JNS
Jewish leaders call for "constructive diplomacy" following the U.S. expulsion of South Africa's ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool.
South Africa’s deteriorating diplomatic relations with the United States and Israel have some in its small Jewish community questioning their future in the country.
The South African Jewish community, believed to number under 50,000, was alarmed by the March 14 declaration by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Pretoria's ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, was "persona non grata." The State Department said Rasool had until March 21 to leave the country.
Wendy Kahn, national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), appealed to both countries to find a way through the impasse. “We urge both the South Africa and the U.S. administrations to approach the situation with cool heads, as there is no issue that cannot be resolved through listening and open discussion. The current tension between South Africa and the U.S.A. is not in anyone's interests and hope that some form of constructive diplomacy can be adopted.”
Rowan Polovin, chairperson of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), voiced concern about the impact of the African National Congress-led government's foreign policy on the South African economy and the local Jewish community.
“Ordinary South Africans will pay the price for the ANC’s disastrous diplomatic blunders. We call on the other parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) to exert their influence and steer South Africa’s foreign policy back to a course of pragmatism and responsibility," he said.
"The ANC must not be left to chart a path of international isolation and economic ruin unchecked. The South African Jewish community remains deeply concerned about an ANC-led government that prioritizes short-term ideological interests over long-term national interests. This posturing serves no benefit to South Africans and only isolates us further from the global community, threatening our economic stability and international standing,” he added.
In a post on X last Friday explaining his decision to expel Rasool, Rubio wrote: “Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS.” The post linked to an article on the Breitbart news site about a video-conference talk Rasool gave in which he said white supremacism was motivating U.S. President Donald Trump's "disrespect" for the "current hegemonic order" of the world.
Rasool, who said he "had no regrets," is a vocal Hamas sympathizer and a leading advocate of South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa called the U.S. decision to expel Rasool “regrettable,” but said his country “remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship” with Washington.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a communist and black nationalist political party, issued a statement calling Joel Pollak, a leading contender for the post of U.S. ambassador to South Africa, “a white supremacist race baiter.” Its statement added: “The EFF agrees with the characterization given by Ambassador Rasool that the American president is the grand wizard of a global Ku Klux Klan dressed up as Make America Great Again (MAGA).”
Tensions between Washington and Pretoria have been rising since Oct. 7, 2023. South Africa has aligned itself with rogue states such as Iran and hosted Hamas delegations. Following the Hamas invasion, South Africa’s then-foreign minister Naledi Pandor released a statement placing the blame on Israel.
Pandor followed this with a phone call to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and a visit to Tehran where she happily posed with Ayatollah Khamenei. (Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel on July 31, 2024 in Tehran.) In December 2023, when South Africa filed its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide, diplomatic ties between Pretoria and Jerusalem crumbled.
In an interview with JNS, political analyst and chairperson of the SA Jewish Report Howard Sackstein weighed in on the ebb in relations between South Africa and the U.S.
“There is little doubt that South Africa has few friends left in Washington D.C on either side of the political aisle," he said. "Once the darling of the world, the Americans have simply had enough of Pretoria’s revolutionary zeal, its idealization of Cuba and Venezuela, its support for Hamas, its alliance with Iran, its arming of Russia and its desire to undermine Western interests wherever it can find an opportunity."
Sackstein said South Africa’s foreign ministry, named the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), was struggling to come to terms with a new world order that is unforgiving of South Africa’s alliances with America’s foes.
"The expulsion of Rasool is just one more step in the widening gap between the two nations," he said. "On social media, Rasool boasted of the keffiyeh gifted to him with Ismael Haniyeh’s signature. Rasool’s undiplomatic attack on Trump and his administration as supremacists showed an alarming disregard for diplomatic protocol, something South Africa always presumed it could get away with, given the behavior of previous American administrations.”
