\n With the way our ruling party goes on, one would be excused for thinking that South Africa is the most anti-Semitic, or at least anti-Israel, country in the world. Certainly, when I spoke to a delegation of students from Hebrew University, they were expecting the worst from their visit to Johannesburg. But as they discovered, and we already knew, there\u2019s a world of difference between the ANC and the people of South Africa, and in Johannesburg, at least, we can safely say that even after October 7th<\/sup>, South Africa remains one of the easiest places on earth to live as proud Jews. There are numerous reasons for this, but one of the most straightforward is that we have a lot of non-Jewish friends in this country \u2013 a wide community of gentiles who stand with the Jewish people and with Israel. Especially among South Africa\u2019s large Christian community. I was fortunate enough to recently speak to six such individuals \u2013 who I\u2019m reliably informed are only the tip of the iceberg \u2013 each with their own stories and reasons for showing such unwavering support to South African Jews and to Israel.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who They Are<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim Flack:<\/strong> a \u201cseasoned communications professional with a diverse background spanning military service, media, public relations, and safety and security,\u201d who calls himself Jewish Tim Flack on X (Twitter). He has visited Israel since 7 October and has reported on what he has seen there, including in those communities devastated by Hamas\u2019 massacre.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Banks Garamante:<\/strong> A street artist originally from Zimbabwe, who has painted numerous works on Israel, Judaism, and peace, even providing artwork for Jewish organisations. He is currently working with the Brothers For Life Foundation, an organisation in aid of wounded Israeli Soldiers. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicholas Woode Smith:<\/strong> A political analyst and author from Cape Town, who along with writing fiction, has written extensively on South Africa\u2019s domestic and international policies and has been a steadfast critic of the ANC\u2019s approach to Israel. He admits that he struggles to get articles published that are pro-Israel \u2013 at least not heavily edited.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charl Oosthuizen:<\/strong> A Christian who actually started learning more about Israel after 7 October, reading up and listening to as much as possible on the subject, and who came to understand that what Israel was fighting against was genuine evil.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Venice Maurer:<\/strong> Self-described as \u201ca 64-year-old nobody from Cape Town. A pensioner who has longed for justice and equal rights for all. A Believer,\u201d Venice is anything but a \u2018nobody\u2019, as the events of October 7th<\/sup> spurred her to spend two months in Israel \u2013 a 40th<\/sup> anniversary gift from her husband, who sold his truck to pay for it \u2013 helping and simply meeting and greeting Israelis from all walks of life in Jerusalem for six weeks, attending a monastery for two weeks, and helping prepare food for soldiers at Kiryat Shmona.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zanli de Klerk:<\/strong> \u201cWe are a Christian family from South Africa, believing in the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have always had a heart for Israel and the Jewish people and this love just grows as we study the Torah, loving Hashem\u2019s feasts and Shabbats\u201d \u2013 is how Zanli describes herself and her family. She has travelled often to Israel in the past and, in fact, her husband was in Israel on 7 October. She has since been to Israel, like Venice, to offer support and prepare food for soldiers in Kiryat Shmona.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why They Stand By Israel<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n These six extraordinary \u2018ordinary\u2019 South Africans have shown through their actions that they are genuine friends and allies to our Jewish community, and fierce defenders of truth and justice when it comes to Israel. What they do really says it all. But it\u2019s hard not to ask \u201cwhy?\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Why do they involve themselves in defending Israel and the Jewish people when it has become increasingly unpopular to do so? Especially because for all that our dear president likes to make out that Israel is the greatest evil on the planet, the honest truth is that Israel is thousands of miles away from South Africa and what happens there really has little to no impact on the lives of South Africans outside of those with a tangible connection to the place. And we may be loud, of course, but our tiny Jewish community makes up less than one-tenth of a percent of South Africa\u2019s overall population \u2013 making us quite representative of Jews worldwide, in fact \u2013 so, again, why stand with us, especially when it often comes at a real personal cost?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cG-d\u2019s voice filled my heart, my ears, my mind. Go tell my people I love them. They are not alone.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \n For a start, there is, undoubtedly, a large religious component for some of them. For Venice, Charl, and Zanli, especially. As Venice explains, \u201c[as I passed through customs, I realised] I was on my own but G-d\u2019s voice filled my heart, my ears, my mind. Go tell my people I love them. They are not alone. When they ask \u201cwhere was G-d\u201d, you tell them I was right there… in the midst of all the fear and pain. I wept with them.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n There\u2019s also the way that after October 7th<\/sup> they each understood what was at stake, not just for Jews and not just for Israelis, but for the world. Tim quotes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z\u201dl, saying: \u201cMost anti-Semites do not think of themselves as anti-Semites. \u2018We don\u2019t hate Jews,\u2019 they said in the Middle Ages, \u2018Just their religion.