NO SOONER had the principal of the posh girls school, Roedean resigned, following a debacle over tennis, where the school at first refused to play Jewish scholars at King David, “because they were Jewish”, then issued a series of communiques before resorting to an embarrassing apology, persons such as former Democratic Alliance MP Ghaleb Cachalia were penning open letters.

Cachalia’s letter follows a similar letter by Nigel Branken published in the Mail & Guardian. Both trot out a well-worn, and rather deceptive theme seeking at the face, to distinguish between Judaism as a religion and Jewishness as ethnic identity — the ‘Jews as an historic people’, who originate from a land that was once called Judea, associated with the Israel of the old and new Testament, not to mention the Koran.

Where Branken takes issue with how quickly “a political objection is reframed as an issue of Jewishness, when what is being contested is the normalising of sport with an institution that promotes Zionism as part of its identity and formation of learners”, he begs the question as to whether or not he has actually read the Torah, with its narrative based as it is, around Zion i.e Jerusalem?

Cachalia opines that “political or ethical discomfort expressed by students about the policies or ideological orientation of a state or institutions aligned with that state cannot automatically be conflated with hatred toward a people or a faith. The distinction between Jewish identity and Zionism as a political ideology is real, widely recognised, and essential to any honest engagement with the present controversy.”

What is the real issue here?

Yes this political distinction (if one can call it that) is recognised as a growing cleavage within the Jewish community at large, but if Jews like myself are restrained from even discussing and debating the proposition and its unintended consequences, because cancel culture, the fatwas and edicts issued by all and sundry are to reign supreme, what pray tell is your point Sir?

If Roedean students were taking a universal stand against war and promoting peace, they would certainly be on firmer ground, but it remains to be seen why any school should be forced to admit an inquiry into religion in the first place, only to have pundits, priests and Imams introduce a caveat, that nevertheless encourages an inquisition of Jewish identity?

Expecting King David to cave to a racist inquisition of Jewish identity, as such inquiries invariably are, one that poses as a moral play determining ‘Good Jew’ from ‘Bad Jew’, is expecting them to accept an ancient blood libel, the world’s oldest hatred.

When the German scholar, Wilhelm Marr coined the term “Antisemitismus” in 1879 to give “Jew-hatred” a pseudo-scientific, racial basis, providing us with a word to describe the exact same hatred it sought to promote, he was doing what Cachalia and Brankin do today — seeking to dissuade us that they hate Judaism, whilst encouraging fellow citizens to attack Jews as an ethnic group.

Equation with Jihad

Take the perverse equation of Islamic Jihad with our secular liberation struggle, (a recipe for hatred, prejudice, discrimination and intolerance). You can be a first rate proponent of Palestinian rights in South Africa and still be vexed by the total inability of our institutions to defend fundamental human rights when it comes to being Jewish on a Friday night.

I should not be required to reiterate the content of previous pieces, but rather encourage you to read “Most of all I am offended as a Secularist” while reminding you that what I do on a Friday night, so far as the Jewish Sabbath is concerned, is a private matter between myself and my maker, and has absolutely nothing to do with either the Church and the State, nor the Synagogue nor the Mosque and the Corporation.

Instead of treating Zionists as witches and persons such as myself as heretics, as these parlour letter writers appear to encourage, students should be taught the truth, that Mandela was a bipartisan and a Zionist, who believed in the right of self-determination for Jews in their ancient homeland. Arraigned for treason alongside fellow Zionists such as Arthur Goldreich and also non-Zionists such as Denis Goldberg, Madiba went so far as thanking Israel for providing support for the creation of MK during his trial in 1964, stating: “Incidentally, the terms High Command and Regional Command were an importation from the Jewish national underground organization Irgun Zvai Leumi, which operated in Israel between 1944 and 1948“. (source, Rivonia Speech)

Mandela’s Biography

Mandela’s biography records his gaining inspiration from the writings of Menachem Begin, and his bipartisanship can be seen in his steadfast refusal to recant a third way, middle-ground position, which insisted that both sides to the conflict were equally human and worthy of human dignity. A non-binary approach if there ever was one.

Yet when it comes to our nation’s founding principles and our history as a country, self-determination for both peoples and democracy is no longer the prognosis, it seems?

How is it possible to redact and ignore Mandela when he said: “But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians; without the resolution of conflicts in East Timor, the Sudan and other parts of the world” whilst forgetting that he also said: “Support for Yasser Arafat and his struggle does not mean that the ANC has ever doubted the right of Israel to exist as a state, legally. We have stood quite openly and firmly for the right of that state to exist within secure borders.”

Instead of teaching prejudice and hatred, students should be taught about the universal, secular basis of our constitution, a platform which enshrines freedom of religion and rights for minorities, and which should inform our foreign policy and curriculum, especially when it comes to discussing the land which gave us the term “Jew”?

Abbas’ latest self-drafted memo

A new constitution unveiled by Mahmoud Abbas on 10 February, would achieve a similar dispensation as that already sought by Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The document claims Jerusalem as its capital but only commits to “protecting its Islamic and Christian sanctities”, whilst omitting Jewish holy sites. It then declares Islam as the official religion and invokes Islamic Sharia as a primary source of legislation. It promises to respect the rights of Christians — and then by omission, not Jews. The document is an exercise in theocracy, and the very apartheid to which Israel is accused.

Jerusalem and Judea, without the Jews as Abbas would have it, would be like Greece and Italy without Greeks and Italians.

Take heed.