JEFF KATZ
We have also seen the appearance of a number of overtly partisan opinion pieces condemning the creation of Israel and the supposed swing towards moderation by Hamas.
The Board, working together with the SAZF, has devoted a great deal of effort to countering this bias, arranging for responses – usually written by members of our staff – to appear in the relevant publication or releasing press statements presenting the Israeli perspective when required.
In the environment in which we live, it is inevitably an uphill battle, but our voice is being heard on a regular basis and the other side is certainly not having everything its own way.
Our South African Jewish heritage
There will always be times when we are called upon to respond to attacks on our deeply-held Jewish loyalties and beliefs. This must never, however, be allowed to interfere with our living a full, committed Jewish life, whether in the religious, Zionist, cultural or other such fields.
While upholding the safety and civil rights of SA Jewry is the central mandate of the SAJBD, our work is not exclusively reactive and defensive. We also involve ourselves in a range of heritage and education-related initiatives, sometimes independently, at other times in collaboration with our affiliate organisations.
Our members regularly speak at communal gatherings, we have a weekly ChaiFM show on topics of Jewish interest hosted by Charisse Zeifert and our journal, Jewish Affairs, is acknowledged to be South Africa’s leading Jewish historical, cultural and current affairs journal.
Most recently, as reported last week, we partnered with the SA Jewish Museum in bringing the acclaimed “Goldene Medina” exhibition to Johannesburg.
Important though it is not to allow negative sentiment against our community to impact on the way we conduct ourselves as Jews, a note of caution should be sounded. Standing up for who we are does not mean neglecting to take necessary and sensible precautions in the way that we conduct ourselves in the public realm.
This relates in particular to how we use online communications. Community members need to be constantly aware that whatever they post on the social media and other online platforms, is thereby placed in the public domain, accessible to anyone who might try to use such information to cause harm to them or to the Jewish community at large.
In addition to possible acts of anti-Semitism, this may involve attempted fraud, sexual grooming and other such dangers. We therefore need to be very circumspect about the kind of information that they post online, whether personal or community-related.
Additionally, we should decide who we want to have access to what we publish, and implement the necessary safeguards to prevent other Internet users from doing so.
- Listen to Charisse Zeifert on Jewish Board Talk, 101.9 ChaiFM every Friday 12:00-13:00
nat cheiman
May 20, 2017 at 12:44 pm
‘Pizza Hut, in Israel scored big on Barghoutis \”hunger strike\”.
The liberal media would rather condemn Israel, than see the true facts . Indeed, the humour of the \” hunger strike\” became evident when I saw Pizza Hut’s advert showing the terrorist Barghouti, eating in his cell.
And so it is with Ramaphosa and the few in government and the ANC, who sided with the terrorists \”hunger strike\”.
These intellectually deficient politicians have cooperatively helped Zuma and the ANC bring SA to its Junk Status rating.
It figures then, that these same politicians that have so little acumen and understanding about how their own country should be run, should support and embrace terrorists and an ideology which is toxic to say the least.’