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Gigaba to meet BDS over Israel/SA visa policy?
ANT KATZ
A spokesman for BDS-SA, the local affiliate of the US-based NGO “Boycott, Divest and Sanction” (Israel), claimed that Minister Gigaba had agreed to see them – although no date for a meeting was mentioned.
Said BDS-SA’s Kwara Kekana, the meeting comes in the wake of “the denial by Israel of Minister Blade Nzimande of a visa to Palestine,” and that the American anti-Israel group and their allies in SA were “demanding” that Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba “scrap” all “automatic visas for Israelis and more stringent visa requirements for Israelis wanting to travel to South Africa.”
RIGHT: BDS-SA head Munammed Desai who was severely castigated after a 2013 protest at Wits encouraged chants of “Shoot the Jew”
Minister Nzimande was denied a visa by the Israeli government last month. He had planned to visit Ramallah. Israel seldom refuses visas to visiting dignitaries and politicians, no matter what their positions are vis-à-vis the Middle East. There would most likely be a good reason for Israel’s actions and the objections from the ruling party or cabinet have been conspicuous in their absence over the past three weeks.
BDS-SA said that their delegation to meet the minister would include anti-Israel members of:
- Three political organisations;
- Three youth organisations;
- Labour and student organisations; and
- Three organisations focussed purely on anti—Israel activities.
No statement about meeting
The so-far unscheduled meeting was aiming at changing the visa regulations for Israeli citizens in future.
The anti-Israel groups say that among the topics they plan to discuss with the minister, will be “proposing that, among other visa requirements, Israeli citizens must in future declare if they have been actively enrolled in any military or militia (which would include the Israeli Defence Forces), if they have participated in any unlawful conflict,” says Kwena.
This would include asking Israeli visa applicants whether “they have participated in conflicts that utilised chemical weapons (such as white phosphorous) and if they have adhered to international law (Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law), sad the BDS-SA statement.
Attempts to reach BDS-SA for comment on Monday night and Tuesday morning were unsuccessful.
Related reads on SAJR in April:
nat cheiman
May 12, 2015 at 9:04 am
‘Of course, if one wants to go to North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Somalia or any other country that violates human rights, no visa applies. [Nat, please refrain from using hate speech and racial slurs as you had in here. -MODERATOR] Israel should cease all trade with our racist government including supplying hi tech stuff to SA.
\n ‘
Jonni
May 19, 2015 at 11:55 pm
‘A visa in time saves nine !!!’