Jew versus Jew in South Africa: Rabbis give a Jewish communist a suprising "slap in the face"!
Jewish leaders balk at Kasrils's declaration

December 01 2001 at 06:19PM
The Sunday Independent

By Jeremy Gordin
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=123&click_id=13&art_id=ct20011201181914154K642227&set_id=1

On the eve of the release of the Jewish declaration of conscience organised by Ronnie Kasrils, the minister of water affairs and forestry, and Max Ozinsky, Western Cape MPL, the spiritual leaders of southern African Jewry have issued a statement "utterly repudiating" it.

Cyril Harris, the chief rabbi of South Africa, the Jewish ecclesiastical court (Beth Din) and the Southern African Rabbinical Association made no comment about Kasrils and Ozinsky's declaration other than to refute some of its content.

Kasrils and Ozinsky have asked Jewish South Africans to sign the declaration and "raise their voices in support of justice for Palestine".

Kasrils has said it was necessary for South African Jews to recognise the right of the Palestinian people to exist in safety and security just as they believed it was necessary for Israel to have the same right.

Kasrils plans to "launch" the declaration during the next two weeks in Johannesburg and Cape Town and says that a number of prominent Jews, including writer Nadine Gordimer, cartoonist Zapiro and Rivonia treason trialists Arthur Goldreich and Dennis Goldberg, have signed the declaration.

The rabbis and the ecclesiastical court say that "every fair-minded South African citizen should be aware that the Holy Land has been the Jewish homeland since Biblical times; that the Palestinian state should have come into being in May 1948, instead of which five neighbouring Arab countries waged war against the newborn Israel; and that the Palestinians have never admitted the possibility of coexistence with Israel and continue to incite their children with hatred towards the Jewish state".

They also state "that in July 2000 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made the most far-reaching land-for-peace concessions but Yasser Arafat had rejected these and that the blatant anti-Jewish demonstrations at the recent UN Conference Against Racism in Durban cast serious doubt on the ability of South Africa to act as an honest broker in the Middle East conflict".

The statement is signed on behalf of the Beth Din by Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag and by Rabbi Yossi Goldman for the Southern African Rabbinical Association.

Kasrils said that he was "surprised that the ecclesiastical court had seen fit to make comments about issues outside its mandate".

"I don't believe that priests or rabbis should get involved in matters outside their purview - history has shown the folly of that.

"I'm reminded," said Kasrils, "of the Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza's excommunication by the rabbis of Amsterdam three centuries ago, and that Israel's first prime minister had Spinoza reinstated. It's time for the Jews of South Africa to speak out in favour of justice for all."

At commemorations of the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people at Unisa on Thursday night Salman El-Herfi, the Palestinian ambassador, gave a special welcome to Kasrils, whom he referred to as his brother.

El-Herfi urged all South Africans of Jewish descent to follow the example set by Kasrils.

On Thursday, Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, said he wanted to see a million Jews emigrate to the Jewish state, principally from South Africa, Argentina and France.

"In the coming years, I want to see a million Jews come from Argentina, France, and especially from South Africa," said the right-wing leader during an address to the press in Tel Aviv.

"The first objective of the government is to bring another million Jews soon," he added, saying the mass immigration "may take 12 to 13 years but it is central, and in my eyes is the most important goal of the government".

Sharon said that there are 230 000 Jews under duress in Argentina who needed to be brought over to the Jewish state, and 80 000 in South Africa.

He alleged that the "750 000 Jews in France face antisemitism".
- posted by Izak @ 5:55 AM