In February, Sackstein recalled, the Trump administration cut U.S. aid to South Africa, citing its “aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”
Sackstein added: “For many in Washington, the ambassador’s outburst was simply the last straw. Secretary of State Rubio sent a clear message to Pretoria that it could not continue to take advantage of preferential trade deals while simultaneously undermining the very hand that fed it."
At stake in the widening rift is not only billions of rands of aid but also an estimated 250,000 South African jobs that are likely to be lost if America does not renew its African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferential trade agreement with South Africa, Sackstein said.
"Renewal is looking increasingly unlikely. The relationship is not one of equals and South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, will need to eat humble pie if it is to act in South Africa’s national strategic interest," he said. "However, living in the practical world of realpolitik will be a new experience for President Ramaphosa and his radical clique of jihadist foreign policy officials who hope to drive a wedge between South Africa and the West and force the country into the Iranian sphere of influence."
Howard Feldman, a popular Jewish South African media personality, said South Africa's foreign ministry (DIRCO) had adopted a position of not meddling in the affairs of another state and ignoring conflicts around the world while "focusing obsessively" on Israel.
“The Rasool fiasco is the culmination of an arrogant and blinkered approach to international diplomacy that has become synonymous with the ANC," he told JNS. "The election results of 2024 indicate how the ANC have failed to read the South African room, and with the appointment of Rasool, a known Trump hater, they continued along this path."
Despite the major challenges that South Africa faces to provide much-needed infrastructure and jobs to struggling citizens in a population exceeding 60 million, it is stubbornly focused on its legal campaign against Israel, Feldman said.
Already stretching the taxpayers' coffers by spending 95 million rand (more than $5 million) on its case at the ICJ, South Africa’s National Treasury recently announced an additional allocation of 37 million rand to cover “travel and subsistence costs to the court in The Hague.” The budget document said the allocation was in support of South Africa’s commitment to “upholding human rights and freedom.”
The SAZF condemned the extra allocation of funds, saying, “The government’s appalling misuse of taxpayer funds to finance its politically motivated and baseless ICJ case against Israel. This latest R37 million splurge comes on top of the staggering R95 million already allocated to the same legal crusade in last year’s Special Appropriation Bill—a shocking total of R132 million squandered on ideological grandstanding while South Africa teeters on the brink of collapse.”
Another area of contention has been a proposal to rename iconic Sandton Drive in Johannesburg, where the US Consulate is located, after Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled. A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, she became known in 1969 as the world’s first female hijacker.
The U.S. has warned that it will close the consulate should the renaming go ahead. Last Thursday, the Johannesburg City Council voted against a motion to block the move, creating some confusion. The SAJBD issued a statement saying, “There remains no decision to change the name at this time.... The outcome appears to reflect a willingness by the political parties in the City of Johannesburg to explore alternate solutions to the renaming of Sandton Drive and we await further details in this regard.”
The U.S. decision to cut funding to South Africa has also affected academia. On Saturday, the University of Cape Town's governing council convened to consider a resolution to rescind its decision in June 2024 to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
The university's hostile position has seen a drop of 50 million rand in donor funding (from R77 million to R28 million) in the past year. The UCT council voted narrowly against rescinding its boycott of Israeli institutions, with 14 votes in favor of preserving it and 13 votes against.
Maish Isaacson, chairman of Telfed, the organization based in Israel responsible for the absorption of South African immigrants, said that the current trend could boost aliyah.
“For our own community, the Trump administration’s position on South Africa is particularly significant," Isaacson told JNS. "It may serve as a catalyst for more people to consider making aliyah. Over the past year, we have seen a steady rise in the number of young olim (immigrants) who envision a brighter future for themselves here in Israel. As always, Telfed remains dedicated to supporting them every step of the way, ensuring their smooth integration into Israeli society.”
Commenting on the Trump administration’s firm support of Israel, Isaacson added: “With strong leadership and a resolute stance against those who seek to undermine Israel, we look ahead with optimism, knowing that our community and the broader Jewish world have a steadfast ally on the global stage.”
