SA ‘not nearly as antisemitic as media makes out’

American-Israel activist, social media influencer, and basketball trainer Barak Swarttz says he wants Jews around the world to “wake up” and recognise that “the boots on the ground reality” is that it’s a “bullshit narrative that so many people hate us”.

Swarttz came to South Africa recently to see for himself the situation for Israelis and “to bring Israel to the people”. He has been astonished at the warmth he has received from everyone.

He put out an Instagram video a couple of weeks ago while bungy jumping off the Bloukrans Bridge on the border of the Eastern and Western Cape. The facilitators, South Africans who have never left their home country, were spouting Israeli slang phrases like “big balagan” (mess) and “chaval al hazman” (waste of time) to him with good humour.

“It can’t be that I’m put into a situation where I’m interacting only with people who are pro-Israel,” he said. “I’ve been to touristy and non-touristy places. I’ve been in urban settings and non-urban settings. I’ve been with locals and non-locals, and I haven’t come across one person who has given me an issue about this [Magen David] necklace, about me being an Israeli or Jewish.”

“Change your mindset. We have South Africans in the southernmost part of Africa, who have never left South Africa, speaking to me in Hebrew. They welcome me with no issues in the place where we all thought they would give us the most issues,” he said. Swarttz wants people to know that he hadn’t once felt “unsafe, targeted, or received any form of antisemitism” in South Africa.

Swarttz said he had been warned to “be careful” and “on guard” as he left for Spain, Morocco, and South Africa. “I was told I was visiting three hotspots, not only in terms of what they told me, but in terms of what the media has pumped into our brains for so long,” he said.

“I’ve had the opposite experience. I’ve received a warm welcome, and incredible hospitality,” Swarttz said. “I’m not saying that it [antisemitism or anti-Israel sentiment] doesn’t exist in South Africa. The videos and experiences I’ve seen online are definitely not fake. These antisemitic protests and events exist, but they exist in concentrated pockets and include a small percentage of people.” he said.

In another of his videos, The Soweto Horseman, a local South African band started singing “Am Yisrael Chai” to him on the street.

Swarttz said he knows there are people who would want to hurt him if they could, but not on the scale we all believe it to be. “I’m trying to open people’s eyes to not continue to have their lives dictated by the negativity of the media, which tries to convince us that this is the scary reality and there’s no alternative,” he said.

He’s determined to show that what people see on social media and in the news is put there intentionally to make them feel certain emotions. “We hide and we’re afraid, which is what the media intends to provoke. That’s how they make money,” he said.

Swarttz was born in the greater Boston area in the United States (US) to a household with two rabbis. “My father is a Reconstructionist rabbi, and my mother a Reform rabbi. The Judaism I grew up with was one based on inclusivity,” he said.

In 2001, at the age of six, Swarttz and his family moved to Israel. He studied at an Israeli school for two years before moving back to the US. Their short stint in Israel was at the same time as the second intifada.

“I was exposed to Israel at its core and grew a thick skin even then,” he said. “At a young age, I had already experienced the reality of war in the Middle East with sirens, bomb shelters, even a car bomb on the street we lived on at the time.”

Back in the US, Swarttz dedicated himself to playing basketball, but had to deal with many injuries. Through his ongoing commitment to basketball, he said he learned the power of resilience and teamwork.

He had attended a Birthright trip to Israel as a college student, and soon became a frequent flyer between Israel and the US, acknowledging his strong connection and sense of belonging in Israel. He then moved to Israel as a basketball strength and conditioning coach. There, becoming an Israeli citizen, he trained many top national and international basketball players.

Having not served in the Israel Defense Forces, he felt he wasn’t doing enough for Israel after the 7 October 2023 massacre.

“I decided to change the content I was creating online from basketball and fitness to telling stories and talking about my life in Israel as an American,” he said. “Not from a political perspective, but from a truth and storytelling perspective. I wanted to contribute towards the greater good because I felt I needed to contribute in some way as my own voluntary army service because I didn’t have any requirement.”

The response to his YouTube videos was remarkable and many of them went viral. Over the past two years, he has grown his platform, and now reaches 10 million people across the world monthly.

On top of advocacy on social media platforms, Swarttz is a public speaker. He has travelled to various communities outside of Israel. By incorporating his love for basketball in his talks, he finds that he can create a “safe space and establish common ground to speak about Israel”.

“I understood early on that it’s important to be around people who are from different backgrounds, cultures, and religions. The differences didn’t matter if you established human connection. That’s what I always found on the basketball court. In between those four lines, all that mattered is that we had one common goal, basketball,” Swarttz said.

During his trip to South Africa, he spoke to the South African Friends of Israel and King David School students in Johannesburg.

“I try to create a lot of nuance in conversation when I’m speaking to people about Israel, especially Jewish communities when I attend private schools. The students aren’t exposed to the nuances of what it’s like to be on the ground. I can see the shocked response of people when they see me, an American Ashkenazi Jew, whom they didn’t expect to provide this nuance, but it’s needed.

“We need to wake up to the boots on the ground. I’m showing you the bullshit narrative that so many people hate [Jews]. Change your mindset, and don’t let negative media dictate how you live your life. Take yourself along with Israel to the people,” Swarttz said.