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South Africa Has Launched Another Effort to Attack Israel; Will It Ever Be Enough?
Anti-Israel protesters march through the streets of the township of Lenasia in Johannesburg, South Africa, Oct. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ihsaan Haffejee
It’s hard to express the extent of the disappointment that the Jewish community of South Africa have held towards the elected government of our country since October 7, 2023.
Despite rumors to the contrary, South Africa (or at least Johannesburg, the main Jewish city in the country) is still one of the easiest, safest places on Earth to live as a proud Jew — but you would be excused for thinking the worst based on the words and actions of our so-called leaders.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his party, the African National Congress (ANC), have betrayed not just South Africa’s loyal Jewish community, but the very ideals on which post-Apartheid South Africa was formed: ideals crafted by the ANC itself under the exceptional stewardship of Nelson Mandela.
Immediately following Hamas’ unspeakably barbaric attack on Israel, the ANC’s minister of the department of international relations and cooperation (DIRCO) — Naledi Pandor — phoned the leaders of Hamas to offer her support. South Africa also took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on patently false charges of genocide.
To no one’s surprise, South Africa is now spear-heading a brand new anti-Israel initiative called The Hague Group.
Joining South Africa in The Hague Group are the governments of Malaysia, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, and Namibia — all of which either have terrible human rights records of their own or, like South Africa, are so plagued by the likes of corruption and sky-high violent crime rates that it’s rather difficult to believe that the whole thing is anything but a cynical ploy to divert attention from their own countries’ woes.
It becomes increasingly difficult to give The Hague Group any benefit of the doubt, as its blatant one-sidedness and single-mindedness makes it clear that though its goals may be crouched in human rights, international law, and democracy, they are anything but noble.
It would be one thing if it was set up to enforce international law and UN resolutions against not just Israel, but against all countries across the globe — for example, if it was about protecting the Uyghurs in China, the Ukranians from Putin’s Russia or the women of Iran from the Islamic Republic, as well as advocating for the Palestinian people.
But obviously it has no interest in other conflicts or any actual genocides; the whole effort is only an attempt to demonize and destroy Israel.
There are obviously precisely zero references to the events of October 7th or even Hamas in any of The Hague Group’s writings. There is also no mention of the influence of the Islamic Republic, the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay-for-Slay” program, the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, or the constant barrage of rocket attacks from the Islamic Republic’s direct proxies in Hezbollah and the Houthis.
When South African President Ramaphosa proudly announced the formation of The Hague Group at the end of February, he once again doubled down on laying all the blame for the current war and the whole conflict squarely at the feet of Israel.
But then, none of this was unexpected. This is a political party and leadership that directly phoned Hamas after October 7. And it’s the very same ruling party that has rolled out the red carpet for members of Hamas, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, and war criminals like Vladimir Putin and Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president charged with effectively orchestrating the actual genocide in South Sudan.
No surprise, then, that the launch of The Hague group was attended by a who’s who of anti-Israel individuals and groups, including the likes of NGOs Al-Haq and Al-Mezan, both of which have ties to radical Islamism and include members linked to Hamas and the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine. As for Progressive International, the parent organization of The Hague Group, it includes numerous extreme far-left groups like Code Pink, Students for Justice in Palestine, Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and Momentum (UK), whose demonizations of Israel and praise for radical Islamist extremists would take too long to catalogue here.
To reiterate, South Africa is still a good place to live as a Jew. It’s just a place with a government, or at least a ruling party, that never misses an opportunity to squander any and all good will that comes their way. Some of it is incompetence. Some of it is corruption. And some of it, as in the case of The Hague Group, is about Soviet-era alliances that are as obsolete as they are dangerous — which is why the ANC has little shame about betraying the many South African Jews who joined the struggle against Apartheid and helped create a new South Africa. It also explains why South Africa is currently realigning the whole country with despotic regimes that represent the very opposite of the liberal-democratic ideals encapsulated in our constitution.
Of course, none of this will be of any help whatsoever to actual Palestinians — but for South Africa’s leaders, that’s besides the point.
Ilan Preskovsky is a freelance features writers, film critic and columnist whose work can most frequently be found on South Africa’s biggest news site, News24, and across a wide variety of local and international publications, both Jewish and otherwise.
The post South Africa Has Launched Another Effort to Attack Israel; Will It Ever Be Enough? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Malicious’ Wikipedia Editors Manipulated Site’s Coverage of Israel, ADL Report Alleges
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on March 5, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
The Anti-Defamation League released a report on Tuesday accusing a group of “malicious” Wikipedia editors of violating the website’s policies for over two decades by coordinating the insertion of anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives and lies into articles on the online encyclopedia.
The ADL report, “Editing for Hate: How Anti-Israel and Anti-Jewish Bias Undermines Wikipedia’s Neutrality,” analyzed thousands of edits and discussion logs from 30 Wikipedia editors who the ADL identified as “bad faith” actors. The group of researchers from the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society found evidence of coordinated efforts to modify pages on key topics related to Israel, including historical events and political conflicts, to advance anti-Israel narratives. It claimed that these editors removed references to antisemitic incidents, reframed Israel’s founding in a negative light, and engaged in “edit wars” to push their perspective.
“Most readers assume Wikipedia is a reliable online encyclopedia, but in reality, it has become a biased platform manipulated by agenda-driven editors on many topics,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
Wikipedia operates on an open-editing model, with articles curated by volunteers. While its guidelines emphasize neutrality, the ADL contended that this structure has allowed coordinated groups to exploit the system and shape public understanding of complex topics.
The report described Wikipedia’s existing moderation framework as insufficient to prevent such manipulation. It also highlighted cases in which editors removed material unfavorable to Hamas or softened language around the terrorist group’s actions, removing content that referenced antisemitic rhetoric, as well as efforts to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist.
In one example, an editor removed mention of a Gazan launching an incendiary balloon into Israel with a swastika on it. In an entry on Zionism, the Jewish right to self-determination in its ancestral homeland was redefined as “ethnocultural nationalist movement” that sought to “create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible.”
“Despite Wikipedia’s efforts to ensure neutrality and impartiality, malicious editors frequently introduce biased or misleading information, which persists across hundreds if not more entries,” the report stated.
Investigative journalist Ashley Rindsberg, who has previously reported on Wikipedia’s editorial violations, argued that the platform lacks the necessary tools to manage issues of this scale. “The fundamental problem that Wikipedia is facing is that it doesn’t have the means or the ability or the infrastructure to take on an issue as deep and complex as this one is,” he told The Algemeiner, adding that there were no domain area experts on the site.
The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, disputed the findings of the report. “Though our preliminary review of this report finds troubling and flawed conclusions that are not supported by the Anti-Defamation League’s data, we are currently undertaking a more thorough and detailed analysis,” Wikimedia spokesperson Lauren Dickinson was cited as saying by The Jewish Insider. She added that the ADL did not seek input from Wikimedia before publishing its findings.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, disputes over Wikipedia’s handling of content related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensified. Wikipedia editors and administrators debated the inclusion of sources and language in key articles, reflecting broader tensions seen on social media and in public discourse. Last summer, Wikipedia editors voted to classify the ADL as an unreliable source on issues related to Israel and antisemitism, a decision that ADL officials say further complicates efforts to address bias.
More than 40 Jewish organizations wrote to Wikimedia in June 2024 urging reform. The ADL attempted to engage Wikimedia leadership but was met with limited response. Dickinson said Wikipedia maintains a commitment to neutrality and that content must be presented “as far as possible, without editorial bias.” The platform has more than 65 million articles, edited by nearly 260,000 volunteers worldwide.
Rindsberg argued that the Wikimedia Foundation lacked the ability to detect and address such editorial violations. “There is no investigatory mechanism to find these types of violations and to properly address them,” he said.
