Israel deports SA Christians

AN INCREASING number of South African Christians are being deported from Israel for being critical of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, at the same time as a South African Council of Churches (SACC) delegation, which has just returned from Israel-Palestine, has strongly criticised the occupation.

Over the past decade, approximately 20 South African political activists, and volunteers from religious organisations, have been refused entry to Israel, bodily searched and held in detention for hours before being deported, often with little assistance from the South African Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Those deported have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Justice Richard Goldstein, head of a UN fact-finding mission.

Over the past few months Christian volunteers with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Israel/Palestine have been denied entry into Israel, including Siphesihle Dlungwane who recently arrived back in South Africa after being deported.

A SACC delegation, which returned last week from Israel-Palestine, has slammed Israel’s 50-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, accusing Israel of being an apartheid state. ANA