ANT KATZ

It seems that the ANC (and/or the SA Government) have invited Hamas to open shop in South Africa. What is not clear, is that with the SA Treasury already funding Hamas’ political nemesis, the PA, to the tune of millions of rands a year,  and funding the PA’s embassy and ambassadorial staff in this country, the question is: “Who would pay for such an office?”

Taking up on a well-researched story that had appeared in the Mail & Guardian (M&G), MSN News published “Hamas wants to set up shop in SA” on Saturday October 24, confirming that “Khaled Meshaal and other senior members of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas have met with Jacob Zuma to discuss opening offices in South Africa”.

RIGHT: Deal done

As President Zuma met at the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg, with Israel’s number one enemy, Khaled Meshaal and other senior members of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas – a letter was delivered to him from the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, calling the ANC’s invitation to Hamas to visit South Africa a “shame”.

Subsequent to the meeting it was announced that Hamas is looking to open offices in SA. This announcement left Zionists outraged and pro-Palestinians elated.

“For those who sympathise with Israel, a “terrorist” organisation likened to Boko Haram and the Islamic State would be setting up shop in South Africa. For pro-Palestinian activists, on the other hand, this visit would be the fruit of constant solidarity,” wrote the M&G.

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe, who has long since differed (publicly, at least) with SA’s ANC Parliamentary executive in speaking out against Israel, said that Hamas’ opening of an SA office would strengthen solidarity, and assist Hamas to learn from the ANC.

“This was part of an effort to improve communication between the ANC and Hamas”, Mantashe was quoted by MSN as saying. “The brutality of Israel on Palestine is known by everybody,” he added, suggesting that SA should go beyond  “our solidarity” with Palestinians and step up by joining “the struggle of Palestine itself”.

LEFT: ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe determined to press forward

 
A letter of intent was signed between the two parties, in which the ANC has called on Hamas to collaborate with all Palestinian formations in finding a viable strategy to end the Israeli occupation.

Hamas is in dispute with the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Fatah.

• ANALYSIS OF HAMAS CHARTER PDF Document

The ANC refers to Hamas as freedom fighters like the party’s former armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe, which was formed to fight apartheid. Oddly enough, during their struggle for democracy in SA, the ANC was aligned with, and supported by, the PLO – which is aligned with the PA which itself does not condone the Hamas Charter or its actions.

Israel’s deputy ambassador in Pretoria, Michael Freeman, says: “I don’t think it’s a secret. Hamas is a terrorist organisation.”

RIGHT: Hamas’ logo

If Hamas were to open an office in SA, it would be like any other extremist terrorist organisation setting up office here, he told the M&G. It would be no different to “al-Shabab or Boko Haram or even ISIS” doing so, he said.

SAJBD Chairman Mary Kluk said the ANC could not condone extremist behaviour. She would not accept the ANC’s view that Hamas was resisting an apartheid-like regime as the ANC had once done.

 “I don’t see in the Umkhonto weSizwe charter that they should kill every white,” Kluk said, in reference to what she claimed was Hamas’s intention to kill all Jews.

According to the M&G and MSN, there is unofficial talk of a group of like-minded pro-Israel investors pulling out of South Africa if Hamas opens an office here. The Israeli embassy would not comment on the rumour, with Freeman insisting to the M&G that at this stage the focus is on expressing condemnation of Hamas’ visit to South Africa.

Hamas no barbaric enemy

Chris “Che” Matlhako, a South African Communist Party (SACP) Central Committee and Politburo member and secretary for international affairs, said on Politicsweb on Friday that Hamas holds certain progressive views that the alliance (ANC, SACP and Cosatu) welcomes.

Hamas, he said, was falsely accused of many things including terrorism, religious fundamentalism and supporting extremist groups like ISIS. All of these accusations are simply aimed at painting the group as a barbaric enemy and were false, he said. Hamas had told the SACP that they were committed “to a non-sectarian future for Palestine-Israel, incorporating all peoples of that land including indigenous Palestinian Christians, Muslims, atheists, Jews and others”, Matlhako said. He did not, however, clarify what was meant by “indigenous”.

