By Howard Feldman
This was the time-line:
That’s how quickly it worked. That’s how easy it is to spread hatred.
Keletso is not an anti-Semite. At least I don’t think he is. His Facebook post might be a strong indication to the contrary, but still I don’t buy it. Rather, I see him a victim of inflammatory and damaging narrative news.
Azad Essa – Al Jazeera
Keletso’s response to the IOL article was an emotional response of spreading hatred. How surprised should we be that he reacted this way when he reads the headline “Israel: No country for Black People?” Incidentally the piece did not improve after the headline and was shamelessly one-sided rant by Azad Essa, an Al Jazeera journalist.
These are the facts; Israel announced that it is deporting its illegal immigrants. She has offered a cash amount of USD3500 per person for them to leave the country. Although not inconsistent with the actions of countries around the world (South Africa deported Zimbabweans for years without this payment) many Israeli’s have objected to this move. So much so that Israel’s ElAl pilots have refused to fly them back to areas that might be dangerous for the refugees. It’s an uncomfortable government decision for many in a country made up of immigrants. It’s a subject that needs to be debated and aired.
But the one thing that it is not, is a Black versus White issue. On the contrary, not only are many Israeli citizens Black, but the Israel in the past sent planes to bring thousands of Ethiopians to the country. Israel is in fact the only democracy in the Middle East where irrespective of colour, gender or religion, each person enjoys full rights.
The IOL article works hard to conflate the Palestinian issue into the racial one of hatred, claiming that Israel expelled 700,000 Palestinians in the 1948. This creates the impression that this is no different to what is being done to Black Africans. The fact that this was not even the case, and that the 1948 war only took place because the Arab nations refused to accept the UN partition and attacked the young state in order to wipe it off the map, seems to have slipped his mind. The fact that they continued to attack and to terrorise the country from 1948 to 1967 when Israel wasn’t “Occupying” East Jerusalem or the West Bank is something else he neglects. He further forgets to mention that hardly an Arab neighbour absorbed those who fled the region or those who fled Syria in the last few years is beyond comprehension. But maybe he forgot.
Maybe, by writing for Al Jazeera, a publication expelled from multiple Middle Eastern countries because of the agenda it pushes, and because it has been interfering with the various states, he has a licence to ignore the human rights records of the countries in the region. Countries that continue to persecute gay people, countries that don’t respect the equality of women, or religion or freedom of expression.
The IOL article’s aim clearly is to create animosity towards Israel. It is an opinion piece which gives IOL the convenience of able to shrug off the criticism and to say that the views are not necessarily the views of the publication. But that is too convenient. IOL has a history of doing this, of publishing articles that are either not current (and made to seem so) or are factually incorrect and inflammatory with regard to Israel. There is little doubting that they adhere to a narrative that is not balanced when it comes to Israel and this example shows very clearly just how dangerous and irresponsible this behavior can be.
The holocaust in Europe did not begin with gas chambers. It began in the early 1930s with words. Words that might have been untrue but that were repeated often enough so that they were assumed to be so. Words that filled the people of Europe with hatred and with loathing. And words that ultimately allowed them to stand by and to watch whilst their neighbours who were Jewish, were moved to ghettos and then to concentration camps and then to gas chambers.
It is words that had the power to make Keletso say that he is understands what Hitler did, and to change a regular South African into someone who hates.
This one is on IOL. As a media house, they understand the power of words. It’s their business and their responsibility. I don’t hold it against Keletso but if IOL continues with this approach, it may well have blood on its hands.
