Submitted Stories by Suzanne Belling RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Suzanne Belling
South African Jews aid refugees
South African Jews are aiding refugees from Zimbabwe and other neighboring countries who have been attacked in a wave of anti-migrant violence. Read more »
Shulamit’s seder
A family's Passover traditions go on thanks to a wondrous sister-in-law whose sun set far too early. Read more »
Israel on the job for South Africa
More South Africans may soon be going to work thanks to Israeli expertise in starting and developing small businesses. Read more »
Rabbi Cyril Harris, 69, of South Africa
Cyril Harris, the longtime chief rabbi of South Africa who shepherded his community along the country's tumultuous passage from apartheid to democracy, died at age 69 and was buried in Jerusalem. Read more »
S. African Jewish leader dies at 76
Leon Wilder, known to many as the father of the Cape Town Jewish community, died suddenly on Feb. 3 at 76. Wilder gained national and international recognition for his work on behalf of the Jewish community and Israel. Read more »
Bomb, fire force Israeli company to move in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, June 12 (JTA) — An Israeli shipping company in a Johannesburg suburb will move its offices after a bomb was discovered in a prestigious business complex located in the same street as a synagogue. Police are still investigating the cause of a fire at Rutherford Estate in Waverley, Johannesburg, and have not ruled out the possibility that a pipe bomb found at the scene could have been intended for an Israeli shipping company, Polaris Shipping. The branch manager of Polaris, Bruce Dorkin, said a gardener found the plastic pipe bomb, filled with gunpowder and encrusted with screws and nails, on Friday. A fire engulfed the office block the following day, causing extensive damage to about 10 offices, including those of Polaris. Dorkin said he is waiting for the results of the police investigation, but that he himself suspects both incidents are linked to the fact that the shipping line is Israeli. Polaris plans to move immediately to another area with tighter security, Dorkin said. "We did have 24-hour security linked to armed response, but we're obviously going to have to look at stricter measures," he said. Read more »
AROUND THE JEWISH WORLD
JOHANNESBURG, March 12 (JTA) – The Jewish chief justice of Zimbabwe has agreed to step down, giving in to the government of President Robert Mugabe in a standoff over enforcing the nation's laws. Anthony Gubbay, 68, agreed to go on immediate vacation until his retirement at the end of June, and will not preside over any more cases. The conflict between the judiciary and Mugabe's government erupted last year after white farmers challenged the invasion of their land by black "veterans" of the 1970s Zimbabwean war of independence. The "veterans" – only some of whom actually fought in the independence war – claimed that land reform instituted after Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 had not proceeded fast enough. Many regarded the land reform campaign as nothing more than an exercise by Mugabe to avoid defeat in last year's elections, the first time since Mugabe took power in 1980 that he faced a serious challenge. The country's highest court then heard two major cases that got Gubbay into trouble with the government. The first, brought by dispossessed white farmers, asked the court to order the eviction of the invaders, despite government measures to protect them. The second was an application by the narrowly defeated opposition party to order a recount in many key constituencies, following allegations of irregularities. Before the second application was heard, the government passed a law prohibiting any investigation of the irregularities and any vote recounts. Gubbay – born in Manchester, England – presided in both cases. In both cases, the court ruled against the government. Shortly after the judgments, the government verbally attacked "white and Asian judges" over the land issue. Analysts pointed out that the judges' independence had proved inconvenient to Mugabe, who ignored the court orders. Johannesburg Rabbi Ben Isaacson, who served as a rabbi in Zimbabwe for 12 years from 1987 and knows Gubbay, described him as a "gentleman." "He is a legal authority of international renown, a human being of great integrity and a man who does not sacrifice his principles on the altar of expediency," Isaacson said. Isaacson described Mugabe's actions as "thuggery," but pointed out that Mugabe does not target people because of their religion. "Judge Gubbay's religion, and that of his colleagues, has nothing to do with it," Isaacson stressed. "The removal of judges who rule against the lawlessly rampant regime resembles what the Nazis did in the 1930s." At the end of November, militants with the ruling Zanu Party "invaded" the Supreme Court in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, while police stood by. Though they did little damage, the militants disrupted court proceedings and sent a message of intimidation to the judiciary. In February, Gubbay asked Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to