(NEWS) Anti-Israel Protesters Slam Cape Town Opera, In Israel

"A group of human rights campaigners have protested outside the Tel Aviv Opera House, denouncing the Cape Town Opera for what they say is its support of Israeli oppression of Palestinians, SA Artists Against Apartheid said on Tuesday.

The CTO was in Israel for its premiere of the opera 'Porgy and Bess' on Monday night.



Protesters parodied the songs featured in the opera to challenge theatregoers, spokeswoman Dasantha Pillay said in a statement.

They sang: 'Summertime Palestine, and the living ain’t easy. Apartheid, and the wall is so high, oh the world stands by and the US is funding, it’s time for us people to shout out and cry.

'Cape Town Opera say no, it ain’t necessarily so. Apartheid could end If you comprehend. And not just go on with your show. Boycott apartheid, Boycott apartheid. It's time to tell Israel, no.

'Palestine, life there is not easy. Fascism is at the door.'

Last month Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu asked the CTO to cancel its planned trip to Israel, saying it would be inappropriate and unconscionable. The opera rejected his call.



'Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel,' he said.

The opera's managing director Michael Williams recently said while it respected Tutu's views, it was 'first and foremost an arts company that believes in promoting universally held human values through the medium of opera'.

As such the opera was 'reluctant to adopt the essentially political position of disengagement from cultural ties with Israel or with Palestine,' Williams said.

Pillay said the performance of 'Porgy and Bess' in Israel, by singers from the CTO, drew harsh condemnation from human rights groups in Palestine, Israel and South Africa.

They had called on the CTO not to travel to Israel because of Israel's 'discriminatory laws, war crimes and because Palestinians living there would be barred from attending the opera', she said." (source)



Related Articles:

• Israel "Cape Town Opera" Tour Goes Ahead
• Chief Rabbi Of SA: An Open Letter To Desmond Tutu
• B'nai Brith Condemns Desmond Tutu's Israeli Boycott Efforts
• South African Opera Rejects Call To Cancel Israel Tour

(BLOG) Antisemitism In South Africa

"The level of government sponsored anti-semitism in South Africa has reached an all time high. The wording of these speeches is very reminiscent of the speeches made by the Ugandan government approximately 35 years ago, about the Asian community, before all Asians were expelled from Uganda. Quite frankly, some of the wording and suggested courses of action reminds one even of Germany in the early 1930s. Unfortunately Jews can no longer feel safe there.

AMERICA, as well as other Western countries,is in the grip of Jewish money power, declared Deputy Foreign Minister Fatima Hajaig before a deliriously cheering crowd in Lenasia last Wednesday night.



The occasion was a rally organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), in association with the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, SA Communist Party, SA Council of Churches and various sundry NGOs, social movements and academic activists. One of its key aims was to generate further momentum towards the institution of an economic, cultural and diplomatic boycott of Israel by South Africa, something long endorsed by Cosatu.

Hajaig, a veteran activist in the antiapartheid struggle noted for her vitriolic anti-Israel views, was appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs in November last year, replacing Aziz Pahad. Her address was replete with emotive and hyperbolic rhetoric against Israel, such as declaring that there has not been a single day since its creation when a Palestinian had not been killed or injured by it.

Her invocation of the spectre of Jewish money exercising its malign behind-the scenes influence in shaping world events, was greeted with a particularly enthusiastic roar of appreciation by the audience and was expressed in clear, unambiguous terms: 'They in fact control [America]', the deputy minister said, 'no matter which government comes in to power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush.

'The control of America, just like the control of most Western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money and if Jewish money controls their country then you cannot expect anything else.'

In addition to Hajaig’s conspiracy theorising, various other speakers at the Lenasia rally made threatening statements against the local Jewish community, inter alia that those with Zionist sympathies be expelled from the country, that 'Israeli' (in fact, Jewish-owned) businesses be boycotted and that action be taken against South African Jews who served in the Israeli military.



