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Ramaphosa at the White House: South Africa’s Double Standard on Genocide
Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa Zane Dangor and South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela talk at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), at the start of a hearing where South Africa requests new emergency measures over Israel’s operations in Rafah, in The Hague, Netherlands, May 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
On May 21, President Donald Trump confronted visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with evidence that his country is committing genocide against white farmers. Ramaphosa vigorously denied this. He said that even though some of these farmers have suffered violence, killing, and the threat of discrimination, none of that rises anything close to the level of genocide.
Much of what Ramaphosa said at the White House is nearly identical to claims made by Israel to refute the genocide and apartheid charges brought against it by South Africa. Here are three examples:
1. Julius Malema is leader of a left-wing South African party that won about 10 percent of the vote in the 2024 election. Trump showed a video that included Malema chanting a song understood to be calling for violence against white people — creating an environment of racism and hate that could easily lead to physical harm. Ramaphosa responded that while Malema enjoys freedom of speech, he is not part of the government — and that the government in fact opposes the violence and racism that Malema advocates.
However, in South Africa’s initial filing against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, much of South Africa’s proof that Israel has genocidal intent is based on quotes from a few individual Israelis.
For example, on page 144 of their initial filing, they quote Minister Ben-Gvir as saying that destroying Hamas should include those who celebrate Hamas atrocities and pass out candy. The brief then goes on to quote other less well known government ministers, people serving in the IDF as reservists, and even media personalities saying things that South Africa believes indicate Israel has genocidal intent.
Israel has responded numerous times saying that Ben-Gvir and other ministers quoted are not in the war cabinet and have no role in shaping war policy, and the other people are private citizens who do not represent the government. Israel has said those people have freedom of speech, just the same as Julius Malema, but since they do not give orders to the military, their statements have no bearing on what is happening in Gaza. Nevertheless, South Africa used those quotes in its legal filing, happy to pick up statements of any Israeli that suited their purpose.
2. In his meeting with Trump, Ramaphosa pointed to his country’s white Minister of Agriculture, along with two well-known white South African golfers, as evidence that there cannot be genocide. Ramaphosa told Trump that if there really was genocide against white people going on in South Africa, these prominent white South African citizens wouldn’t have been willing to accompany him to Washington — or be serving in his government or thriving in society.
But how many times has Israel pointed out that it is a diverse society, with Arab political parties represented in the Knesset and with Arab leaders serving in various prominent positions both in government and the private sector, as evidence against genocide and any alleged apartheid? Arab citizens have full civil rights, and are completely equal before the law.
South Africa and others who make this accusation always brush this aside, saying these are exceptions or only a small number of people, and claiming that a few Arabs in sports or government doesn’t mean anything for all the rest. But if pointing to a white minister and some white champion golfers is proof there is no genocide in South Africa, pointing out that there are Arab Knesset members and there was an Arab swimmer on Israel’s 2024 Olympic team ought to be proof for Israel too. There’s much more proof on Israel’s side of course, but this just shows the absurdity of South Africa’s claims.
3. Ramaphosa acknowledged that white farmers have suffered violence, but pointed out that there is violence against black people too. Media fact-checkers added that even when white farmers are killed, race may not be the motive. It could easily just be robbers exploiting the fact that farmers live in isolated locations far from the police to get away with theft and murder. As long as the primary motive isn’t race, regardless of the harm done, it shouldn’t be called genocide.
However, in South Africa’s subsequent March filing asking the ICJ to impose additional provisional measures against Israel, it tells the ICJ to focus only on the result of Israel’s actions, regardless of Israel’s intent. South Africa states explicitly in section 12 that the fact (in its view) that Gaza residents were facing starvation is enough to find Israel in violation of the Genocide Convention, regardless of Israel’s reasons for restricting aid. So by this logic, if a wave of killings motivated by property theft forces South Africa’s white farmers to abandon their vulnerable farms and flee their land, that should be genocide too.
To be clear, my purpose here is not to argue whether South Africa (or Israel) are actually guilty of genocide. It’s only to show that if the roles were reversed, and South Africa found itself facing the same genocide allegations it brought against Israel, it would denounce the process as biased, legally unsound, and part of an international smear campaign — just as Israel has done.
Whether we’re talking about Gaza or white farmers in South Africa, facts and logic are shoved aside, and provoking or preventing outrage becomes the only goal.
Shlomo Levin is the author of The Human Rights Haggadah, which highlights modern human rights issues in this classic Jewish text, and he has a human rights blog. Find him at https://hrhaggadah.substack.com/.
The post Ramaphosa at the White House: South Africa’s Double Standard on Genocide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.