Matzo hatred at hypermarket

I just so happened to be looking for matzo at Pick n Pay Hypermarket in Norwood the day before Pesach, and searched up and down aisles for ages looking for indicators to show me where to go. It seemed odd, especially as it was just before Pesach at the place where every Jew in Joburg goes to gather some of their ingredients.

Eventually, I had to ask someone for help, something I have never had to do before. Only after I left did I hear the hullabaloo about how a social media post led to a protest that brought down the Magen Davids and blue and white ribbons. What I find most absurd about this is that somehow, gathering food and ingredients for Pesach has been turned into an attack on Palestinians and a political stand. Pick n Pay and local Jews who support that store were made to look like genocidal despots by wanting to make matzo easily accessible.

This was the result of a combination of a total lack of understanding of Jewish traditions and religion mixed with blatant antisemitism. It was all started by some actor, whose name I hadn’t heard since the 1980s, who seems intent on using Jews to try and regain some personality or acclaim.

He cleverly took a photograph of the paraphernalia, which was put up to indicate exactly where the Pesach food section was, in such a way that it could look like, at a real push, an Israeli flag. Yup, there were blue ribbons and white ones and dangling Magen Davids. From any other angle, they were just ribbons and hanging Magen Davids. This wasn’t a political statement in any way or form, but our haters, and Eric Miyeni particularly, wanted the world to believe that it was. And boy, our haters – who unfortunately now count among the people I once respected – had a field day in trying to prove that this was South African Jews’ and Pick n Pay’s way of supporting what our haters claim is a genocide in Gaza. As one astute person said in a comment, “It’s Pesach, not a Zionist plot”, but that belies the ignorance and insistence of turning anything that is apparently Jewish into another reason to hate.

The Miyeni post, which was shared far and wide, was commented on by “experts” on Judaism and Israel who clearly had no clue about either.

It culminated in some rabid Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions coalition-supporting woman with a loudhailer coming to the Hypermarket and scaring customers by bullying shoppers. She demanded they check what they buy, claiming they had to do this to avoid supporting “the mass slaughter of civilians”, “starving a population”, and standing for genocide. As she spewed her hatred, she perhaps mistakenly said people should refuse to buy apartheid South African goods.

In truth, she’s probably not wrong on that last point because if we’re still buying food from apartheid-era South Africa, it’s likely to be off and dangerously toxic because of its age.

I know I jest, but what these people say is ridiculous, albeit devastating because they feel they have the right to attack us as Jews for buying kosher for Pesach.

In what turned into a viral social media campaign, I was horrified at the hatred being spewed from so many fronts that moved backwards and forwards from anti-Israel to antisemitic. Clearly, the line that those who purported to be anti-Israel and not antisemitic once drew and claimed not to cross, has now been crossed.

The people running that Pick n Pay outlet got scared, and reacted by pulling down the décor. I understand that. Listen, that hateful woman and her band of acolytes were unpleasant, and I wouldn’t particularly want to meet her in a busy aisle. The store’s leadership wanted to stop the noise. I get it. It was the wrong thing to do, but once they realised why, they fixed it. They apologised.

Eric Miyeni and all those who vomited hatred haven’t apologised.

I have to say, it does seem ironic that in the haggadah in which we read the Pesach story, we escape from oppression and antisemitism. And where do we head to in this ancient book of our history? You got it … Israel.

Yes, the same land that we have been accused of colonising. The same land that our haters insist we have no claim to. The same land that they insist has nothing to do with Judaism. However, for as far back as our history goes, and especially on Pesach, we have been saying, “Bashana haba’ah berushalayim.” (Next year in Jerusalem)” in our prayers.

I just wish that all those supposed experts would really do their homework and find knowledgeable people who could explain the truth about the Middle East conflict and Judaism. I wish people recognised that the facts proffered by Hamas – a group that has been recognised as a terrorist organisation by so many countries in the world – cannot be true. Find out the truth about the war against Hamas! Go to Israel and see for yourself! Don’t trust photographs of starving children or destroyed buildings. Get the truth, and own up to it.

It’s astounding how quickly the notion of Israel being an apartheid state falls by the wayside after an hour in Israel. And the notion that these people could ever be genocidal is so quickly dispelled. Seriously, I really wish people did their homework before they sunk into their worst selves and blamed Jews for the world’s ills. (See page 3.)

In the 2024 Annual Antisemitism Report of Tel Aviv University, we find that the peak of antisemitism occurred immediately after the 7 October attack and not as the war progressed. In other words, it hasn’t necessarily got that much worse around the world since that time. The most alarming rise was recorded in Australia, with increases observed in the United States, Italy, Spain, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil.

According to the report, only a negligible percentage of complaints regarding antisemitic hate crimes have led to arrests and indictments. As the experts in the report maintain, “education and legislation without enforcement are meaningless”.

So, considering this extensive report, our apparently awful experience with Pick n Pay doesn’t seem quite as bad. However, it shouldn’t have happened at all.

Shabbat shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor