Africans for Israel
Mangosuthu Buthelezi is right. It is tragic that he is one of the few political leaders anywhere in the world willing to enunciate this truth. “SA’s very own ‘Made in Israel’ war of words,” by Osiame Molefe for Eyewitness News, June 29 (thanks to A):
The exact wording proposed is unclear, but a notice issued by the trade and industry department that goods imported from Israel and manufactured in the Israeli-occupied territories ought to be labelled as such has been met by protest.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, the African Christian Democratic Party, the South African Zionist Federation and the Shembe Church – dubbing themselves “Africans for Israel” – on Thursday marched to the trade and industry department’s head office in Pretoria to demand that minister Rob Davies withdraw the notice.
According to ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe – whose human rights record includes opposition to gay rights and condom distribution and who supports the death penalty – the notice “is discriminatory, indefensible and part of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to isolate and delegitimise Israel.”
Davies’ action is yet another indication that the South African government has taken Palestine’s side in the conflict, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi added. He also claimed that the notice had no basis in law.
“Our government has maintained an unstated position with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has made no effort to conceal the fact that it supports the Palestinian cause. One seldom hears an unbiased statement in Parliament. Our government has taken sides,” he said.
Buthelezi also likened the consumer boycotts against the re-labelling to those preceding the persecution of Jews and the Holocaust in Germany….
Of course. The National Socialists of Germany initiated the first BDS movement, calling on Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses: