Connect, Collaborate, Community By DANIEL BLOCH
The first few months of the year leading up to the elections were filled with the usual rhetoric against Israel and against the Jewish community. There were protests, motorcades, and more protests. Then the elections happened and suddenly there was radio silence. Not a peep from the other side, no protestors to be found, no keffiyehs and no “Free Palestine” graffiti. It’s almost as if they were bored or maybe they saw the light and realised that Israel is not the enemy after all. This is highly unlikely and that makes the next few months quite uncertain as we don’t really know what to expect.
By the time you read this article, Iran may have attacked Israel and we could be in for an unpleasant couple of months. Almost certainly, the useful idiots of Hamas and their indoctrinated supporters will no doubt be protesting outside Jewish institutions, claiming not to be antisemitic but only anti-Zionist and anti-Israel.
Will the Government of National Unity continue to push ahead? And will Eskom continue to keep the lights on? Will these winter rains ever end, and will the winds show signs of easing up? I am sure there are many more questions to ask, and we may not know the answers to each one. All we can do is push on ourselves and prepare for the upcoming religious holidays.
For the first half of this year we were dealing with the International Court of Justice case against Israel; the rioting and violence on American university campuses; the rise in antisemitism globally; the rise in anti-Israel rhetoric in South Africa; an historic national election in South Africa; an assassination attempt against Donald Trump; and, even more confusing, the lack of load shedding since April.
I wish I could tell you that things will be all right and that we have nothing to be concerned about. However, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I told you that. We are in for an uncertain year ahead and there are many things which not even a crystal ball can foretell.
UCT voted in favour of an academic boycott against Israel all amidst a new Vice Chancellor starting in early August. Will this have an impact on whether or not Jewish students continue to go to UCT? I think so, considering the rise in anti-Israel activities on that campus. Even our early data shows that more Jewish students are choosing Stellenbosch University for 2025 than UCT. This is the first time ever that these numbers have been so reversed – an uncertain time for UCT perhaps?
What is really uncertain is what the world will look like if Iran attacks Israel and if Israel and her allies retaliate. How will this impact South Africa and our community in particular? We have always said that when Israel sneezes, we, in the diaspora, catch a cold. And this is accurate as we have seen the war in Israel spill over into the streets of Cape Town and online. We need to be prepared for the anti-Israel activists coming to protest outside our schools, shuls, homes and places of business. They will continue to use misinformation and lies to garner support and will continue to attack us verbally at every point.
The difference now compared with earlier in the year is that we know that South Africans have not bought into the anti-Israel rhetoric. The national elections and the voting proved that unequivocally. Whilst the future seems uncertain, what is certain is that our community is not alone and we have many friends out there.
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