SA ambassador roasted by MFA

On Sunday October 25, the Sunday Times ran: “Ties with Israel ‘normal’ as ANC roasted” – saying: “Relations with Israel have not been strained, says South Africa’s ambassador to Israel, Sisa Ngombane, despite a senior diplomat being hauled over the coals after a recent meeting between Hamas and the ANC.”

LEFT: SA Ambassador to Israel
Sisa Ngombane PIC: ANT KATZ

The Sunday Times’ story continued: “Ngombane’s political adviser, Musa Marawu, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tel Aviv on Monday to be read the riot act over the ANC’s hosting of Hamas leaders on a week-long visit to South Africa.” Jewish Report has it on good authority, however, that it had been Ngombane himself who had been summoned, but was “unavailable”.

On Wednesday October 21, The Times – in “ANC to Zille: Sorry for the short notice‚ but please welcome the Hamas leaders” (which it attributed to the RDM News Wire service) – said that the ANC in the Western Cape “seemed to try to provoke Premier Helen Zille by extending an invitation” to her to “Welcome the Palestinian Hamas leaders”.

Zille was asked to respond on the same day she was invited. The party said while it would have been “appropriate” for Zille to officially meet the Meshaal delegation, “due to security concerns‚ the visit was only made public very late”.

An earlier statement from Marius Fransman’s provincial ANC demanded that Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille must award Meshaal “the Freedom of the City”, wrote The Times.

Political one-upmanship

This opened the door for the ANC to make the following accusations: “The people of the Western Cape have held a clear view in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Unfortunately the DA leadership of this province has betrayed the will of our people‚ as the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government continue to enjoy cosy relations with Israel and the Israeli lobby‚” the ANC said, adding that the DA must “act honestly”.

“Unfortunately the DA stands with Israel,” The Times story quoted the ANC as saying, “and we doubt (it) will have the decency of welcoming the visiting Hamas delegation – their Israeli masters won’t allow them.”

RIGHT: Western Cape ANC head Marius Fransman took the opportunity to paint the DA in a bad light

The following day, Thursday October 22, the Elder of Ziyon blog published “South African media ignores Hamas leader’s Cape Town call for terrorist attacks” – and made the following statements (follow the links to read more):

Times of Israel reports: Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal told a government-endorsed rally in South Africa on Wednesday that the wave of stabbing attacks against Israelis would continue.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has expressed “shock and outrage” at SA’s hosting of the terror group’s leaders and on Monday summoned South Africa’s deputy ambassador “for a reprimand”, ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.

The ANC’s invitation to Hamas “provided a tailwind for terrorism and blatantly and crudely ignored the position of the international community, which considers Hamas a terror organisation,” Nahshon fumed. Some South African media outlets covered the rally, but none noticed anything improper in Meshaal’s speech.

News24 reported it this way: Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal received a massive welcome… People rushed to the aisle, protected by bodyguards, to try and touch him… He smiled through a salt and pepper beard and waved back at people in the packed hall. The content of the speech was not mentioned.

Voice of the Cape Radio only briefly mentioned his speech but said nothing about his support for the current wave of knifing attacks against Jews.

Cape Times also quoted Meshaal but ignored his terror calls: Speaking to loud applause, Khaled said SA’s humanity could not be found anywhere else in the world. “I admire Zuma’s bold and courageous heart to host us because of Israel, the international community knows us (only) as terrorists. Thanks for allowing us this rare opportunity to tell of our years of struggle against Zionist Israel,” he said.

Are there no real journalists in the entire country of South Africa? asked the clearly exasperated blogger.

Meshaal promises ‘Jerusalem Intifada’

Also, by October 23, international media had begun publicising the story. BREITBART.com, in “Hamas leader promises ‘Jerusalem Intifada’, wrote: Meshaal promised there would be more stabbing attacks against Israeli civilians, describing the wave of terror attacks as the “Jerusalem intifada”.

Breitbart quoted the Jerusalem Post as saying it was the responsibility of all Palestinians to “liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine”. The Jerusalem Post noted that Meshaal had insisted that Hamas is: not a terrorist organisation, claiming it stood for “moderation”, and was opposed to “ideological extremism”.

They also quoted The Times of Israel as reporting: that the ANC, which has long been supportive of the Palestinians and critical of Israel, has signed a “letter of intent” with Hamas, and intends to build what ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe describes as a “long-lasting relationship” with the Palestinian extremists.