One presenter said: 'The common enemy is making inroads in South Africa... The Zionists in South Africa, must be kicked out of the shores of South Africa.' Another speaker praised 'our Jewish brothers and sisters' who had come out against the Israel Defence Forces, assuring them 'there is a place in the world we are building in South Africa for you'. Those who had not done so,he warned, had 'better watch out because the winds of change are blowing'.

Regarding local Jews allegedly serving in the IDF, another presenter shouted: 'We are going to become impimpis, the business that we are going to carry out with the Jews, with these Zionist entities. We are going to talk to them, we’re going to find out if their sons have gone to fight our brothers and sisters in Palestine and then we’ll say to them: ‘Come and fight us at home’.' Other speakers included ANC Provincial Secretary Nazeem Adams and Eddie Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Makue denied that the fight against Israel and Zionism was anti-Semitic, saying that he and his fellow activists only wanted to bring their 'Jewish brothers and sisters onto the right path.

'This is a global struggle. We are inviting you to join us in it, otherwise you will be mowed down in the annals of history as people who refuse to support justice and peace,' he said, to loud applause. Earlier this year, Hajaig provoked an official complaint by Israel to the South African Embassy in Tel Aviv for her effectively describing a senior member of the local Israel Embassy staff as being a token black whose appointment was due only to his race. This took place on December 29 at the conclusion of an acrimonious meeting demanded by Hajaig with newly-appointed Israel Ambassador to South Africa Dov Segev-Steinberg, during which she had lambasted Israel for its actions in Gaza.

Referring to Israel Embassy Spokesperson Elias Inbram, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, she asked the Ambassador: 'When your colleagues in Europe attend a meeting like this, do they also take someone along like the person sitting next to you?' When Segev-Steinberg queried what she meant by that remark, she remarked disparagingly to her colleague: 'I think we are dealing with an Ambassador here who doesn’t understand questions.'

Hajaig’s behaviour, together with the mounting incitement against the Jewish community resulting from the Gaza conflict, were among the urgent issues addressed by the SAJBD in its meeting with President Kgalema Motlanthe in Pretoria on Friday." (source)

(NEWS) Israel "Cape Town Opera" Tour Goes Ahead

"After a 'damaging uproar' over Cape Town Opera's tour to Israel that saw Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu labelled a 'bigot', opera managing director Michael Williams has written a letter of apology and will be meeting with Palestinian organisations, he told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday.

'I have the utmost respect for the archbishop,' said Williams. 'I certainly will not be associating with those who made comments that I thought was just distasteful and inappropriate.'



The apology comes at the urging of activist Zackie Achmat. The founder and chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign met with Williams and persuaded him to apologise to Tutu, a beloved public figure whose retirement in early October hasn't prevented him from voicing his beliefs.

The opera company initially refused a call by Tutu on October 27 to cancel their performance of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at the Tel Aviv Opera House from November 12 to 27. The visit is its first to Israel.

Tutu, an outspoken critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, wrote to the company, saying: 'Please, fine singers of the Cape Town Opera: Much as it offers you opportunities to travel abroad and show the world what we can do, listen to your conscience. God loves Jews and Muslims equally. To perform Porgy and Bess, with its universal message of non-discrimination, in the present state of Israel, is unconscionable.'

His request was politely denied in a statement by Williams on the Cape Town Opera's website.

'Cape Town Opera respects the views held by retired Archbishop Tutu,' he said. 'We are, however, first and foremost an arts company that believes in promoting universally held human values through the medium of opera and we are accordingly reluctant to adopt the essentially political position of disengagement from cultural ties with Israel or with Palestine.'

Debate turns ugly

He went on to add that the company 'welcomes the opportunity to perform within Palestine as well'.

However the debate quickly turned ugly.

Israel’s embassy in South Africa said Tutu's call would 'do nothing but increase the intense hatred between' Israelis and Palestinians, and social activist Rhoda Kadalie is reported to have called Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, 'a bigot'.

