THE PRICE OF GIVING IN TO TERROR

South Africa has been squandering its political capital on defending the Hamas-dominated Palestinian unity government.

Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils made international news headlines when on an official visit to the Palestinian territories he issued an invitation to Prime Minister Haniyeh to lead a Palestinian delegation to South Africa.

This was the first such invitation by a non-Muslim country.

In response to the outcry that followed, South Africa took the ludicrous position that Haniyeh's regime had "gone a long way to meeting" the three international requirements (recognizing Israel; denouncing violence and adhering to past agreements) and that the embargo should be lifted.

Thus this invitation was designed to strengthen the international legitimacy of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian unity government, even at the cost of South Africa's credibility in the West.

South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC,) has a long history of ambivalence towards the State of Israel.

But Israel's close ties with the apartheid regime led many ANC activists to view the Palestinian cause as a sister struggle. This position was clearly articulated by ANC Secretary General Oliver Tambo in his 1979 pledge that "the struggle of the fraternal Arab people of Palestine, led by the PLO, will always be assured of the support of the African National Congress and the entire fighting people of South Africa."

South Africa is one of Israel's fiercest detractors, rivaling even Arab and Muslim nations. Without doubt, the main proponent of this anti-Israel agenda is the Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, who, perhaps somewhat conveniently, is of Jewish descent. Shortly after the Palestinians initiated the Intifada, Kasrils, using the South African parliament as his platform, launched his own campaign - "not in my name" - designed to pressure the Jewish community into publicly denouncing Israel. Its strident rejection by mainstream South African Jewry has served to only goad him on.

In an anti-Zionist propaganda blitz, reminiscent of the former Soviet Union (where he in fact underwent military training,) Kasrils has used his ministries' official websites (previously, Kasrils was the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry,) international conferences, state visits, the ANC journal Umrabulo and of course the media to demonize the Jewish state. He has called Israelis baby killers, likened IDF actions in the Territories to those of the Nazis, declared Israel worse than apartheid and charged the "Zionist regime" with committing a creeping genocide against the Palestinian people.

It would be a mistake to view Kasrils as the only radical anti-Israel element within the South African government. His virulent rhetoric has been ably matched by Willy Madisha, president of the ANC's coalition partner COSATU. Last year at an international trade union conference in London, for example, he described South Africa's apartheid policies as "a Sunday picnic" in comparison to Israel's "brutal" treatment of the Palestinians. He has on other occasions denounced Israel as an "evil state" and called for an anti-apartheid type sanctions campaign to bring it to its knees.

Unconditional support for Israel's enemies

Despite the hopes of many in the Jewish community that this is just rhetoric designed to placate radical Islamist and hardcore leftist groups in South Africa, the government has shown time and again its willingness to back up these anti-Israel words with anti-Israel actions.

It has voted for a litany of United Nations resolutions condemning Israel, on occasion even co-sponsoring. It opposed Magen David Adom's inclusion in the international Red Cross/Crescent Society. And it was one of only 15 countries to make a legal submission to the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel's security barrier, commonly referred to by the deputy foreign minister as the "apartheid wall."

Perhaps more worrying than South Africa's hostility towards the Jewish state is its unconditional support for Israel's enemies. South Africa has in recent years strengthened its ties with Iran's genocidal regime, defending Tehran's right to develop nuclear technology and allegedly offering to supply it with uranium.

Following the latest United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran's nuclear program, Kasrils was sent to the Islamic Republic on what was seen by many in foreign policy circles as a solidarity visit to reassure the increasingly isolated regime of South Africa's continued support. To date South Africa has never officially condemned Ahmadinejad's call "to wipe Israel off the map" or Teheran's hosting of the Holocaust Denial conference despite pleas from the Jewish community to do so.

African National Congress (ANC)

United in struggle: Arab Nazi Yasser Arafat and Black Nazi Nelson Mandela a long-time supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organisation

Many fail to see that the ANC is no more than a terror organization, likewise Hamas, that used terror to gain power.

Everyone condemned Apartheid and what whites here were doing for decades. It was said that the ANC (African National Congress), led by Nelson Mandela would be the solution to the problems of South Africa.

By 1987, South Africa was a hotbed of ANC terrorism. This was "the struggle" which they talk so proudly of.

But, the struggle was not warfare in the conventional sense.

It was not really aimed at the white power structures - it was aimed at civilians - because that's who terrorists go for. Terrorism is about killing and terrorising the weak, the old, the young and the UNARMED. Crime is just another dimension of terrorism. They also used crime as a way of funding their activities - and perhaps this is still going on - to this very day!

The ANC's plan in those days of its "struggle" was to "make the country ungovernable" - that was their slogan and their strategic aim.

Nelson Mandela was released from 27 years in jail on February 11th, 1990
Some thing that is not well published is that one of Mandelas co-defendants just happened to be a muslim, Ahmed Kathrada.

In the first all-inclusive democratic South African elections in 1994, Kathrada was elected as a member of parliament for the ANC and later appointed as the political advisor to President Mandela.

As ANC became stronger and the human spirit was rekindled, hope appeared on the horizon, and the Imams became more political, and through this the reawakening of Islam begun. People began to pray for freedom, to work towards it, and this brought them closer to Allah and closer to each other, as Muslims striving for the same cause.

The principles of Islam called for freedom; at that time they took on a practical everyday significance.

Before that, Imams taught the people to be patient and well mannered. But after that they started to urge the people to support the ANC. Muslims started to feel proud because the principles of Islam called for freedom, and so they worked easily with the ANC.

At that time the principles of Islam took on a practical everyday significance. More Muslims came back to the mosques to hear the latest news of the resistance, and they would pray together, strengthening Muslim solidarity again.

There was another movement called the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was initiated by an affiliation of Clerics and Islamic scholars who united to join the resistance.

The ANC was still banned, so the UDF became a front for the ANC.
Because the organization was religious in nature, it was tolerated, and the Muslims operated under its umbrella.

They organized community gatherings and kept the people informed of who the government was locking up and what it was doing. There was no other way to get this information, as the real local news never made it into the mainstream media.

Emergency laws were in effect at the time, so the gatherings organized were peaceful, though UDF members were unofficially very much involved in protests.

The resistance to Apartheid was supported by South Africa's Muslims, and many ministers in the first Democratic government after the fall of Apartheid were colored Muslims; while the percentage of Muslims in the country is only about 1 or 2 percent, about 25 percent of government ministers are Muslims.

In 1989/1990, the Apartheid Government under President FW De Klerk was talking PEACE. They were talking about handing over power to Nelson Mandela and the ANC.

As a consequence of this talk, and to show their sincerity, they released Nelson Mandela from prison in February 1990.

But what happened immediately after that?

Not what you would expect! crime started exploding upwards! Every crime - from burglary to MURDER exploded upwards from that moment onwards!

And EXPLODE - it did!

Like never before in the history of South Africa!
In 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first black President of South Africa, and the ANC took over the country. Most crimes went up even after Nelson Mandela and the ANC came to power - again - contrary to expectation !