He further alleged that the foundation exacerbated the problem through its financial activities. “At the same time, what we’re seeing is Wikimedia Foundation pouring millions of dollars of grant money and donation money into radical NGOs further downstream, which push some of the very same types of perspectives that we’re seeing arise within the edit gangs or edit groups like the one identified in the ADL report.”
The ADL report recommended that Wikipedia implement stricter editorial oversight, enforce its neutrality policies more rigorously, and take stronger measures to prevent organized manipulation. It also called on policymakers to raise awareness of Wikipedia’s vulnerabilities and to convene discussions with academics and technologists to address systemic biases. The ADL urged search engines and artificial intelligence developers to limit reliance on Wikipedia for factual content and to direct users toward sources it deems more reputable.
“The values of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation reflect our commitment to integrity and accuracy, and we categorically condemn antisemitism and all forms of hate,” Dickinson said.
However, Rindsberg maintains that Wikimedia has resisted scrutiny. “Far from showing any desire to actually deal with the issue at hand, Wikimedia Foundation is actually trying to push back on these claims, deflect them, and deny them.”
In an October exposé, Rindsberg detailed how a network of about 40 Wikipedia editors had collectively made approximately 850,000 edits across nearly 10,000 articles, subtly shifting the framing of topics related to Israel, the Palestinians, and broader Middle Eastern geopolitics. Some changes involved minor revisions, such as downplaying historical ties between Jewish history and the land of Israel, while others were more significant, including the removal of references to sexual violence during the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
His reporting contributed to Wikipedia’s arbitration committee imposing “topic bans” on several editors, restricting them from editing content relating to Israel or the Palestinians, but stopping short of a broader, site-wide ban for all except one of them. The editors are free to appeal the topic bans in a year. Rindsberg noted that before the ban, many of those editors implemented a one-year moratorium on changes to the entry on Zionism – in other words, freezing their edits to be unalterable.
The ADL report did not call for abandoning Wikipedia but warned users to be skeptical of politically sensitive entries. It called on Wikipedia to establish a committee of administrators to vet and appoint Wikipedia editors for contentious topics on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on policymakers to create a task force aimed at combating antisemitic bias on the online platform.
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US Announces Launch of New Task Force ‘Seeking Justice’ for Oct. 7 Attack Victims
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
The US Justice Department on Monday announced the leadership team and members of a newly assembled task force designed to “seek justice” for victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel and to “address the ongoing threat” posed by the Palestinian terrorist group and its affiliates.
Joint Task Force October 7 (JTF 10-7) will place an emphasis on “targeting, charging, and securing for prosecution in the United States the direct perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack,” the Justice Department said in a press release announcing the initiative.
“The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win — and there will be consequences,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “As attorney general, I have had the solemn honor of meeting with several families of US citizens whose loved ones were kidnapped by Hamas on that dark day. This task force will strengthen the department’s resolve to achieve justice for these families and their loved ones as we continue to fight antisemitism in all its forms.”
The task force will handle pending charges against Hamas leadership in connection to the Oct. 7 attack and other terrorist attacks, as well as bring the offenders to the United States to answer for their involvement in the massacre, according to the Justice Department. Moreover, the law enforcement body will look into acts of terrorism, human rights abuses, and antisemitism committed by those who support and finance Hamas, associated proxies of Iran, and their affiliates.
Under the supervision of the deputy attorney general, JTF 10-7 will be headed by a senior FBI special agent serving as the task force commander, an FBI intelligence analyst serving as the deputy task force commander, and a senior counterterrorism prosecutor from the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD). The initiative will also receive assistance from several other parts of the Justice Department.
“The victims of Hamas’s decades-long violent campaign of terrorism against Israel will always have the support of the US government, and the department will no longer permit illegal support of Hamas on our campuses and elsewhere in the homeland,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Antisemitic acts of terrorism – whether here or abroad – will never go unpunished. This task force represents our unyielding commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of these brutal terrorists.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, where they killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages into Gaza. During the onslaught, 45 Americans were murdered, and 12 were abducted.