\u2019 \u2018We don\u2019t hate Jews,\u2019 they said in the nineteenth century, \u2018Just their race.\u2019 \u2018We don\u2019t hate Jews,\u2019 they say now, \u2018Just their nation-state.\u2019 Anti-Semitism is never just about Jews. It signals a broader societal decline. I stand with Israel because when the world turns against the Jewish people, greater injustices follow. Silence is complicity. We must challenge anti-Semitism, educate others, and stand against hatred before it escalates.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Nicholas echoes this, saying, \u201cI believe Israel is what all countries should aspire to be. It truly believes in protecting its people, no matter where they are, and will do all that it takes to ensure the survival and prosperity of its people. It stands as a bulwark of democracy and freedom against authoritarianism and extremism. And despite all the pervasive misinformation and hatred, it continues to persevere. I believe that history has shown that the Jewish people need a country willing to defend them as a matter of principle, and not as a matter of convenience. And I believe that despite all the odds, Israel has proven to be up to that task.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is way more than just a war between Israel and Gaza or Israel and Hamas. It\u2019s actually a war between good and evil.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \n Or, even more succinctly, after studying up on Israel since October 7th<\/sup>, Charl came to the simple conclusion: \u201cI\u2019ve had multiple people commenting on social media about October 7th, and I\u2019ve been following the debates for the last year and a half now, since the war started. It\u2019s just been a passion of mine to get the truth out there, because for me, this is way more than just a war between Israel and Gaza or Israel and Hamas. It\u2019s actually a war between good and evil.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n There are also clearly very personal reasons for why we, as Jews, have such strong friends behind us. Before going on to echo the facts that are obvious to anyone that \u201cIsrael was forced to defend themselves against an aggressor who, as you\u2019ve seen, has not only kidnapped women and children but some of them have died, and the others aren\u2019t looking healthy at all as they\u2019re being released,\u201d Gates made it clear just how important that personal connection is. \u201cI\u2019ve been working with and around Jewish communities for over four years, and my mentor was a Jewish man, a great man! I have Jewish men I\u2019m doing business with and I do business in a Jewish community so I\u2019ve been privileged enough to have been exposed to Jewish culture and have first-hand experience of what the people are like.\u201d By the same token, part of what drew Tim to Jewish causes was that while growing up in Durban, his mother ended up working for a Jewish organisation, and remained with them for the rest of her career. \u201cThrough her, I gained a deep appreciation for Jewish values and history.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n They all, it has to be said, spoke out about how disgusted they were that Ramaphosa and the ANC represent South Africa on the world stage with their disgusting anti-Israel agenda. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cost of Friendship<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Though there is nothing but pride in the words of each of my interviewees, they do acknowledge that standing by the Jewish people and the Jewish state has its challenges. For Charl, he admits that though it has been extremely \u2018fulfilling\u2019 to write about Israel in a positive way in South African media, it can be \u2018frustrating\u2019 too. \u201cSome of my articles have not been published in full, some have been edited, some shortened, and every time they had shortened my letters, I have questioned them at [various major news outlets] why they were editing my letters and making them shorter.\u201d There are even times when it is dangerous to stand by Israel, mentally and sometimes even physically. Tim has dealt with constant online abuse since October 7th<\/sup> and when Zanli and Venice were doing their part to feed the soldiers, they were doing so just a few kilometres from the Lebanese border, which meant that they constantly worked under the pressure of continuous sirens and rocket attacks from Hezbollah. \u201cThings were quite hectic often in the kitchen,\u201d Zanli confirms, \u201cyou had to go to the safe room because of missiles being shot down and two weeks before we left, a missile fell just outside the building, [but] we\u2019re like, well, this is what we still feel we need to do.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n And if that final sentence doesn\u2019t sum up just how lucky we are to have such fierce and determined friends outside of our community, I don\u2019t know what does.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our much-needed South African allies By: Ilan Preskovsky With the way our ruling party goes on, one would be excused for thinking that South Africa is the most anti-Semitic, or at least anti-Israel, country in the world. Certainly, when I spoke to a delegation of students from Hebrew University, they were expecting the worst from their visit to Johannesburg. But as they discovered, and we already knew, there\u2019s a world of difference between the ANC and the people of South Africa, and in Johannesburg, at least, we can safely say…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-136","category-pesach-2025"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6094,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6092\/revisions\/6094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}