Kadalie herself is a former Human Rights Commissioner and currently the executive director of Impumelelo Innovations and Awards Trust.



Achmat slammed Kadalie's comments on his website Wrighting Rights, challenging her to a public debate.

'Kadalie's ... recent trip to Israel courtesy of the South African Zionist Federation and the Israeli government has helped her write propaganda to hide its crimes against humanity.'

Following the fall-out Achmat, together with Cape Town Opera's biggest sponsor Vivien Cohen, met with Williams in an attempt to cancel the tour.

'Something constructive'

Contractual commitments and obligations, however, made such a move impossible, both Achmat and Williams said.

Williams was nonetheless determined to turn the now controversial tour into 'something constructive'. He wrote to Tutu apologising that 'we were not able to accede to his wishes', and has since been in contact with several Palestinian organisations that the company will visit and work with on their tour.

This includes the the West-Eastern Divan youth orchestra, which trains young Palestinians, the Barenboim-Said Foundation, and a Palestinian circus school. Young people from the school will be flown into Israel, taught African dancing and would be included in the performance.

'Hamma Mumitz, the managing director of the Tel Aviv Opera, is arranging their tickets,' said Williams. 'She said to me: 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to use the tour to Israel to break down the wall between Palestine and Israel and build a bridge'?'

It is a sentiment Achmat hopes to see echoed by the rest of Cape Town Opera's leadership.

'We call on Cape Town Opera’s patrons, board, management and staff to support this stand by Michael Williams. We look forward to the immediate publication of the apology and commitment to meetings with Palestinian and Israeli groups struggling for a just peace,' Achmat and Cohen said in a joint statement to the M&G." (source)



Related Articles:

• Protesters slam Cape Town Opera in Israel
• Chief Rabbi Of SA: An Open Letter To Desmond Tutu
• B'nai Brith Condemns Desmond Tutu's Israeli Boycott Efforts
• South African Opera Rejects Call To Cancel Israel Tour
• Desmond Tutu Urges South African Opera Not To Tour Israel

(BLOG) Maurice Ostroff: An Open Letter To Saley's Travel Goods

This is an open letter to the Managing director of Saley's Travel Goods from Maurice Ostroff. It is in connection with the antisemitic response which Saley's sent to the South African Zionist Federation after they wanted to purchase goods from this Muslim owned store.



"By Maurice Ostroff: Congratulations on your brave refusal to continue to do business with a long-standing customer because of your antagonism to Zionism.

To ensure that your action is not a meaningless gesture, we look forward with great interest to seeing you demonstrate your sincerity and consistency by following through with a complete boycott of all Israeli products.

You can make an immediate start by examining your computer and throwing it out if it contains software or an Intel Pentium chip that was developed in Israel. Of course you should also avoid instant messaging based on ICQ, that was invented by Israeli teenager Arik Vardi and three friends. And you will of course avoid mobile telephony, developed in Israel by Motorola, the camera telephone chip and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) as used in Skype and similar applications.

You will be hard pressed to locate all the Zionist components in your Security Software, Network Firewalls, Anti-virus programs, System Software, Microsoft Operating Systems (XP and Vista), Google, Disk on Key and Wi-Fi, but I am sure you will assiduously check your equipment and rule out everything with Zionist roots.

Unless you do so thoroughly, it will appear that you don't have the courage of your convictions and that your refusal of the small SAZF order was an insincere gesture playing to the anti-Israel gallery. I could go on and on about the items you must avoid to be consistent in your attitude, but for humanitarian reasons you will be excused if for medical reasons you or members of your family use the "camera pill" developed in Israel to investigate the intestines painlessly by swallowing a pill containing a mini camera and transmitter.



Despite your anti-Zionist feelings, if you have a heart attack, don't hesitate to let the surgeon insert a stent, which was developed in Israel.You will also be excused if you or members of your anti-Zionist business use new Israeli methods to measure and inject insulin for diabetics or Copaxone to reduce the physical breakdown caused by MS and other MS medicines such as Betaseron and Avonex.

