Will pro-Hamas-linked South Africans face US sanctions?

If anyone thinks relations between Pretoria and Washington are at rock bottom, there may be new depths to plumb yet. On top of the withdrawal of aid; 30% tariffs; and the United States’ dissatisfaction with South Africa’s closeness to Russia, China, Iran, and Hamas, more scrutiny and possible punishment of South Africa is looming.

A hawkish American think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), has just published a report titled Hiding in Plain Sight: A Playbook for Combating Hamas in South Africa. It details the extensive ties of the African National Congress (ANC) to Iran and purported links to Hamas against several South Africans. It calls for sanctions against Emad Saber, Hamas’s representative in South Africa; the Al-Quds Foundation of South Africa; and activist cleric Ebrahim Gabriels. The FDD also calls for further investigation into the director of Gift of the Givers, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman; Mandla Mandela; and the Media Review Network. The FDD report calls for South Africa to designate Hamas a terrorist group, and publicly distance itself from Tehran. But what’s behind this report, and what influence does the FDD have?

One of the report’s coauthors, David May, told the SA Jewish Report that South Africa is trying to get off the greylist of the Financial Action Task Force, which has raised serious questions about money laundering and terrorist financing in the country. South Africa has been dubbed a “risky jurisdiction” for financial institutions. Said May, “The government’s decision effectively to act as Hamas’s lawyer on an international stage raised the country’s profile. By not recognising Hamas as a terrorist group, Pretoria has allowed Hamas to operate freely, spreading propaganda and developing networks in South Africa.

“Ultimately, pressuring Pretoria to combat terrorist financing will benefit South Africa as a whole, including its Jewish community,” May said. “And restricting the ability of the Hamas network in South Africa to operate will make South Africa’s Jews safer” from growing Israel hatred, especially since 7 October 2023 and the ensuing war in Gaza.

“As the ANC leadership grows more unpopular, and as its rampant corruption sets back the country further, it will continue to lean on its pro-Palestinian advocacy as a distraction, and continue to grow closer to despotic, anti-Western powers,” he said. “Unless there’s a dramatic change in leadership in South Africa – or consequences for failed policies and failed leadership – expect US-South African relations to decline further. The deterioration in relations is a completely unforced error on the part of Pretoria.” He said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House had negligible impact.

“Pretoria has long hidden behind its excuse that it follows United Nations Security Council sanctions, which don’t include Hamas. This paper-thin defence does nothing to address the various Hamas-linked groups and individuals operating in South Africa,” May said. “Its actions in defence of Hamas encourage the terrorist group to immiserate Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Former US diplomat and writer J Brooks Spector called the FDD report “sharply worded”. He noted that the FDD, founded nearly 25 years ago, has a record of strongly pro-Israel and anti-Iran positions, ardently opposing the nuclear deal negotiated with Iran during the Obama presidency.

How much clout does the FDD wield in Trump’s Washington? “As a group historically aligned to the neo-conservative wing – as opposed to the ‘Make America Great Again’ [MAGA] or America First parts of Republican thinking – it’s not entirely clear how closely the FDD is connected to the Trump presidency,” even with the administration’s backing of Israel’s government [for now],” Spector said.

In this new report, he said, “Hamas, and its connections to various South African figures, comes in for particularly harsh criticism. The report focuses on the way the South African government and various non-government individuals have allegedly become close to Hamas and allied bodies.” But he asks, “Should any level of engagement with Hamas serve as the only litmus test for improving relations with the US?”

While countries can choose their own friends, this may have a price tag. The FDD is proposing sanctions on individuals and the government as consequences of Pretoria’s closeness to Hamas, and hoping that South Africa will change its ways.

Michael Walsh, a senior research consultant at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, expressed concern that some claims made in the FDD report hadn’t been scrutinised enough. He noted that the claims against these individuals “have been circulating around Washington for some time” but are hard to verify solely based on open sources. Walsh took a different tack, recommending that the US government “be tasked with comprehensively determining whether those sorts of individuals and entities meet the criteria for US sanctions. The logic was that US agencies would almost certainly have to verify all the truth claims made in the report in the process. He stresses the need for caution in this area.

Max Meizlish, a senior research analyst at the FDD and co-author of the report, however, noted that the individuals and entity identified as potentially viable sanctions targets have what he describes as “clear and self-admitted ties to Hamas.” According to Meizlish, who is a former sanctions official with the US Treasury Department, “Emad Saber has appeared on South African television broadcasts as the international relations director for Hamas in East, Central, and Southern Africa.” Meanwhile, according to Meizlish, “Al-Quds Foundation South Africa identifies itself as the South African branch of Al-Quds International Foundation.” The US Treasury Department sanctioned Al-Quds International Foundation in 2012, alleging it is controlled by and acting on behalf of Hamas. Meizlish went on to note that Ebrahim Gabriels, the South African group’s director, “has been vocal in his support for Hamas and could be sanctioned himself for operating on behalf of or supporting Hamas.”

Walsh notes that there have been several problematic claims made recently about the ANC, South African government, and corporate links to Iran and the militias it backs. “At this point,” Walsh said, “It’s incumbent on the independent media to invest the time and effort to analyse critically any new claims that are made about the nexus between the ANC, the South African government, and Hamas.”

South Africans clearly need to take these claims seriously, and demand answers from their government.