SA influencers visiting Israel bombarded with hate online

When young, gay South African TikTok influencer Andile Ngidi was invited on a sponsored trip to Israel, it was a dream come true. “As a queer young man from a disadvantaged background, opportunities like this don’t come often,” he wrote, adding that it was also extremely meaningful for him as a Christian. 

“Lord, thank you for this life,” he wrote on Facebook on 1 November, sharing photos from his first few days in Israel. 

But he was soon hounded with hateful messages for choosing to visit the Holy Land. The intimidation and harassment became so extreme that he booked the next flight back to South Africa, cutting his dream holiday short. “I am threatened now and I don’t feel comfortable going outside,” he wrote. 

He felt that he needed to apologise. “I take full responsibility for my actions, and I will definitely do better in the future. Once again, I ask for forgiveness,” he captioned a letter that he posted on his social media pages. 

In the letter, he wrote, “I have seen and noted all the concerns, critiques, and disappointment surrounding my trip to Israel. I have come to understand the hurt and disappointment my presence here during this painful time has caused many of you. I am truly sorry.” 

Ngidi, who is known as Space Andza, said he had not done “thorough research” before taking the trip. 

In a Facebook post, he expressed concern for other South African content creators on the trip who stayed in Israel, knowing they too were being harassed with hate. 

Ngidi was in Israel with several other South African Christian TikTok influencers, all of whom have thousands of followers on social media. But not all of them responded in the same way to the intimidation directed at them. Roseanne Pillay, known as @miss_independent79, made several videos slamming the hatred directed at her. 

“Let’s get something straight. South Africa has real issues that deserve your energy – water shortages, unemployment, loadshedding, the rape of women and children, kidnappings, human trafficking, serial killers, and a government that continues to fail its people. But suddenly, my trip to Israel is your biggest concern?” she wrote on social media. 

“Stop pushing your political views onto my trip,” she added. “I earned my opportunity. You are entitled to your opinions, but you are not entitled to dictate my journey. Let me live my life. My trip. My opportunity. My experience. Your opinions are not my responsibility.” 

She excitedly shared her experience, which included visiting the Kotel, Masada, and the Bahá’í Gardens. Like Ngidi, she said that this holiday – her first international trip – was especially meaningful to her as a Christian from a disadvantaged background. 

“I grew up with very little and have had few chances to travel. For those of us in the group who come from similar backgrounds, an invitation like this was rare,” she wrote on Facebook. “South Africans travel to Israel for different reasons, including research and faith. I chose to accept the invitation, and our faith was why we went. As a Christian, visiting Jerusalem was an experience I never imagined I’d have.” 

Content creator Agnes Mabuda, or @vhayellow, who goes by the display name “Eggy yellow OOTD”, was also in the tour group. A Venda woman who presents her videos in her native language, Tshivenda, she shared clips of herself visiting the Nova festival memorial, attending a Boy George concert, dancing in a shuk, and visiting Christian sites. She ignored the hate and intimidation directed at her. 

The backlash extended to people who didn’t condemn the influencers. Social media personality Goboane Setsile, known as “Smokey Mirror”, congratulated Ngidi on the trip and said he has always wanted to visit Israel. He was then hounded by antizionists to the point that he, too, felt forced to issue an apology. 

But content creator Chad Nathan, known as a @gingerwithagopro, advises young influencers to take up every opportunity to travel, and not to let a minority of hateful voices affect them. 

“Go with an open mind and an open heart. See Israel with your own eyes, meet the people, and form your own opinions,” says Nathan. 

He warns that influencers should expect a backlash. “You might lose followers, you might lose brand deals, but you cannot live your life trying to please everyone on the internet. You’ll drive yourself absolutely mad.” 

Rather, “stay true to yourself, share your experiences, and never let the hate stop you telling your story”. 

The Embassy of Israel in South Africa told the SA Jewish Report in a statement that Israel welcomes delegations from around the world “to experience a side of the country that traditional and social media often fail to portray on a daily basis”. 

These delegations come from across the globe, including from Africa and, specifically, South Africa. 

“We warmly welcome South Africans to visit Israel, see the country with their own eyes, and discover for themselves what Israel is truly about, and the positive contributions it has to offer.” 

South African Friends of Israel spokesperson Bafana Modise says the influencers come from a range of ethnicities, and some are from the LGBTQ+ community, “yet they didn’t experience apartheid or discrimination in Israel. They were happy, they were joyful, and South Africans could see with their own eyes what Israel is, through the videos they shared.” 

He says those who are bullying the influencers are trying to protect their own warped narrative. 

“These are content creators, not politicians,” says Modise. “The imposition of political narratives on young people should be guarded against.” 

He says South Africans have “every right” to go to any country “to see the truth for ourselves. 

“And if Israel really is ‘evil’ then why won’t they allow people to go and see it for themselves?” 

The attacks on the content creators “are an attempt to silence and censor them”, says Modise. But libels “were refuted” by the influencers freely visiting Israel and sharing what they saw. 

National director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies Wendy Kahn says that this is just one more attempt by antizionists “to threaten and intimidate South Africans”. 

However, “bullying people because of their views and travel destinations is the antithesis of who we are as South Africans”, says Kahn. “Cancel culture is inconsistent with our constitutional values.”