Similarly you will be excused for using Israeli developments in computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance systems (MRI), ultrasound scanners, nuclear medical cameras and laser surgery.

You will be excused too, if you use the Israeli developed Resperate, an interactive breathing device, for lowering blood pressure as well as treatments for cancer, diabetes, AIDS, auto immune diseases, Alzheimer, cardiovascular diseases and aging as well as the ReWalk, a robot suit that enables wheelchair users to walk, sit and stand again.

On second thoughts I suggest that it would be more rational to re-examine your prejudices and enter into a civil discourse with the Zionists. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that we have much in common and I would be happy to enter into a dialog with you about the issues on which you feel so strong.

This letter is being publicized as will the response I hope to receive from you.

Sincerely Maurice Ostroff."

(NEWS) South African Jews Use Web To Fight Apartheid Comparisons

"For Jews who lived through apartheid, claims that Israel is an apartheid state even more upsetting.

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies has recently gone online with its project www.letstalkisrael.com, a website intended to explicitly debunk claims that Israel is an apartheid state, an allegation frequently made by Israel’s detractors.

At a briefing session on South African Jewry Thursday at the World Jewish Congress’s New York office, South African Jewish Board of Deputies national director Wendy Kahn underscored the importance of the www.letstalkisrael.com project, calling the apartheid-Israel analogy a deeply flawed one, particularly for those who lived through apartheid."

(BLOG) Chief Rabbi Of SA: An Open Letter To Desmond Tutu

This letter is in connection with the recent call from Desmond Tutu for the Cape Town opera to boycott Israel and cancel their trip to Israel.

"By Warren Goldstein: Dear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, I write to you with a heavy heart.

You are a revered leader in South Africa, but recently have added your iconic voice to the campaign for sanctions against Israel.



Archbishop, I believe you are making a terrible mistake. Without truth there can be no justice, and without justice there can be no peace. The Talmud says: 'The world stands on three things: justice, truth and peace.' These three values are inseparable. Archbishop, I am convinced that the sanctions campaign against Israel is morally repugnant because it is based on horrific and grotesquely false accusations against the Jewish people.

The truth, archbishop, is that Israel is simply not an apartheid state. In the State of Israel all citizens – Jew and Arab – are equal before the law. Israel has no Population Registration Act, no Group Areas Act, no Mixed Marriages and Immorality Act, no Separate Representation of Voters Act, no Separate Amenities Act, no pass laws or any of the myriad apartheid laws.

Israel is a vibrant liberal democracy with a free press and independent judiciary, and accords full political, religious and other human rights to all its people, including its more than 1 million Arab citizens, many of whom hold positions of authority including that of cabinet minister, member of parliament and judge at every level, including that of the Supreme Court. All citizens vote on the same roll in regular, multiparty elections; there are Arab parties and Arab members of other parties in Israel’s parliament. Arabs and Jews share all public facilities, including hospitals and malls, buses, cinemas and parks. And, archbishop, that includes universities and opera houses.

The other untruth is the accusation of illegal occupation of Arab land. Like the apartheid libel, this is outrageously false. There is no nation that has a longer, deeper or more profound connection to its country than the Jewish people have to the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.

Archbishop, you and I as religious leaders always turn to the Bible as a source of truth. What does it mean that Israel is the 'promised land'? It means, as we both know, that it was promised by God to the Jews – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This promise was first fulfilled by God more than 3,300 years ago, when Joshua led the Jewish people into the land of Israel. Since then there has been an unbroken Jewish presence in the land, albeit small during the Roman exile.

All the books of the Old Testament – Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. – describe the deep connection between the Jews and the land of Israel, including the West Bank, known in the Bible as Judea and Samaria – the area that contained the great cities of the two previous Jewish commonwealths, such as Jericho, Shiloh (where the Tabernacle stood for hundreds of years), Beit El (where Jacob had his vision of the ladder) and Hebron (where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are buried with their wives Sarah, Rebecca and Leah).

