It is not going to be possible for the ANC-led government of black people to remain neutral on the Russia-America conflict in Ukraine and then take sides on the Israel and Palestine issue. By all accounts, the government risks being rejected by the majority of its citizens as both the Biblical Israel and modern Jewish states have legitimate roots and links to the people of SA and their African ancestry and traditions.
It is impossible for the ANC to claim it is a government of the people and peace-loving only to remember certain aspects of its past and turn the nation against Israel. If the ANC claims the struggle of the people of Palestine is similar to its struggle with racial oppression, then the ANC should have never shared government with white people and should not have chosen to forgive American and European companies who supported the apartheid government.
In the first instance, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not a race issue because the Arabs and Jews are all children of Abraham. Second, as some would like to believe, this is not a religious conflict, but a human desire problem in the same way that the ANC would call for the return of land “stolen" or taken through colonialism and separate development.
It is self-defeating for a government led by black people who in the past also gained land through conquest and victory to now take a dangerous position that can threaten the founding principles of their existence as an outcome of Africanism all for the sake of certain details in their past.
Without a doubt, the selfish stance of the governing party, against Israel, stems from the later ideologies of armed resistance and extreme Pan-Africanism as a departure from the Christian and African values of its foundation. And in the final instance, the ANC and South African government must keep in mind that secularism begins and ends in government, including their fantasy constitution, and not in the minds and hearts of our people.
We all know that none of these notable and proudly African organisations ever managed to invade and win a war within apartheid or colonial SA; only the Christian faith of our people remained within SA and by 1990 only the US could outdo SA in terms of Christian activism. And of most importance, Africans have greater human-to-human relations with Jews than with Palestinians, because the Israelites were slaves in Africa, whereas the Arabs were one of the first people (with the assistance of Africans) to enslave Africans.
On the issue of sharing a history of struggling with racism, who else but the Jews can recount the brutality of European racism when they were nearly annihilated by the beliefs of Aryan white purity, which are relatives of all Germanic peoples under Nazism? The same Nazis assisted and trained the Afrikaner nationalists that developed and implemented apartheid policy, yet the ANC saw it fit to forgive and share a government with them in 1994, but surprisingly can not do the same for Israel.
It is easy to overlook such details when you have been in limbo and oppressed for so long and therefore in need of some greatness and self-definition. I do understand the difficulties of the Palestinian people, but if the Palestinians can bomb and kill Israelis then either remain neutral or give weapons to Palestine. It is not possible to say Israelis must fold their arms and be killed all for the sake of being accepted in the AU.
If we are neutral on the Russian military operation in Ukraine, then we must be neutral on the Israel-Palestinian situation. The ANC must not make their selective memory problem our conviction, we are not responsible for their insecurities.
• Moleko is a Sowetan reader
KHOTSO MOLEKO | The ANC must tread carefully before taking any sides
This this is not a religious or racial conflict
Image: Esa Alexander
It is not going to be possible for the ANC-led government of black people to remain neutral on the Russia-America conflict in Ukraine and then take sides on the Israel and Palestine issue. By all accounts, the government risks being rejected by the majority of its citizens as both the Biblical Israel and modern Jewish states have legitimate roots and links to the people of SA and their African ancestry and traditions.
It is impossible for the ANC to claim it is a government of the people and peace-loving only to remember certain aspects of its past and turn the nation against Israel. If the ANC claims the struggle of the people of Palestine is similar to its struggle with racial oppression, then the ANC should have never shared government with white people and should not have chosen to forgive American and European companies who supported the apartheid government.
In the first instance, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not a race issue because the Arabs and Jews are all children of Abraham. Second, as some would like to believe, this is not a religious conflict, but a human desire problem in the same way that the ANC would call for the return of land “stolen" or taken through colonialism and separate development.
It is self-defeating for a government led by black people who in the past also gained land through conquest and victory to now take a dangerous position that can threaten the founding principles of their existence as an outcome of Africanism all for the sake of certain details in their past.
Without a doubt, the selfish stance of the governing party, against Israel, stems from the later ideologies of armed resistance and extreme Pan-Africanism as a departure from the Christian and African values of its foundation. And in the final instance, the ANC and South African government must keep in mind that secularism begins and ends in government, including their fantasy constitution, and not in the minds and hearts of our people.
We all know that none of these notable and proudly African organisations ever managed to invade and win a war within apartheid or colonial SA; only the Christian faith of our people remained within SA and by 1990 only the US could outdo SA in terms of Christian activism. And of most importance, Africans have greater human-to-human relations with Jews than with Palestinians, because the Israelites were slaves in Africa, whereas the Arabs were one of the first people (with the assistance of Africans) to enslave Africans.
On the issue of sharing a history of struggling with racism, who else but the Jews can recount the brutality of European racism when they were nearly annihilated by the beliefs of Aryan white purity, which are relatives of all Germanic peoples under Nazism? The same Nazis assisted and trained the Afrikaner nationalists that developed and implemented apartheid policy, yet the ANC saw it fit to forgive and share a government with them in 1994, but surprisingly can not do the same for Israel.
It is easy to overlook such details when you have been in limbo and oppressed for so long and therefore in need of some greatness and self-definition. I do understand the difficulties of the Palestinian people, but if the Palestinians can bomb and kill Israelis then either remain neutral or give weapons to Palestine. It is not possible to say Israelis must fold their arms and be killed all for the sake of being accepted in the AU.
If we are neutral on the Russian military operation in Ukraine, then we must be neutral on the Israel-Palestinian situation. The ANC must not make their selective memory problem our conviction, we are not responsible for their insecurities.
• Moleko is a Sowetan reader
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