ensure the safety of the judges, indicating that otherwise they could not continue to serve. Chinamasa, a Mugabe ally, said he could not do so. An arrangement was made soon afterward for Gubbay to take early retirement, but later in February Gubbay's office said Chinamasa had not honored the arrangements and Gubbay would not resign. He defied a ministerial order to vacate his office until another arrangement was reached on March 2. Gubbay is expected to be replaced with a Mugabe loyalist. Zimbabwe's Jewish community is small, with only some 750 Jews remaining of the 6,000 who lived there two decades ago. Tony Leon, a Jew who heads South Africa's opposition Democratic Party, criticized the Zimbabwe government's conduct after a recent visit to South Africa's northern neighbor. "If the culture of impunity continues during the next 18 months to the general election, there will be very little to save in that country, and the effect on us will be great," Leon said. Instability in Zimbabwe can scare investors away from its southern neighbor, South Africa. To date, South Africa has preferred to use quiet diplomacy to influence the situation in Zimbabwe, though a more forceful diplomatic approach appears to be in the cards. While recognizing the need for land redistribution in both countries, few South Africans appear to support Mugabe's methods. Unusually, leaders of the South African judiciary have broken their silence on political issues to talk about developments in Zimbabwe. In a joint statement, the country's two top judges – Constitutional Court President Arthur Chaskalson, who is Jewish, and Acting Chief Justice Joos Hefer – said that "unless judges are allowed to fulfill their constitutional function independently" and "without interference from the government, their judgments will lose credibility and the rule of law will be irreversibly compromised." In a lecture last week, Chaskalson quoted American jurist Louis Brandeis. "If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law, it invites every man to become a law unto himself, it invites anarchy," he warned. Isaacson added: "The issue at stake is the thuggery of Mugabe, who, like Saddam Hussein and the other thugs of the world, will target anybody they feel like." Read more »
Ambassador tries to change perceptions in S. Africa
JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 6 (JTA) – Israel's new ambassador to South Africa faces a difficult task: convincing a government sympathetic to the Palestinian cause that the picture in the Middle East is complex. Ambassador Tova Herzl said last week at a lunch hosted by the South African Zionist Federation in Johannesburg, that she wants "to show the new elite in this country that the picture in the Middle East is not one-sided. "I would like them to realize things are not black and white – there are shades in the middle," Herzl said at the lunch, which introduced her to leaders of the Jewish community. "One side is not all bad and one side is not all good." Yet Herzl will face an uphill battle with officials who come from the African National Congress, whose former leader Nelson Mandela considers Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat a close friend and fellow revolutionary. Herzl doubts, for example, that she can persuade South Africa to support Israel in U.N. votes, "however brilliant or hardworking I am going to be." "It's not going to happen, and I don't think I should aim for that," she said. Rather, Herzl said, she would look for areas of mutual interest. "I should aim for what we have in common, where we can touch on each other," she said. As an example of cooperation, she cited a new Israeli task force on AIDS and malaria, an initiative in which Israeli experts might be able to help South Africa. The first woman appointed to the South African post, Herzl previously served for two years as minister for congressional affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. She had previously served as first and second secretary for congressional affairs in Washington from 1985 to 1988. Herzl is no stranger to South Africa. She attended Herzlia High School in Cape Town and graduated with a B.A. degree from the University of Cape Town when her late father, Moshe Herczl, served as director of the Cape Board of Jewish Education and spiritual leader of the Rondebosch Hebrew Congregation. Just the same, Herzl – who changed the spelling of her family name while in Israel – took pains to stress that she is Israeli, not South African. She said she had clarified this point when she presented her credentials to South African President Thabo Mbeki. If she manages to sensitize South African leaders to Israel's perspective on the Mideast conflict, Herzl said, she would have justified her day's salary. Read more »
Museum honors South African Jews
JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 17 (JTA) – Cape Town's new South African Jewish museum will play a vital role in ensuring that the Jewish contribution to the country's liberation struggle will not be forgotten, former President Nelson Mandela said. Mandela officially opened the museum at the Dec. 13 dedication ceremony. The museum was established with the help of the benefactor Mendel Kaplan, chairman of the World Jewish Congress' governing board. The museum, which includes interactive multimedia displays, traces the history of the local Jewish population and its contributions to South Africa. A highlight is a reconstructed Lithuanian shtetl. Most South African Jews trace their roots to Lithuania. "I want you to know that whatever differences we have, whatever quarrels, there is one thing we appreciate: the role that has been played by the Jewish community in this country," Mandela said, addressing a crowd of several hundred that included Kaplan; Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris; Albie Sachs, a Constitutional Court judge and former anti-apartheid activist; and opposition political leader Tony Leon. "There was a time when no lawyer in this country was prepared to take our cases, when only Jewish lawyers would defend us," Mandela said, referring to those who fought apartheid and aided Mandela's then-outlawed African National Congress. "Today we live in peace, and many people will have forgotten the role of the Jewish community," he said. "They have also played a very important role in the economy of the country, and it's a community which we respect and admire." Mandela also paid tribute to a veteran former legislator, Helen Suzman, for the "critical role she played in the struggle to defeat apartheid." Clasping her hand, he said, "I not only admire and respect you, I love you too." Mandela was presented with a gift made of Jerusalem stone, the material used in the construction of the museum. Museum founder Kaplan said the inordinately high proportion of Jews involved in both developing South Africa and joining the struggle for democracy could be explained by the fact that Jews, too, had been victims of historical persecution. He suggested that a further explanation could be found in the biblical injunction of Jeremiah to "seek the peace and the welfare of the country in which you live." Read more »
South Africa says it has no pro-Palestinian bias
JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 9 (JTA) – Jewish leaders here are concerned that the South African government has a pro-Palestinian bias in the ongoing Middle East conflict. After the ruling the African National Congress organized a Palestinian solidarity demonstration in Cape Town last month, officials from the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies met with Foreign Ministry officials in Pretoria to discuss their concerns. "We were given a wonderfully warm reception," the board's national chairman, Russell Gaddin, said after the recent meeting. "Their foremost agenda is Middle East peace, and they want to be even-handed." Gaddin also said the delegation was assured that "any anti-Israel feeling pertaining to Israel's links with the old South African government was yesterday's history." After the meeting, ministry officials and Jewish leaders issued a statement that both parties "make an earnest appeal to both the Muslim and Jewish communities in South Africa not to let the Middle East conflict lead to disturbances in South Africa. "Any statements, protests and demonstrations in favor of either side should be peaceful and non-provocative. We appeal to both sides in South Africa to ensure that their support for what happens in the Middle East should not inflame passions in our country and should ensure that civil peace will prevail." The ongoing violence was the subject of a heated debate last week in the Parliament, where some legislators were highly critical of Israel's role in the clashes. Gaddin later said he was "very disappointed" the debate ever took place. "To have such a debate was nothing less than opportunism to try and catch Muslim votes, particularly in Cape Town," where municipal elections are to be held in early December, Gaddin said. The Jewish leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance Party, Tony Leon, said that by debating the Middle East crisis, legislators from the ruling ANC were "importing foreign conflicts for domestic political gain." Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 05/24/12 @ 04:11PM EST
- Jewish groups called on Israel to protect African migrants in Israel after riots in Tel Aviv.
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel is returning campaign donations under investigation by federal authorities.
- A new survey suggests that Germans have lost some love for Israel over the past three years.
- An Arab-Israeli immigrant to the United States was found guilty of murder in Michigan.
- Israel's Arava Power Company has closed on financing for eight solar power projects worth $204 million.
- U.S. Jewish groups condemn anti-African violence in Tel Aviv
- Mandel returns funds under investigation
- Obama’s same-sex marriage nod echoes historic Catholic-Jewish debate
- Survey: Israel losing ground with Germans
- Israeli Arab guilty of murder in Michigan
- Israel’s Arava firm finances $204 million for solar projects
- Israel will solve African migrant problem, Netanyahu assures
- Senate distinguishes between Palestinian refugees and descendants