Three thousand years ago, there was no London or Paris, no Washington or Moscow, no Pretoria or Cape Town, but there was a Jerusalem, capital of a Jewish state.

'If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning... if I fail to elevate Jerusalem above my foremost joy.' Those words from Psalms are recited by Jews at every wedding. At every funeral, the statement of comfort given to the mourners refers to Zion and Jerusalem. Jews pray for Jerusalem three times a day, and also after every meal.



Archbishop, the Arab/Israeli conflict is not a struggle against apartheid or occupation. It is a century- long war against the very existence of Jews and a Jewish state in the Middle East. There have already been seven major Arab/Israeli wars since the birth of modern Israel.

Today the front includes an alliance between Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, the latter now with 40,000 rockets aimed at Israeli cities. Iranian officers train Hizbullah forces, while Iran pursues nuclear weapons and openly declares its intention to wipe out Israel. Hamas, the terrorist Palestinian government in Gaza, sides with Iran and Hizbullah in rearming with the declared aim of destroying Israel.

Since 1967, one aspect of this century- long conflict has been the demand for a Palestinian state. In spite of the deep historical and religious roots of Jews in all of Israel, generations of Jewish leaders have been prepared, for the sake of peace, to give up ancestral and covenantal land to establish a Palestinian state.

SO WHY has there not been peace? The ANC taught us you can’t make peace on your own. No matter how deeply the ANC was committed to a peaceful resolution of the South African conflict, until the National Party was prepared to accept that black South Africans had a place in their own country, there could be no peace. And so too, until the Arab/Muslim world accepts that Jews have a right to a state of their own on their ancestral land, there will be no peace.

In 1948, the Jews accepted the UN resolution establishing a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, but the Arab world rejected it and five Arab countries invaded Israel to destroy it.

After that, the West Bank and Gaza were in Arab hands until 1967.

There was an opportunity then – every day for almost 20 years – to establish a Palestinian state. It never happened. And since then there have been numerous opportunities – each rejected by Arab leaders.

Why? Because this war has been more about the destruction of the Jewish state than about the establishment of a Palestinian state. Even today, so-called moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas denies Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

In 2000, the Palestinian leadership launched a massive wave of suicide bombers into Israel, leading to more than 1,300 civilian deaths and 10,000 injuries. Proportionately, such carnage in South Africa would mean more than 10,000 killed and over 80,000 injured! Israel erected a security fence with checkpoints to shield it from such attacks launched from the disputed territories.

Archbishop, you compare these checkpoints to apartheid South Africa. But they are not about pass laws, which don’t exist in Israel. The checkpoints are on the border between sovereign Israeli territory and the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza in order to keep civilians from being murdered, and have been very successful in doing so. These checkpoints – like those found in all airports – are there to prevent suicide bombers from blowing up innocent people.

Archbishop, do not bestow respectability on an immoral sanctions campaign that is an affront to truth and justice, which prevents peace and prolongs the terrible suffering of people on both sides of this painful conflict. Archbishop, let us pray for an end to all this agony, and for the fulfillment of the verse in Isaiah: 'And the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.'"



Related Articles:

• Israel "Cape Town Opera" Tour Goes Ahead
• B'nai Brith Condemns Desmond Tutu's Israeli Boycott Efforts
• South African Opera Rejects Call To Cancel Israel Tour
• Desmond Tutu Urges South African Opera Not To Tour Israel

(NEWS) B'nai Brith Condemns Desmond Tutu's Israeli Boycott Efforts

"B'nai B'rith International is deeply disappointed at retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu's effort to encourage a cultural boycott of Israel. Tutu urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a tour of Israel scheduled for November, condemning what he described in a statement as 'discrimination' in Israel.

Tutu also said Israel makes a 'fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.''

'It is unfortunate that Desmond Tutu is ill-informed and misled about Israel,' B'nai B'rith International President Dennis W. Glick said. 'Following his recent call for an academic boycott of Israel, he is working hard to delegitimize the Jewish state.'



