South African Jews condemn Haniyeh invite

South African Jews condemned the country’s intelligence minister for inviting the Palestinian Authority prime minister from Hamas to visit.Ronnie Kasrils, a Jewish lawmaker known for his anti-Zionist views, extended the invitation to Ismail Haniyeh at a joint news conference in Gaza last week. Kasrils also called on the international community to lift the embargo on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority that it imposed when Hamas, a terrorist group, took power last year.”Expressing support for an organization whose very founding charter describes the Jewish people as fundamentally evil enemies of humanity and calls for their total annihilation fundamentally contradicts both the ideals of South Africa and of the ruling ANC itself,” Michael Bagram, national chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said in a release.The ANC is the African National Congress, South Africa’s ruling party.