genocide”.
Now, as a ceasefire and peace plan have been adopted and the “genocide” accusation loses steam, the anti-Israel lobby is desperately ramping up its campaign against these centres of learning and remembrance.
This includes threatening to pressure the City of Johannesburg to end its public-private partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) if the centre doesn’t “fall in line” behind the South African government’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
It also includes falsely claiming that JHGC Director Tali Nates stated that she believed the war was a genocide. Nates told the SA Jewish Report that she “certainly didn’t call the war a genocide”.
This false claim arose in a “declaration of intent to the JHGC” written by 24 local anti-Israel organisations after a delegation representing them met the JHGC on 6 October. In the declaration, the anti-Israel extremists say that they “demand” that the JHGC describe the Gaza war as genocide.
Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida, Norman JW Goda, told the SA Jewish Report that this “effort to bully a Holocaust centre is appalling. The insistence that the JHGC declare Israel guilty of genocide, and then [tell the centre it must] change its own mission – or suffer consequences – is a dire threat that should alarm everyone.”
The declaration says that the JHGC must declare Gaza a genocide because others have said so, and the JHGC has no right to draw its own conclusions.
It states that the JHGC made a statement on 7 October 2023, and therefore is obligated to make statements about the war. It threatened that if the JHGC didn’t give in to its demands, it would “engage the city directly to review [the JHGC’s] partnership, to press for compliance with South Africa’s duties under international law”.
The extremists demanded that the JHGC “must publicly acknowledge” its “complicity through silence”, and issue an apology. They told the centre’s leadership that its mission must “evolve” to align with anti-Israel actions and narratives in South Africa.
The extremists said that this wasn’t the time to look at “both sides”, and that they intended to protest outside the centre on 20 and 24 October while the JHGC hosted the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) conference. The declaration concluded in a threatening tone, saying “You have been given every opportunity. You now face a choice.”
Speaking to the SA Jewish Report, Nates said the JHGC “met them [the delegation] in good faith for an informal meeting, and even offered to organise a formal one, which they refused. We completely disagree with their characterisation of the informal meeting. During the meeting, we emphasised our mission of education, remembrance, and learning lessons from the past, as well as our commitment to being a space for dialogue.”
Pre-eminent Holocaust scholar Dr Michael Berenbaum told the SA Jewish Report that the war in Gaza isn’t genocide. “Genocide has a legal definition and legal precedents and hinges on the issue of intent. Israel is at war with Hamas, not the Palestinian people. There was a ceasefire on 6 October 2023, which was broken by Hamas.”
Israel has “no intent to kill the Palestinian people, and does not target Palestinians, whose number have increased”, says Berenbaum. “The harsh conditions [in Gaza] and deaths of civilians, tragic as they are, result from conditions determined by Hamas.”
“There’s no doubt that the Israel Defense Forces made mistakes,” he said. “There are internal judicial processes to adjudicate these. We must also condemn voices within Israel that have called for genocide, even those in government. But they haven’t dictated government policy. Furthermore, never in the history of genocide has the dominant party declared a ceasefire.”
Goda says the extremists’ declaration “reveals the longstanding resentment of the Holocaust by some activist groups, and their desire to rid it of its Jewish character. This goes back decades, but with this attempt to force Holocaust institutions to kneel, the wave seems to be cresting in very worrisome fashion.”
He says insistence that “Jewish citizens who run a Holocaust centre 4 000 miles [6 437km] from Gaza are complicit [in the war] unless they twist their own history in their own institution, is antisemitic, pure and simple”, and asks, “Why are these activists so threatened by a Holocaust remembrance institution?”
The declaration contains “falsehood after falsehood”, Goda says. For example, “The ICJ is hardly on board with South Africa’s genocide accusation. The court refuted most of it in January 2024, which was why Naledi Pandor stood on the steps of the Palace of Justice not knowing what to say. This is why activists cite those who want to bypass the court with a fake genocide judgment.”