This troubling campaign demonizes Israel and undermines peace efforts.
It is disturbing that Tutu fails to note that Israel is the most open and welcoming nation in the Middle East; a democracy where Israeli Arabs have full voting rights. Israel provides access in its capital to all religions to worship at holy sites.

In condemning Israel, Tutu ignores reality: Israel has pressed for peace with the Palestinians over and over, only to be met with excuses and stall tactics, as well as rockets, mortars, and savage terrorist attacks. Tutu's failure to condemn the terror group that calls for Israel's destruction, Hamas, is curious.

'His claim to being an advocate for peace is once again being brought into question. He should focus on engagement, rather than efforts to delegitimize one of the parties to the process,' B'nai B'rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. 'He should use his microphone to promote peace, not restrictions.'

B'nai B'rith commends the Cape Town Opera's decision to reject the boycott calls and travel to Israel to perform as planned.

B'nai B'rith International, the Global Voice of the Jewish Community, is the oldest and most widely known Jewish humanitarian, human rights, and advocacy organization. For 167 years, BBI has worked for Jewish unity, security, continuity, and tolerance.A" (source)



Related Articles:

• Chief Rabbi Of SA: An Open Letter To Desmond Tutu
• Israel "Cape Town Opera" Tour Goes Ahead
• South African Opera Rejects Call To Cancel Israel Tour
• Desmond Tutu Urges South African Opera Not To Tour Israel

(NEWS) South African Opera Rejects Call To Cancel Israel Tour

"Desmond Tutu says by bringing int'l artists to perform, TA Opera House 'advances Israel's fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.''

Cape Town's renowned opera troupe has rejected a call from retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu to cancel a performance in Israel scheduled next month.

The opera's managing director Michael Williams said in a statement Wednesday that the opera would not take a political position and cut cultural ties with Israel or the Palestinian territory."





Related Articles:

• Protesters slam Cape Town Opera in Israel
• Israel "Cape Town Opera" Tour Goes Ahead
• Chief Rabbi Of SA: An Open Letter To Desmond Tutu
• B'nai Brith Condemns Desmond Tutu's Israeli Boycott Efforts
• Desmond Tutu Urges South African Opera Not To Tour Israel

(NEWS) South African Zionist Federation Decides On Action Against "Saleys Travel Goods" - UPDATED

"The South African Zionist Federation on Tuesday said it has not decided on a course of action against Saleys Travel Goods.

The federation approached the Muslim-owned store for a consignment of bags for a conference and Saleys’ staff quoted on the federation’s request. But the company faxed the invoice to the federation with a handwritten message saying 'PLEASE DON'T PAY!! Don't contaminate our account with your blood money!' scribbled across the document.

The pro-Muslim Media Review Network has praised the store’s managers for taking a stance against what they believe is Israel’s occupation of Gaza and for supporting anti-Israeli propaganda and boycotts.

According to staff at Saleys, the owners are currently out of the country.

The federation’s Avrom Krengel said they are still considering whether to take legal action." (source)

Here is a copy of the invoice which Saley's Travel Goods sent back to the Zionist Federation.

Click the image to enlarge...

(NEWS) Desmond Tutu Urges South African Opera Not To Tour Israel - UPDATED

"Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who earned a Nobel for his peaceful opposition to apartheid, is urging the Cape Town Opera troupe not to tour Israel until discrimination there ends.

In a statement Tuesday Tutu compared the troupe's visit next month to international artists performing in apartheid South Africa.

He says it would be 'unconscionable' to perform 'Porgy and Bess,' which he says has a 'universal message of nondiscrimination.'

Tutu charges that by bringing international artists to perform, the Tel Aviv Opera House 'advances Israel's fallacious claim to being a 'civilized democracy.''

