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’s 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, 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 – a wide community of gentiles who stand with the Jewish people and with Israel. Especially among South Africa’s large Christian community. I was fortunate enough to recently speak to six such individuals – who I’m reliably informed are only the tip of the iceberg – each with their own stories and reasons for showing such unwavering support to South African Jews and to Israel.
Who They Are
Tim Flack: a “seasoned communications professional with a diverse background spanning military service, media, public relations, and safety and security,” 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’ massacre.
Banks Garamante: 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.
Nicholas Woode Smith: A political analyst and author from Cape Town, who along with writing fiction, has written extensively on South Africa’s domestic and international policies and has been a steadfast critic of the ANC’s approach to Israel. He admits that he struggles to get articles published that are pro-Israel – at least not heavily edited.
Charl Oosthuizen: 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.
Venice Maurer: Self-described as “a 64-year-old nobody from Cape Town. A pensioner who has longed for justice and equal rights for all. A Believer,” Venice is anything but a ‘nobody’, as the events of October 7th spurred her to spend two months in Israel – a 40th anniversary gift from her husband, who sold his truck to pay for it – 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.
Zanli de Klerk: “We 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’s feasts and Shabbats” – 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.
Why They Stand By Israel
These six extraordinary ‘ordinary’ 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’s hard not to ask “why?”
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’s overall population – making us quite representative of Jews worldwide, in fact – so, again, why stand with us, especially when it often comes at a real personal cost?
“G-d’s voice filled my heart, my ears, my mind. Go tell my people I love them. They are not alone.”
For a start, there is, undoubtedly, a large religious component for some of them. For Venice, Charl, and Zanli, especially. As Venice explains, “[as I passed through customs, I realised] I was on my own but G-d’s voice filled my heart, my ears, my mind. Go tell my people I love them. They are not alone. When they ask “where was G-d”, you tell them I was right there… in the midst of all the fear and pain. I wept with them.”
There’s also the way that after October 7th 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”l, saying: “Most anti-Semites do not think of themselves as anti-Semites. ‘We don’t hate Jews,’ they said in the Middle Ages, ‘Just their religion.’ ‘We don’t hate Jews,’ they said in the nineteenth century, ‘Just their race.’ ‘We don’t hate Jews,’ they say now, ‘Just their nation-state.’ 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.”
Nicholas echoes this, saying, “I 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.”
“This is way more than just a war between Israel and Gaza or Israel and Hamas. It’s actually a war between good and evil.”
Or, even more succinctly, after studying up on Israel since October 7th, Charl came to the simple conclusion: “I’ve had multiple people commenting on social media about October 7th, and I’ve been following the debates for the last year and a half now, since the war started. It’s 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’s actually a war between good and evil.”
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 “Israel was forced to defend themselves against an aggressor who, as you’ve seen, has not only kidnapped women and children but some of them have died, and the others aren’t looking healthy at all as they’re being released,” Gates made it clear just how important that personal connection is. “I’ve 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’m doing business with and I do business in a Jewish community so I’ve been privileged enough to have been exposed to Jewish culture and have first-hand experience of what the people are like.” 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. “Through her, I gained a deep appreciation for Jewish values and history.”
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.
The Cost of Friendship
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 ‘fulfilling’ to write about Israel in a positive way in South African media, it can be ‘frustrating’ too. “Some 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.” 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 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. “Things were quite hectic often in the kitchen,” Zanli confirms, “you 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’re like, well, this is what we still feel we need to do.”
And if that final sentence doesn’t sum up just how lucky we are to have such fierce and determined friends outside of our community, I don’t know what does.
