‘Singling out my Jewishness is offensive’

The appointment of Gauteng local government stalwart Dr Jack Bloom as Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation has triggered a stream of antisemitic, antizionist, and anti-white comments on social media. 

It’s led Jewish leaders to question the increase in identity-based attacks like this on South African politicians. 

Bloom, a veteran Democratic Alliance (DA) politician who served as a member of the Gauteng legislature for more than three decades, has been targeted after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his appointment in a Cabinet reshuffle on 30 June. 

Many comments focused on his Jewish identity rather than his qualifications or political record. Others questioned whether white South Africans should hold political office, while several suggested Bloom’s appointment would somehow advance Israeli interests rather than those of South Africa. 

The abuse happened at the same time as attacks on the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Yusuf Cassim. Also a long-standing DA politician, he was subjected to Islamophobic and xenophobic comments after his appointment. 

Bloom told the SA Jewish Report that he hadn’t initially realised the extent of the online reaction because he had been focused on beginning his new role. He said the comments represented a minority of the reaction, but were troubling. 

“I’ve never commented specifically on Jewish or Israeli issues,” he said. “I’ve just rigorously stuck to my DA work, my health work, and now my new responsibilities. To gratuitously single out that I happen to be Jewish, I find offensive and disturbing.” 

The Presidency’s announcement identified Bloom simply as the new deputy minister, making no reference to his religion. Nevertheless, X users quickly began discussing his Jewish identity. Some declared that Jews could not be trusted, others invoked antisemitic tropes about Jewish influence and loyalty, while some asked whether someone white should occupy a senior government position. 

Bloom drew a clear distinction between ordinary political disagreement and attacks based on identity. “If people don’t think I’m qualified, or they don’t think we need deputy ministers, that’s politics,” he said. “That’s social media.” 

What concerned him, he said, was that some people appeared to have searched for his religious identity despite there being nothing in the official announcement identifying him as Jewish. “It was pure prejudice to single out that aspect of me. 

“It is extraordinary that the president appoints me, and suddenly somebody’s got nothing else in their brain but what my ethnicity is.” 

Although Bloom described many of the comments as malicious, insulting, degrading, and antisemitic, he cautioned against overstating their scale. He estimated that fewer than 20 comments fell into that category, and noted that they attracted little engagement compared with thousands of other responses discussing government spending, deputy ministers, or policy. “They’re definitely antisemitic. But let’s put it in context.” 

Bloom also said the comments did not, in his view, amount to hate speech under South African law. “When you get worried is when discriminatory comments receive mass support and suddenly become a big phenomenon,” he said. “That didn’t happen in this case. But it’s there, and we need to watch carefully.” 

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies national chairperson, Professor Karen Milner, condemned the online attacks, saying Bloom’s long record of public service should have been the focus. “In a lifetime of devoted service to South Africa, Jack Bloom has gained for himself a deserved reputation across the political spectrum as a hard-working, hands-on politician focused on using his position to work for the betterment of ordinary South Africans on the ground.” 

Milner said Bloom’s appointment had been widely welcomed, but that a “not insignificant minority” had used the opportunity to post racist comments about both Bloom and Jews more broadly. She said many comments suggested Bloom should be rejected because, as a Jew, he was supposedly disloyal to South Africa, untrustworthy, or even inherently evil. 

Mark Oppenheimer, advocate and member of the Johannesburg Bar, also said Bloom’s appointment should be judged on his record rather than his religion. “Jack has been a public servant for more than three decades, tirelessly exposing failures in Gauteng’s healthcare system and standing up for the poor and vulnerable. 

“To dismiss his appointment to a role where he could do enormous good, particularly given our failing water and sanitation infrastructure, simply because he is Jewish is both bigoted and self-defeating.” 

DA member of the Gauteng legislature Madeleine Hicklin said politicians should expect scrutiny, but not personal attacks. “If you take umbrage with the party I represent, or the stance that the party I represent has taken on any issue, I am quite fine with defending that. When the attacks become personal, when you start attacking me as an individual, or Dr Jack Bloom as a person, then you have taken it too far.” 

She said Bloom’s decades of public service had been overshadowed by attacks on his Jewish identity. “Dr Bloom has been one of the strongest advocates for human rights and health rights across the board,” she said. “He is an anti-corruption activist who has fought for the betterment of society, and he certainly does not deserve the attacks on any front.” 

Michael Bagraim, the DA chief whip in Parliament, said the comments reflected prejudice rather than any assessment of Bloom’s record. “I presume he’ll do his job well,” Bagraim said. “He’s proved over 30 years that he does a good job. He hasn’t let his Judaism interfere with it in any way.” 

Bagraim said some of the online activity may have been amplified by automated accounts. “We suspect there might be one or two individuals who obviously aren’t happy and are antisemites. Then it might have been picked up by hundreds of bots, which is normally the case.” 

At the same time, Bagraim urged consistency in responding to prejudice, noting that some members of the Jewish community had made assumptions about Cassim based on his Islamic faith. He said criticism directed at politicians because of their religion was unacceptable regardless of whether the target was Jewish or Muslim. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. We shouldn’t really complain if we don’t first stop our own people doing that.” 

Bagraim also rejected suggestions that Bloom’s race should disqualify him from public office. “He is white and he is Jewish. They’re actually pointing out the obvious. When you make something of that, that’s the problem,” he said. 

The attacks on Bloom came less than a week after the DA condemned what it described as xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks directed at Cassim, the party’s Eastern Cape chairperson who has served as a member of Parliament before. 

Social media users questioned Cassim’s loyalty to South Africa, criticised his beard and appearance, and suggested he should not hold public office. 

Milner said the attacks on both Bloom and Cassim reflected a broader deterioration in online discourse. She added that South Africa had recently seen “an alarming rise in xenophobic, Afrophobic, and generally racist discourse on social and in traditional media”. 

Oppenheimer said dismissing a politician because of their religion was no different in principle from dismissing someone because of their race. “If someone dismissed Nelson Mandela’s many achievements merely because he was black, we would rightly recognise that as racism and hatred directed at a man deserving of respect,” he said. “In the same way, when antisemites dismiss Jack Bloom as ‘merely a Jew’ or as a puppet of the Israeli State, that prejudice should be rejected.”