Tutu has emerged as a sharp critic of Israel. Last month, he backed calls for a South African academic boycott of Israel." (source)

UPDATE: Click here to see the letter that was sent from Palestinians to the Cape Town Opera. Of course the usual mention of "Apartheid" is included in the letter as the only way to fool them into canceling it, how lame do these people get?



Related Articles:

• Protesters slam Cape Town Opera in Israel
• Israel "Cape Town Opera" Tour Goes Ahead
• Chief Rabbi Of SA: An Open Letter To Desmond Tutu
• B'nai Brith Condemns Desmond Tutu's Israeli Boycott Efforts
• South African opera rejects call to cancel Israel tour

(BLOG) South African Anti-Boycott Of Israel Petition

"In the wake of a decision by University of Johannesburg's faculty Senate to 'sever a longstanding relationship with an Israeli university unless certain conditions are met,' South African university students and others are pushing back against what they call the 'double standard ... used as a weapon to demonize a state and her people.'

The Coalition for Clean Water, a student initiative, is circulating a petition strongly condemning the singling out of Israel, which it says harms South African society and deprives the country of much-needed technological innovations.

You can read and sign that petition below." (source)



Petition Letter

"Dear signatory, please when signing the petition sign your full name. If you hold a position of any importance such as a lecturer, rabbi, pastor etc. or belong to an organisation, please put this in the column entitled 'title'.

---------------

To: South African Universities

We the undersigned, strongly oppose any boycotts divestment and sanctions targeting the state of Israel and her people. We believe that in order to achieve peace dialogue must be enhanced and not curtailed. In a conflict of the complexity of that of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it is not the place of the international community to unilaterally punish and condemn a single party to the conflict, nor is it our duty to impose a solution upon them.

Furthermore, we unequivocally condemn the unjust singling out of Israel. While any unjust act should be condemned, including Israel’s, it seems that our institutions are intent on perpetuating a double standard, which is being used as a weapon to demonize a state and her people.

We believe that isolation will impede dialogue, reducing the incentives of the parties to engage peacefully. Boycotts promote an atmosphere of pessimism – predicated on the failure of dialogue.

Nor are we willing to tolerate the irreparable damage boycotts have on South African society. Thousands of South Africans stand to benefit from the technological advancements of Israel, these benefits will be denied to them by those few responsible for a decision to boycott Israel.

We therefore call on our institutions to continue and expand their ties with Israeli and Palestinian institutions and promote a message of peace and unity.
Sincerely,

The Undersigned" (source)

Click Here to sign the petition.

Click Here to view current signatures.

(NEWS) 1400 South African Evangelicals Hold Gospel Gathering In Israel

"1,400 Evangelical Christian from South Africa gather in Israel for 3 evenings of worship, devotion in Jerusalem then week of touring country.

A group of 1,400 Evangelical Christian from South Africa gathered in Israel this week for three evenings of worship and devotion in Jerusalem’s Old City and a week of touring the country. The Christian pilgrims, who arrived in 34 groups on a series of flights earlier this week, plan to express their love and support for the State of Israel during their countrywide visit.

The delegation will participate in Gospel concerts at the walls of the Old City that feature leading Gospel singers from South Africa, accompanied by the Tourism Ministry choir and an evening of praise and worship in the desert near Ein Gedi."

(NEWS) South African Museum To Juxtapose Holocaust With Rwandan Genocide

"CAPE TOWN, South Africa (JTA) -- At a South African Holocaust museum that plans to open late next year in Johannesburg, the Holocaust will be featured beside a more local genocide: the Rwandan violence of 1994.

The inclusion of the African mass murder is not a mere gesture toward political correctness in what will be the third Holocaust museum in Africa. Rather it will be an integral part of the planned Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

'The Rwandan section is a prominent part of the permanent exhibition, not an afterthought,' said center director Tali Nates. 'It will be a shared museum.'"

(NEWS) South African University Puts Ben-Gurion University On Notice

"The University of Johannesburg's faculty Senate voted to sever a longstanding relationship with an Israeli university unless certain conditions are met.