Israel responded with a counteroffensive aimed at freeing the hostages in Gaza and degrading the terrorist group’s military capabilities.
Last September, the Biden administration’s Justice Department issued charges to former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other individuals connected to the terrorist group. Israeli forces found and killed Sinwar weeks later.
Since entering the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized the importance of defeating Hamas and holding the leaders of the terrorist group responsible for their crimes. Last week, Trump issued a “last warning” to Hamas, demanding that the terrorist group release the remaining hostages or face death.
“Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump wrote on social media. “Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.”
Trump has also placed heavy importance on combatting domestic antisemitism, which has surged in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. In late January, Trump signed an executive order aimed at stopping anti-Jewish discrimination on college campuses. The order in part called for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”
Days later, the Justice Department announced the formation of a “multi-agency” Task Force to Combat Antisemitism to carry out Trump’s executive order.
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Jewish Israeli Cybertruck Owner Calls for Hate Crime Charge After Swastika Drawn on Car in Brooklyn
March 12, 2025, Seattle, Washington, USA: A row of brand-new Tesla Cybertrucks stands in a Tesla Motors Logistics Drop Zone in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Wed., March 12, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
The Jewish Israeli owner of a Tesla Cybertruck said the man who scrawled a swastika message on his electric car in Brooklyn should face a hate crime charge.
“The police, the DA [district attorney], and the city should charge people like this and should prosecute people like this,” Avi Ben Hamo, 45, told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. He said that people like the man who targeted his car need to face consequences for their actions, adding that “otherwise, other people are not going to be safe and Jewish people are not going to be safe in the city.”
Ben Hamo described the incident as an act of antisemitism and said, “as a Jew, I don’t feel safe anymore in Brooklyn or New York.”
The side view mirror of Ben Hamo’s car had a sticker on it that featured the message “Happy Purim” in Hebrew, in honor of the Jewish holiday that took place on Friday. In broad daylight on Thursday, a fellow Jewish man drew a message on Ben Hamo’s Cybertruck that equated Tesla CEO and US Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, who also serves as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, with a swastika. The message said “Elon” and below his name was the equal sign. Underneath that was the Nazi symbol.
Ben Hamo had parked his Cybertruck on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights and while standing on the sidewalk, he saw the suspect double-park his Subaru, exit the vehicle, approach Ben Hamo’s car, and then proceed to scribble in dust on the driver’s door the hate message. Ben Hamo quickly ran over and confronted the man.
“I saw this guy messing with my car, I don’t know what was going on, and then I saw this very antisemitic swastika on the car,” Ben Hamo told “Fox & Friends” during an appearance on the show. “I approached [the suspect] and asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ and he told me very, very disgusting things. And he tried to run away.”
Ben Hamo blocked the suspect’s car from driving away from the scene while the Cybertruck owner called the police. Ben Hamo said the man tried to run him over with his car in an attempt to flee the scene. The latter then got out of the car, ran away on foot from the area, and came back an hour and a half later. At that point, police had arrived and arrested him on suspicion of aggravated harassment. He was later released from custody and not charged. He was later identified as 42-year-old Michael Lewis.
A lawyer for the suspect told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that Lewis “deeply regrets touching the other man’s car and using a hate symbol in the message.”
“He was dealing with a host of personal issues at the time and the action was out of character,” attorney Mark Luccarelli added. “He was released from custody without any charges because no damage was done to the vehicle and no crime was committed.”
Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations have recently been vandalized, destroyed and even set on fire around the US by those protesting Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency and its slashing of government spending, which has led to major federal job cuts.
Thursday’s incident targeting Ben Hamo’s car is at least the third attack on a Cybertruck in New York City in recent days, according to the New York Post. “People hating Elon Musk is one thing, but to do something like this is next level. I’m speechless,” Ben Hamo told the publication. “That’s just wrong. I don’t understand how someone thinks because I bought a car it gives them the authorization to do this.”
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