Palestinian resistance meets Israeli war crimes

South Africans are outraged and shocked that Israel, a nuclear power with unconditional backing from the US, has unleashed a genocidal war on Gaza.

Latest reports reveal the death toll from Israel’s relentless bombing has risen to more than 8,000. The number is expected to grow as thousands more are feared dead under the rubble of bombed buildings.

Israel is drowning in war crimes and is unable to “save” itself without continuing to commit more horrendous violations of international humanitarian laws.

While live broadcasts on TV allow viewers to witness the savagery of Israel’s war cabinet, some, such as David Saks of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, foolishly argue to rationalise it.

His article “Hatred for Israel drives the pro-Hamas voices” (Sunday Times, October 29), is not only embarrassing for many Jewish voices opposed to Israel’s apartheid policies, but calculated to mislead public opinion. To get a sense of his faulty logic, Saks defends Israel’s imposition of a crippling air, sea and land blockade of 2.3-million Palestinians in what the world has come to know as a concentration camp.

And in utter disregard of international laws and civilised humane values, Saks writes: “As it has every right to do [Israel] has implemented rigorous border controls and a tight blockade.”

As Israel’s propaganda has failed to mobilise the world against Hamas, so too has Saks. His revision of historical facts by claiming that Hamas “initiated this conflict” will fail too.

The devastating Hamas surprise attack — an act of self-defence against a colonial power occupying and blockading the Gaza Strip illegally — is an attack against Israeli apartheid-colonial oppression. Palestinians will never give up their rights or their land; no matter how hard and how long the road to freedom.

Hamas, as the vanguard of Palestine’s resistance movements, has, like most liberation struggles against colonialism and apartheid, the obligation to free its people.

Iqbal Jassat, Johannesburg

Peaceful coexistence, please

In the bloody aftermath of the brutal October 7 attack on Israel, and as events unfold around us, I am struck by the antiIsraeli protests that have arisen surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Outside the US embassy in Johannesburg, “Solidarity with Palestinian Resistance” protested against Israel’s air strikes on Gaza and blamed Hamas’s vicious actions on Israel. In Cape Town, pro-Palestine supporters marched outside the South African Jewish Museum demanding that South Africa cut ties with Israel.

Along Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard promenade, which joggers and families freely enjoy using, the word “holocaust” was shamelessly spray-painted on a wall. At the University of Cape Town, Hamas and Hezbollah flags were raised high on campus while Jewish posters of the kidnapped Israeli hostages were torn down. And across the world we watch the wave of anti-Israeli campaigns and marches, inciting further anti-Semitism.

While everyone has the right to express their opinions and stand up for causes they believe in, it is essential to remember that when such protests result in further division and polarisation, the world has less chance to engage in constructive conversation and find common ground for reconciliation.

South Africa’s response to October 7 should have been the outright condemnation of Hamas and the acknowledgment of the shocking loss of innocent life on both sides in the wake of these attacks. For protesters to hold Israel completely responsible for all unfolding violence, and not outrightly denounce such terrorism, is indefensible.

The outside world prays for a future in which both Israelis and Palestinians can coexist peacefully. While this may seem like an immeasurably tall ask, we should realise that perpetuating the divide between Israel and Palestine only feeds Hamas’s goal.

Instead, let us endeavour to embrace the justice and compassion that our South African democracy was built on so that one day we may find some basis for reconciliation.

Katherine Baxter, by email

Trophies all round

Last week’s Sunday Times amazed me. Living in faraway Knysna I had no expectation whatsoever of finding anything to read about the actual Rugby World Cup final when I picked up the paper delivered to my home at about 8am. Yet, there it was, a full front page of Bokvictory pictures with a story running over to page 2, and on the back page a full match report and analysis of the game by your accomplished Liam Del Carme and a stirring column by Mark Keohane.

How did you do this? Having once been in the business myself of producing a weekend paper, I know the havoc late sports games can play with deadlines, production and distribution.

Thus I have no qualms about normally not finding anything in my Sunday Times that gets delivered to this outpost about games starting at or after 5pm. This game finished just a bit more than an hour short of midnight and was in the balance till the very last. So the logistics must have been something.

However you did it, congratulations. Leon Marshall, Knysna

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