SABC silences journalist over Holocaust question

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has suspended one of its seasoned presenters because she dared to challenge anti-apartheid struggle veteran Dr Mamphela Ramphele, who said that the Gaza war was like the Holocaust.

The SABC bowed to anti-Israel extremist groups’ bullying tactics, taking Juliet Newell off air indefinitely. In response to her on-television interview, the local anti-Israel lobby insisted that the SABC had to describe the Gaza war as a “genocide”, and called for her to be punished and silenced.

“Danger arises when comparisons are made not to illuminate understanding, but to elevate the suffering of one group while diminishing or ignoring that of another,” said the director of the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Jakub Nowakowski.

The current “selective moral outrage” is striking, he said. “The same vocabulary and intensity are not used against Vladimir Putin [for the Ukraine war], nor against terrorist groups responsible for the starvation of hundreds of thousands in Somalia, or against Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians.”

A local political commentator is calling on the United States (US) to revoke Ramphele’s visa in light of her comments comparing Gaza to the Holocaust. She is there on a sabbatical.

Newell conducted the interview on 27 August with Ramphele, who as chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust, had published a statement a few days previously expressing the sentiment that the Gaza war was like the Shoah.

Ramphele told Newell in the interview, “We are using this comparison particularly because the atrocities are being committed by descendants of survivors of that Holocaust.” She also said that the “genocide” was being committed in the “name of protecting Jews” but instead was “aimed at clearing Palestine of every Palestinian”.

When Newell emphasised that the war and the Holocaust were different, Ramphele asked, “Why can’t I compare them? The Holocaust will continue to happen in different forms. It is a Holocaust by any definition.” She told Newell not to “quibble” over the differences.

She said that “deliberate attacks on women, children, and unarmed citizens” as well as “starvation” made the Gaza war a Holocaust. “It is more than a genocide because it is a deliberately drawn-out war that is a war on civilians with the intention to exterminate a people,” said Ramphele.

The presenter said she was not “quibbling” over which was worse, but was considering that they are different, and that words have meaning. She emphasised that “what is happening in Gaza is horrific” and even leaned towards calling it a “genocide”, but asked Ramphele to separate the events because of the need for nuance. Twice, she said that Ramphele’s comparison undermined what happened in the Holocaust, but she agreed with Ramphele that every life lost is a tragedy.

However, Newell condemning the suffering in Gaza wasn’t good enough for local extremists. In a statement on 28 August, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it was “unacceptable that a public broadcaster would consistently adopt language that mirrors Israeli talking points. Even more concerning is the SABC’s editorial reluctance to use terms like ‘Holocaust’ when referencing mass atrocities. Such linguistic gatekeeping is morally and journalistically indefensible.”

They said the SABC had a “duty” to describe the Gaza war as a genocide, and called on the public broadcaster to “take immediate steps to rectify its coverage”.

Extremist Hamas-supporting local website, the Media Review Network, stated that it was “outraged” at Newell’s “unprofessional attempt to delink the horror of Zionist genocide in Gaza from being viewed as a Holocaust”, and called on the SABC to “persist [with] remedial action”.

In response, the SABC released a statement saying it “took immediate action”, and that Newell was “currently not scheduled” to present. However, it also said it was “enjoined to ensure a plurality of views”.

Nowakowski says the Holocaust’s “scale, the technology of killing employed, the totality of destruction, and the participation of multiple groups far beyond the government of the Third Reich and the German population makes it unprecedented.

“Palestinians, of course, have the right to name the current conflict in a way that reflects their experience, pain, and suffering,” says Nowakowski. “What is deeply inappropriate, however, is to apply the historical names of other genocides to new conflicts. This constitutes appropriation, and risks obscuring both historical truth and moral clarity.”

Nowakowski says Ramphele is correct in that “we do not need to wait to call for an end to the violence. But the problem arises when such discussions lack proper knowledge and sensitivity, and when they are treated, as in this case, as a segue for assigning collective responsibility to all Jews worldwide.”

South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) spokesperson Rolene Marks says the SAZF “strongly condemns” the SABC’s removal of Newell from air after her interview with Ramphele, calling it “an attack on editorial independence”.

Marks says Ramphele’s description of Gaza as a Holocaust “is an extraordinary and provocative claim. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa code requires that controversial statements be tested for accuracy and context. Ms Newell did exactly that: she challenged the assertion, signposted the existence of opposing views, and sought to inform viewers rather than inflame them. That is correct journalistic practice, and punishing her for it amounts to censorship by proxy.”

By sidelining Newell, “the SABC has chosen appeasement over principle”, says Marks. “This capitulation chills free enquiry and narrows the space for honest debate in a constitutional democracy.”

She says the silence of the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) “makes matters worse”. So does the Sunday Times’ “public ridicule of Ms Newell”.

“When industry bodies and leading titles fail to defend a reporter who upheld basic standards, they signal that intimidation works. The message is stark: do not challenge incendiary claims, it could cost you your job. The message to those making extreme anti-Israel or antisemitic statements is equally clear: say what you like, there will be no pushback,” says Marks.

For Marks, “That dynamic is dangerous. It normalises prejudice; corrodes the marketplace of ideas; and fuels a climate in which Jewish South Africans and other minorities face heightened risk. Words have consequences. A free press must test them against evidence.” Furthermore, “The Holocaust is not a rhetorical device to be repurposed for contemporary conflicts.”

The SAZF has called on the SABC “to correct course, to subject this decision to a transparent and independent review, to issue a public apology, and to affirm that editors, not lobbyists, set newsroom standards”.

It also called on Communications Minister Solly Malatsi “to make clear that the public broadcaster may not adopt partisan positions under external pressure. We urge SANEF and the wider journalistic fraternity to defend the right and duty of journalists to interrogate inflammatory claims. South Africa deserves a public broadcaster and media that informs with integrity and courage, not one that bends under pressure.”

South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) national director Wendy Kahn says, “While we are concerned about the Holocaust distortion and the perceived attempts to silence other narratives, what we find particularly disturbing is the SABC’s editorial decision to display a banner at the bottom of the screen [during the interview] that stated, ‘Jewish humanity buried in the rubble in Gaza.’

“This statement, which was not made by Dr Ramphele in the interview, is a defamatory editorial addition that attempts to demonise our community. The SAJBD has requested a meeting with the SABC to address these issues.”

Local commentator Tim Flack called on the US to revoke Ramphele’s visa, saying that she was “making these pronouncements while enjoying the hospitality of a country that has made solemn commitments to fight Holocaust denial, distortion, and inversion. America does not need to bankroll the sabbatical of a woman who goes on television to declare Jews the new Nazis.”

The SA Jewish Report reached out to Newell, but she was unable to comment because of a confidentiality clause in her contract.