Prof. Sipho Seepe warns that cutting ties with Israel might have adverse effects on South Africa, but highlights that the move is politically motivated and predicated on what the South African government considers to be a morally superior position.
Last week, International Relations Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu announced that South Africa had begun downgrading its Embassy in Tel-Aviv, Israel to a so-called Liaison Office, and noted that the South African Ambassador to Israel was back in the country on a permanent basis.
Some view South Africa’s decision to downgrade its representation in Israel as a political ploy, especially because the decision and implementation happens so close to the upcoming 8 May 2019 elections.
Speaking to Political Analysis South Africa on Thursday, 11 April 2019, Political Analyst Professor Sipho Seepe, concurred that the move is indeed a political tactic, but warned that South Africa’s withdrawal from Israel might have a negative effect on South Africa’s technological aspirations.
“It will affect us [South Africa] in terms of the technologies that we would have found in exchange with Israel,” Seepe said.
Although Seepe found faults with South Africa’s withdrawal from Israel, he noted that the government might have felt like it had no choice but to withdraw from Israel, given South Africa’s history.
“It is report after report that indicates that Israel is beginning to resemble an apartheid state. When we were oppressed during apartheid, we called on the international community to rally with us against apartheid. [The] South African government is pursuing that, and that is more a political decision.”
“Because of the stubbornness of the Israeli government, South Africa was left with little choice,” Seepe added.
He, however, also highlighted “the strong international allies that Israel has, and warned that South Africa’s withdrawal from Israel might have repercussions in the future.
“Other countries will also sympathise with Israel. For instance, the United States [of America] is one of the greatest allies of Israel, so are some of the European countries. If we [South Africa] take a stance like that, we should also not be surprised when some of those countries begin to take the same posture [against South Africa], out of solidarity with Israel. Our actions may be principled, but they may also have repercussions.”
Asked if there were any other forms of addressing the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict apart from downgrading or even withdrawing South Africa’s diplomatic presence in Israel, Prof. Seepe said there are, although they were not fool-proof.
“In the end, every conflict ends up in negotiations. By being outside, by taking the position that we’re taking, it may be morally correct, but it certainly does define us out of the table of negotiating any possibility of a solution. It’s one of those situations of ‘damned if you don’t, damned if you do’.”
Abenathi Gqomo
a.gqomo@politicalanalysis.co.za
