UN’s failure in Gaza casts a dark shadow over humanity
The brutality of the conflict in Gaza has no precedent in warfare. The battles are consuming the lives of innocent people on an alarming basis. What will the legacy of diplomatic efforts be? They will be harshly judged as the merciless slaughter of men, women and children, continues unabated in many parts of the destroyed enclave.
The abject failure of the UN in halting this 21st-century holocaust has cast a dark shadow over humanity. The whole of mankind has turned a blind eye to the human tragedy unfolding in Rafah by choosing not to respond to their plight. Not to relieve their solitude by offering aid and refuge is to exile them from our collective memory. In denying them their humanity, we have betrayed our own. The world should be ashamed of its flight from moral responsibility and a retreat from its own standard of humanitarianism.
We are all guilty of grave sins by remaining aloof. We are witnessing crimes against humanity, war crimes on a massive scale, blatant violations of the Geneva Convention, deliberate acts of mindless violence that have stained the hands of not only the perpetrators but the bystanders as well.
Despite widespread publicity, the outside world has not come to grips with a global tragedy of such an unprecedented nature. Millions of innocent people in Gaza are being pulverised. Religion is being used by the usurpers of power to assert political dominance, a dangerous power play that could engulf the whole of humanity in a conflict that could devastate our fragile planet.
Farouk Araie, Gauteng
ANC’s anti-Zionism is McCarthyism In South Africa today it is anathema to hold sentiments sympathetic to Zionism or supportive of Israel. The use by government officials of pejorative adjectives such as apartheid, racist, colonialist and genocidal have been normalised when referring to Israel. The pernicious foundations for this odious attitude started with the ANC’s accession to power.
Jewish schools have been criticised and targeted for closure because they are deemed to promote Zionist values.
The scaremongering of the ANC aimed at the very existence of Israel is reminiscent of the period known as McCarthyism in America in the 1940s and ’50s. The witch-hunting of so-called communists inaugurated a period of political repression that resulted in the incarceration of thousands of Americans, with those identified as “spies” being executed (as with the Rosenbergs).
Still fresh in our minds is the recent stripping of David Teeger of the captaincy of the under-19 cricket team for expressing his admiration at a private event for Israeli soldiers in the Gaza war
In the view of Ziyad Motala, a professor of law, anyone with Zionist sympathies should be disqualified from occupying any position representing the state. According to him, “Teeger’s speech was not mere offensive speech. Instead it was speech in support of Zionism, a political ideology of racism.” He used the same rationale to disqualify David Unterhalter from being considered for appointment to the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court of Appeal.
It is time to state unequivocally that these incendiary and inflammatory attacks on Zionism go beyond the pale and are hurtful to Jews and make the continuation of Jewish life in South Africa untenable. It is time to call the witch-hunt against Zionism what it really is — a witch-hunt against Jews and the continuity of a sustainable Jewish presence in South Africa.
Ben Levitas, via e-mail
Clarens clearly shows the way
Clarens is a beautiful small country town in the Free State that is a popular tourist resort, lying in the foothills of the majestic sandstone Maluti Mountains.
Well done to this jewel of the eastern Free State for being the first town in South Africa to introduce energy curtailment. This unique intervention ensures that the dreaded load-shedding of Eskom is a thing of the past in this picturesque place.
With the co-operation of the town and township residents and businesses, curtailment has become a reality, to the envy of the rest of the country. Tourism continues as normal, to the town’s benefit, and helps local businesses.
Surely if Clarens can introduce the brilliant innovation of electricity curtailment, other areas, especially small towns and villages, can replicate this with the co-operation of all stakeholders.
Congratulations Clarens, you beauty, with great trout — reputedly the best in Mzansi — and a host of artists and galleries, with the famous Golden Gate Highlands National Park nearby. You are on my bucket list as I am a lover of nature. Soon I hope to take a lovely hike on the wild side.
May energy curtailment move forward quickly as we bid load-shedding goodbye. Not even the danger and disgrace of getting whipped at the polls in the May national and provincial elections seem to stir the inefficient and corrupt ruling party of the ANC to take more concerted and serious actions to rid the country of the load-shedding scourge.
This sadly has crippled our lives and the economy, led to severe hardship, loss of jobs and put a damper on foreign businesses investing locally. I suspect some people may have died due to loadshedding, as equipment such as incubators and respirators have been rendered useless by a lack of power. Even surgery and medical procedures have to be put on hold by load-shedding. Curtailment provides hope amid the lingering energy gloom.
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