Pro- and anti-Israel emotions ran high at rallies in South African cities over the weekend.
About 2,000 demonstrators, some wearing kaffiyehs, protested the war against Iraq by burning replicas of American and Israeli flags at a rally Sunday in a sports stadium in Athlone, near Cape Town. The district is home to the majority of South Africa’s 750,000 Moslems.
About 5,000 members of the African National Congress celebrating the organization’s 79th birthday at a rally at Soweto’s Jabulani stadium, carried posters with messages such as “We Love You, Saddam.”
Solly Sacks, chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, said, “Anti-Israel, anti-Jewish sentiments are nothing new, but they’re being expressed more vociferously at the moment.”
Security was increased at synagogues all over the country after about 150 people were arrested at a demonstration outside the U.S. Mission in Cape Town last week.
An all-night vigil Sunday night outside the Oxford Synagogue in Johannesburg was well attended. It was organized by the South African Union of Jewish Students to express solidarity with Israel.
The gathering was addressed by prominent local Jews including Sacks; South Africa’s ambassador-designate to the United States, Harry Schwartz; and Rabbi Cyril Harris, chief rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues.
Sacks acknowledged that Jewish community leaders have made no direct attempts to meet with local Moslem leaders. “We’re not sure it would serve any purpose,” he said.
ANTI-JEWISH SENTIMENTS ESCALATING
Rabbi Norman Bernhard of the Oxford Synagogue said, “Obviously, the burning of Israeli flags and the shouting of ugly slogans is distasteful, and we are clearly concerned about ANC and Moslem reactions to events in the Gulf.”
The rabbi observed, “We have enough problems here without external events serving to drive further wedges between local groupings. This seems to be yet another bump along the road to a new South Africa.”
Ibrahim Kharsany, managing director of the Johannesburg-based Islamic Bank, has warned that “existing strong anti-Jewish sentiments in the local Moslem community are escalating and gaining momentum countrywide.”
“There is a lot of anger directed at the United States, particularly since the reaction to the occupation of Kuwait has been entirely different from that of the Israeli occupation. Israel and the United States are seen to be in collusion,” he said.
The ANC’s welfare chief, Winnie Mandela, said the United States had no right to be in the Persian Gulf and the war would lead to the continued suffering of the Palestinian people.
The ANC has called for an immediate end to the Gulf war and opposes the government’s offer to the United States to use South African harbors and air bases if necessary.
Foreign Minister Roloef (Pik) Botha and Defense Minister Magnus Malan have said South Africa would provide whatever assistance was necessary to the U.S.-led coalition in the Gulf.
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