CAPE TOWN (JTA) — An e-mail campaign is urging South Africans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses.
According to a report in The Times of South Africa, the unsigned e-mail calls on consumers not to support businesses "affiliated to those who believe incendiary-bombing helpless children is justified."
Naming chains with what it calls "Jewish connections," the chain e-mail reads, "When you transact with these businesses, know that your money may be partly paying for the next bomb killing innocent children in Gaza."
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies condemned the campaign. Board chairman Zev Krengel said it was "a frightening thought that there are people with such hatred." Krengel adds later, "If you juxtapose the word Jew with black you get racism in its purest form."
The Palestine Solidarity Committee of South Africa labeled the e-mail "irresponsible" and "racist." ASpokesperson Na’eem Jeenah said that his organization’s "solidarity action was against the State of Israel and Zionism, not against Jewish people."