Voting on the university's relationship with Ben-Gurion University, the Senate required that the two institutions amend their joint Memorandum of Understanding to include Palestinian universities, according to a statement released Sept. 29 by the University of Johannesburg.

Additionally, the South African university said it would not engage in any activities with Ben-Gurion that have direct or indirect military implications."

(NEWS) South African University Rejects Boycott Of Israel

"University of Johannesburg professors rejected propsal, endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to cut ties with Ben-Gurion University.

University of Johannesburg professors rejected calls to sever ties with an Israeli university Wednesday, but called on Ben-Gurion University to work with its Palestinian counterparts.

The South African university's faculty senate met Wednesday to vote on the proposal, which had been endorsed by anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but instead accepted a compromise without a vote. They asked Ben-Gurion University to work with Palestinian universities on research projects, and to start the collaborations within six months if it wants to maintain ties with the University of Johannesburg."

(NEWS) Ben Gurion University Fights South African Academic Boycott Campaign

"Ben-Gurion president says claims that university is accomplice to Apartheid gov't 'totally false, based on prejudice.'

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev hit back on Sunday at a South African campaign to launch a partial boycott against the university, saying that the initiative is based on 'ignorance and prejudice.'

The boycott campaign being proposed by certain political elements in South Africa would apply pressure on the University of Johannesburg to boycott BGU and nix a collaboration agreement between the two schools."

(NEWS) Cape Town Jews Get Ready To Swing, Hop, & Eat Pizza In The Hut

"Around the globe, Jews are preparing for the upcoming Yom Kippur and Sukkot holy days. Israel National News spoke with Rabbi Mendel Popack, who heads the Chabad House in Cape Town, South Africa, to focus on what is happening there.

'We have several events planned this year,' said Rabbi Popack. 'Tomorrow morning 150 Jews are gathering in our courtyard to perform the traditional kaparot (atonement) ceremony, which involves swinging a live chicken above one's head and saying the kaparot prayer.' (The idea being that any harsh decrees that the person deserved be transferred to the animal, in the merit of this mitzvah of charity.)"

(NEWS) South Africa Blocks Burning Of Bibles

"Businessman Mohammed Vawda planned on burning Bibles as response to Florida pastor's threat to burn copies of Koran on September 11 anniversary. Johannesburg court blocks initiative, issues injunction.

While there has been no burning of Korans yet, the radical act proposed by American pastor Terry Jones has already ignited protest around the world. A South African businessman had plans to burn copies of the Bible in response to Jones' threats, however a Johannesburg court prevent the move.

South African high court judge Sita Kolbe issued a warrant prohibiting Mohammed Vawda from burning copies of the Bible. 'Judge Kolbe ruled that freedom of expression is not unlimited if one exercises freedom of expression that is harmful to others,' lawyer Yasmin Omar of the Scholars of the Truth organization said."

(NEWS) Israeli Envoy: South African Bias Against Israel ‘Disappointing’

"Israel's envoy to South Africa said the country's recent bias against Israel is not helping to advance peace in the Mideast.

'It is disappointing that the last few months have seen a disturbing and growing tendency by South Africa aligning itself with those critical of Israel,' Dov Segev-Steinberg told about 1,000 delegates attending a meeting of the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies, the country's Jewish umbrella organization. '[It] does little to advance the cause of peace nor South Africa’s contribution towards it.'

Paul Mashatile, the South African deputy minister of arts and culture and Gauteng provincial chairman of the ruling African National Congress, was in the audience."

(NEWS) South African Controversy Over 'Eruv' For Jews

"The Orthodox Jewish community of Johannesburg, South Africa is facing flak over the erection of poles used in the traditional 'eruv' which designates the Jewish legal demarcation within which a Jew can carry on the Sabbath.

The Greenside Hebrew Congregation has come under fire from local residents about its use of the 5.4-meter (17.7-foot) poles due to fears they present a security risk. It is not unusual for South African police to report up to 50 murders per day in the country."