Undetonated Cape Town bomb ‘100% a terrorist attack’

An Israeli anti-terrorism organisation has confirmed that the attempted attack on the Cape Town Jewish community office building in December 2024 was undoubtedly an act of terror conducted by “Islamic extremists”. 

The Israel Law Centre, known as Shurat HaDin, conducted an independent forensic investigation into the attempted bombing that took place a year and a half ago. Shurat HaDin is at the forefront of fighting terrorism and safeguarding Jewish rights worldwide, using the law. 

The organisation’s president, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, told the SA Jewish Report this week that the 2kg improvised explosive device (IED) thrown into the Jewish centre contained “very real and very powerful explosives”. 

While the device failed to detonate, Darshan-Leitner confirms it was an attempted terrorist attack. “One hundred percent, the intent was to bomb this Jewish community location,” she says. “They wanted to kill individuals and destroy Jewish property. It was an attempted act of mass murder. Fortunately, it failed.” 

Shurat HaDin investigators were able to trace the movement of a small group of perpetrators, says Darshan-Leitner. “They documented their movements and surveillance, their placing of the explosive device, and their fleeing the scene of the crime.” The findings were based upon “advanced technological mapping”. 

She says the individuals involved are “Islamic extremists, radicalised against the Jewish community and Israel”. 

“They decided that they will personally take ‘revenge’ and try to kill South African Jews and destroy Jewish property to express their hate and anger over the events in the Middle East. They are extremely dangerous, fanatical, and determined,” she says. 

Darshan-Leitner says individuals in the Israeli government informed Shurat HaDin about the attempted bombing. Shurat HaDin conducted its work on the matter after “a Jewish businessman said he wanted to carry out a private investigation”. 

Based in Tel Aviv, Shurat HaDin works with Western intelligence agencies, law-enforcement branches, and a network of volunteer lawyers to combat antisemitism, extremist hate, and delegitimisation, as well as to defend the diaspora Jewish community from violence. 

Back in South Africa, the investigation was handed over to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) soon after the attack, but there have been no public updates on the Hawks’s investigation. 

About six weeks after the attempted attack, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein announced that he was inviting a counter-terrorism task force to assist with the investigation, and to make recommendations to protect places of worship, schools, and community centres. The SA Jewish Report asked the chief rabbi if the Shurat HaDin report was part of the task force’s findings, but he chose not to respond. There have been no public updates from this task force. 

Darshan-Leitner says the South African Police Service (SAPS) acknowledged receiving the report initially, but has not responded since. “They are ghosting us, and from our vantage point, they are ignoring the evidence and information provided to them,” says Darshan-Leitner. “They are on notice about who carried out this terrorist attack.” 

She says Shurat HaDin is actively trying to follow up and ensure the SAPS doesn’t ignore the report. “We will not allow this to be buried because it’s not politically convenient to investigate, ascertain the information provided, and make arrests.” 

Shurat HaDin is also asking organisations and officials in South Africa and abroad to inquire about the status of the investigation in Cape Town. “We contend that there are dangerous Islamic terrorists still pursuing attacks on the Jewish community, and no one is acting.” 

Darshan-Leitner is calling on everyone in South Africa, Jewish and not Jewish, “to demand that the terrorists be arrested and imprisoned”. 

“Today they are targeting Jews, but tomorrow these Islamic extremists will carry out attacks on churches and schools,” says Darshan-Leitner. “It always starts with violence against the Jewish community and then spreads. We are seeing this in Europe, Scandinavia, and South America. We cannot let an attempted bombing like this be officially ignored.” 

At the time of the attack, the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape SAJBD) said it was “working together with all sectors of the security cluster to secure the safety of the Jewish community in Cape Town”. 

Cape SAJBD executive director Daniel Bloch told the SA Jewish Report, “Over the past year and a half, the Cape SAJBD has remained in constant communication with the relevant security clusters, law-enforcement authorities, and the Office of the Mayor regarding the incident and broader security concerns affecting the community.” 

Bloch says the Cape SAJBD welcomes any new evidence or investigative leads that may assist law-enforcement authorities in “identifying specific suspects and establishing accountability”. 

He says several international organisations have offered investigative support and assistance to South African law-enforcement authorities, including the Hawks, in relation to the matter. 

The property into which the IED was thrown contains offices for most Jewish community organisations in Cape Town, including a women’s group, a youth movement, a fundraising organisation, and a Jewish newspaper. An antizionist protest was planned to take place outside the same address a few days after the attempted attack, highlighting the building as a target. The building has since erected high fences on top of its boundary walls, preventing items from being thrown in. 

Shurat HaDin intends to share its findings with relevant stakeholders in the United States, Israel, and Europe, and will continue to monitor developments in the case. 

Bloch says “the Jewish community, like all communities in South Africa, has the right to live, worship, and conduct its affairs free from threats of violence and intimidation”. 

The SA Jewish Report reached out to the SAPS and the Hawks regarding the Shurat HaDin report and its investigation, but did not receive a response by the time of going to print.