International Business Times said: “We are starting a relationship with Hamas… we are happy today we are together, we are formally formalising our relationship,” declared Mantashe. “We’ll exchange delegations, we’ll share experiences and we’ll talk to each other regularly”.

Tailwind for terrorism

Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, charged that the ANC’s decision to invite a Hamas delegation to Cape Town has “provided a tailwind for terrorism and blatantly and crudely ignored the position of the international community, which considers Hamas a terror organisation.”

Pro-Hamas media such as PALESTINECHRONICLE.com ran “Hamas in South Africa: Opening a New Discourse?” in which they referred to: President Jacob Zuma’s historic meeting with Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, to cement formal relations. The Chronicle rally went on to name many of the ANC dignitaries who had attended, including David Mahlobo, State Security Minister, Zola Skewiya (former Minister of Social Development), Marius Fransman, ANC head in the Western Cape, and officials from the Cape Town-based Muslim Judicial Council – and, the ever-present ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe.

The Hamas visit, said the Chronicle, “comes after behind-the-scenes lobbying by community figures and a diplomatic visit to Gaza by then deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim, in 2010. Ebrahim – a former anti-apartheid struggle stalwart – met with Hamas minister, Mahmud al-Zahar, in Gaza.”

The ANC had hosted the Palestinian Authority (PA) with full state honours late last year and there is an accredited PA ambassador in Pretoria (paid for by SA taxpayers).

Meshaal also said there was a significant difference between resistance and terror. “We never kill one another on the basis of our differences. As Muslims we just don’t do this.” The PalestineChronicle.com article was written by Shafiq Morton, a journalist and presenter at Voice of the Cape.

EU, US blacklist Hamas as terror organisation

On Wednesday October 21, ALLAFRICA.com wrote: Hamas and the ANC signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday on efforts to bring Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories to an end. ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said his party would call for the termination of Israel’s occupation of Gaza on every international platform.

The European Union and the United States have blacklisted Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, as a terror organisation, said All Africa.com.

Mantashe was at pains to stress that Hamas was not a guest of the SA government, but of the ANC. Both Mantashe and his deputy Jesse Duarte are virulently anti-Israel. “Hamas has been invited by the African National Congress. There must be no confusion about that. It’s a party-to-party relationship,” he said.

LEFT: SA Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein deplored a meeting between the country’s ruling party and Hamas, warning that inviting members of the internationally designated terror group “endangers Africa and the world”

But Israel’s ambassador to South Africa, Arthur Lenk, sought to address criticism that his country was the only one to blame for the Israeli-Palestinian stand-off. Israelis, he said, were “not going into streets around Jerusalem with knives looking to attack people, but, you know, Israel is a democracy.”

The US-based ALGEMEINER.com was quick out of the starting blocks last Monday, October 19, when it published “SA Chief Rabbi: ANC Welcome to Hamas’ Mashal is Disgrace to Memory of Mandela” – SA Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein deplored a meeting between the country’s ruling ANC party and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, warning that inviting members of the internationally designated terror group “endangers Africa and the world”.

“For the ANC to welcome Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to South Africa is a moral outrage, and disgraces the memory of Nelson Mandela,” said Goldstein, chief rabbi to South Africa’s sizable Jewish community since 2005.

“Hamas openly promotes the most brutal violence as a religious ideal and is an ideological ally of Boko Haram, which wreaks unspeakable horror and suffering on the African continent. Welcoming such an ideology endangers Africa and the world,” Goldstein told The Algemeiner.

ANC believes in working towards world peace

THE STAR and IOL relied on the ANA wire service for much of its reporting. Responding to outcries against the ANC’s invitation to Hamas, national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said: “Our invitation of Hamas as one of the principal players in the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is in keeping with our policies of working towards a peaceful world”.

The ANC believes that through their experience, they are able to “assist conflict resolutions elsewhere in the world without us dictating to any party”.

The ANC said it remained “committed to a two-state solution as a pivot on which the co-existence of Jews and Palestinians can be guaranteed”.

Planned in secret but executed in style, the Hamas visit, wrote the Palestinian Chronicle, “comes after behind-the-scenes lobbying by community figures and a diplomatic visit to Gaza by then deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim, in 2010.”

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