He notes that “Eighty-six percent of the members of the IAGS most certainly didn’t affirm that there is a genocide in Gaza. Most mainstream Jewish and Israeli academics don’t see Gaza as a genocide. United Nations statements are just not serious. Francesca Albanese’s reports are little more than dollops of gauzy academic theory combined with falsehoods.”
As for the JHGC hosting the IAGS conference, Nates says, “Two years ago, we agreed to host, for the first time on the African continent, the IAGS Biennial Academic Conference. We advance education, remembrance, and dialogue, and our space is open to all who value debate anchored in history.”
Regarding the centre’s partnership with the City of Johannesburg, Nates says, “As an acclaimed educational institution, the JHGC supports the national curriculum’s [study of] Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, and actively collaborates with the city, the province, and partners beyond to educate on the dangers of hatred.”
South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) National Chairperson Karen Milner says the SAJBD condemns the protests against the JHGC. “These groups represent a broader campaign of anti-Jewish activity in South Africa. They have repeatedly targeted Jewish institutions, businesses, and individuals, attempting to silence or coerce those who don’t conform.”
To target the JHGC “is deeply anti-Jewish, and fundamentally contrary to South Africa’s democratic values”, says Milner. “To attempt to coerce the JHGC into aligning with political slogans is intimidation.” The SAJBD is also deeply concerned by the “deliberate manipulation” of Nates’ remarks.
Milner emphasises that the Jewish community of South Africa is “diverse and principled,” and “what unites us is the rejection of hate, intimidation, and the distortion of Jewish institutions and memory for political gain”.
South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) spokesperson Rolene Marks says the declaration is “ideological blackmail”. It attempts to “bully a Holocaust centre into surrendering its independence and parroting a radical agenda, threatening funding and partnerships if it dares refuse”.
For Marks, “this is a grotesque abuse of Holocaust memory”. The signatories “twist ‘Never Again’ into a weapon against the Jewish people. They lie about the law, and they lie about people too. That’s not a misunderstanding, it’s a deliberate falsehood.”
The SAZF “rejects this attempt to hijack Holocaust history for political ends”. Institutions devoted to genocide education “must not be forced into ideological conformity”, Marks says.
John
October 23, 2025 at 2:20 pm
The Israeli campaign has been accurately described as genocide by many scholars, including leading Israelis. South Africans are correct that the Holocaust Remembrance centers must be true to their mission and denounce Israel’s war crimes!
yitzchak
October 26, 2025 at 8:08 am
tut.tut.
1) Leading Palestinians were foremost in the genocide of the Jews ;Haj Mufti al Husseini; abdel kader al husseini; Fawzi al qutb ..all behind the murder of Jews in BaGHDAD 1941; Germany during the ww2; and later leading up to our Independence; Qaukji who ran away from defending his rathole at Lavie.
The only genocide I can see is what happened on 7.10.2023 where 1200 Jews and others were brutally murdered.with intent.!
You do not speak in the name of South Africans. The best you can do is apply for a job at Dirco as kitchen tea boy.
The defeat of Islam in Gaza is a great victory.and by cowardly Jews to boot.
I think the SANDF should be deployed to Gaza. So far their record in foreign adventures and escapades is not good,but good luck anyway.As in the USA they could be better utilized on our streets or maybe Trump willsend some of his National Guard to Soweto and Fordsberg.& district 6
Nicola Scott
October 27, 2025 at 8:40 am
Why do you want to force someone to do what you want because of how you feel?
Fe Silverman
October 27, 2025 at 3:55 pm
You seem to be forgetting that on October 7th 2023, HAMAS TERRORISTS & GAZANS unprovoked, ATTACKED ISRAEL! They raped & murdered young people at a PEACE MUSIC FESTIVAL, raped & murdered young families in their homes, burnt babies in ovens, cut unborn babies out of their mother’s bellies & beheaded them, burnt families alive while sleeping in their beds, dragged wounded men, women, teenagers, children, mothers with babies through the streets of Gaza while the people spat on them and celebrated! Twelve Hundred innocent people, including people of other nations, were cruelly terrorised & murdered. Over Two Hundred & Fifty people were abducted & taken hostage as Pawns in a game of chess & hidden in dark, airless tunnels without medical attention and very little food or water, some for up to Two Years! THAT’S CALLED GENOCIDE BY HAMAS & GAZANS!!
ISRAEL HAD EVERY RIGHT TO DEFEND IT’S CITIZENS AGAINST HAMAS TERRORISTS! Never forget that
HAMAS started this war!
Stratford Canning
October 23, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Dear John, You have fallen into the trap of the anti-Israel propagandists. The ICJ did not declare the IDFs actions as a genocide. In fact they have followed all international laws governing warfare. Hamas have not.
I would suggest you look up and follow Natasha Hausdorff, a barrister and expert in international law. She lays out in clear terms the actual position.
Jason
October 23, 2025 at 4:05 pm
@JOHN, even if the current war in Gaza is “accurately described by many scholars…” as “genocide,” it does not make this statement true or correct. It has been stated many times, including in this article, that Israel’s war in Gaza is not against the Palestinians per se, but against Hamas. It seems you intentionally misread this statement in this article.
Bruce Torrance
October 23, 2025 at 7:04 pm
These attacks on the holocaust centres are an attempt to bury the truth and evidence of anti semitism through intimidation, walking in impunity without accountability. If the IDF is committing genocide in Gaza, why is the Gazan population still increasing? Why does the IDF warn the population to evacuate an area in Arabic before
striking Hamas strongholds?
Please be aware of the demonic religious spirit that seeks to twist the truth, blacken what is right and whitewash what is evil and false. See Isaiah 5:20. When these extremists support Hamas and their genocidal attitudes, wanting to slaughter Jews and wipe out Israel, but point the finger at Israel, something is
diabolically wrong. Hence their desire to bury the truth through intimidation. This hatred will only cease when Messiah returns – Zech. 14:1-9,2 Thess. 1:6-10, Rev. 20:1-3. Incidentally, from the river to the sea, check out the future Israel and the river, Gen. 15:18. Be blessed!
Jessica
October 24, 2025 at 11:33 am
The JHGC must indeed declare the war against Gaza a genocide – perpetrated by Hamas against their own and fomented worldwide by Jihadis and useful idiots such as Francesca Albanese.
Devora Even-Tov
October 24, 2025 at 12:01 pm
@John I am so saddened that there are so many “closet anti semites”. No country in the world woud have stood back when their civilians are attacked by a genocidal, barbaric death cult as Hamas.
They broke into the country, tortured women, men, children, babies and elderly. They gang raped the woman and butchered the civilians. Chopping off heads (and taking the heads into Gaza), body parts. Kidnapped 251 innocent civilians whom they starved tortured and killed while in captivity.
I suggest you actually do your homework and not fall into the trap of being a useful idiot
Nicola Scott
October 27, 2025 at 8:46 am
I actually don’t believe that people of the general public who see the war in Gaza as genocide are anti-semetic. I think they believe what they say. Just as people who don’t think it’s genocide believe something else.
I don’t think anyone (mostly) is malicious. You have two opposing views deeply felt.
I do think protesting at the Holocaust Centre is a disgusting, below the belt cheap trick. I think you have to be pretty self-serving and emotionally immature to do that. I fanatic I guess.
Nicola Scott
October 27, 2025 at 8:49 am
Always the same. Aggression, bullying, violence. Woollies doing something yiy personally don’t like, threaten violence against the employees, shopping centres tries to hold a Jewish holy event, threaten the lives of the employees. Always violence.
Gary Selikow
October 28, 2025 at 12:22 pm
This is where the real potential genocide comes in. There are around 14 million people living between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, including 7 million Jews and 7 million Palestinians (including the 2 million with Israeli citizenship). Destroying Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state in the entirety of the land would mean killing or displacing most of the 7 million Jews living there (more Jews than Hitler managed to kill in the entirety of the Holocaust).
Linda
October 29, 2025 at 10:15 am
SAJVP are a problem. They are vile and a disgrace to the Jewish community. Jews involved in bullying a Holocaust center is a new low even for them.