Shashi Naidoo denied access to Israel

TALI FEINBERG

Naidoo told the SA Jewish Report via WhatsApp on Wednesday afternoon: “After my meeting at the Israeli Embassy, I have been declined access!

“I believe that flagging an individual, whose only intention was to push an agenda of love and light, is dubious,” she wrote. “I have said numerous times that I have no desire to be a political tool. My only hope was to meet the people, experience the land and give aid to those in need. It was never a BDS itinerary. I really am devastated.”

She later wrote: “I was moving to Israel to do my Orthodox conversion. And now, nine months later I am not allowed entry.” Naidoo had been married to a Jewish man, Mark Sandler. They divorced in 2011.

Explains Israel’s deputy ambassador to South Africa, Ayellet Black: “Israel has passed a law that, like any rational sovereign state, it denies entry to those seeking to harm the country. A BDS-planned mission such as this obviously intends to do just that.”

Sources say that Naidoo planned to fly to the region with her mother and one or two other people on Monday, and hoped to enter the Jewish State through Jordan. Since the BDS press conference last month, she has been subjected to many hours of lectures by BDS stalwarts and has declined to meet with the South African Zionist Federation. She also cancelled a pre-arranged meeting with Israeli peace activists and famed ant-apartheid journalist Benjamin Pogrund.

It is understood that the BDS-planned tour under the auspices of BDS-affiliate South African Council of Churches was carefully and deliberately orchestrated to ensure that Naidoo did not get a balanced view of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

Last month, Naidoo initially made headlines for receiving death and rape threats because she committed the “crime” of defending Israel on Instagram. Yet just two days later, she was at a BDS press conference. There, she said she wants to “re-educate” herself by visiting “Palestine”, which she would be doing with the South African Council of Churches and the SA Jews for a Free Palestine.

At the time, the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and South African Zionist Federation released a statement, saying: “It took less than 48 hours for the BDS to do a complete turn-around over Shashi Naidoo… Indeed, the intention now is to set her up as a poster girl for the BDS movement.”

Israel clearly took notice of this, and the irony is that thanks to BDS SA, the girl who initially stood up for Israel will now no longer be able to go there at all.