SA Jewish community slams Lamola’s denial of antisemitism in country
From: South African Jewish Report.
The South African Jewish community is calling on South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and the African National Congress government to stop dismissing antisemitism and to cease creating an environment that emboldens antisemites.
On BBC HardTalk this week, Lamola denied that there was any antisemitism in South Africa in spite of claims to the contrary by the Jewish community, saying it didn’t exist and implying it was all in our head.
Lamola was responding to a quote from Howard Sackstein’s opinion piece in the SA Jewish Report two weeks ago, in which he spoke about not feeling safe as a Jew in South Africa any more.
Karen Milner, the chairperson of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), contradicted Lamola, saying that in 2023, antisemitic incidents in South Africa had reached the highest level since the Board began compiling detailed lists from 1993.
From October to December 2023, there were 139 recorded incidents compared to 19 over the same period in 2022, an increase of 631%, she said.
“There was also a sharp increase in physical attacks against Jewish people or property, something which had occurred only rarely in previous years,” she said.
“There were six cases of physical assault, whereas the annual average had been only one in the preceding decade. These included two cases of assault outside a Johannesburg synagogue; an attack on a Johannesburg rabbi; and a person being hit over the head with a pole at a pro-Palestine rally in Cape Town.”
There was also vandalism, including damage and desecration to Jewish cemeteries in Pretoria and Durban.
The SAJBD monitors and records antisemitic activity in South Africa mainly through incidents being reported to it by community members and other Jewish institutions.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
