Last week’s attempt to kill innocent Israelis failed when an Omani co-pilot tried to hijack a plane. This happened a week before October 7.
It’s clear to me that it was carefully planned. The terrorist wanted to replicate what Al Qaeda did in New York in September 2001. Luckily, he failed. It was a narrow escape, and Israelis have reason to thank God for that.
As I posted on X: UAE authorities must be asked tough questions. How does an Islamic extremist end up in a cockpit operating a plane bound for Israel? How was this allowed to happen? Who did he plan the attack with?
We mark three years this week since Hamas invaded Israel and massacred more than 1,200 Israelis, abducting 251 to Gaza. The footage Hamas itself recorded to showcase its brutality toward Jews was heart-wrenching. The massacre was monstrous to a shocking degree. When I visited Israel in May 2024, seven months after Hamas’s massacre, I realised I had seen only a fraction of October 7’s brutality through the media.
I was not alone on that Israel trip. I travelled with other South African journalists and thought leaders. During our tour of Israel, we were shown a documentary called Supernova, a tell-all account of Hamas’s October 7 massacre, available online, featuring chilling footage and interviews with survivors.
The documentary is painful to watch. Young people were attacked with shocking brutality. How do you throw grenades into a room full of civilians? That is simply inhumane.
We visited the Nova Festival site and Nir Oz Kibbutz, where Hamas’ barbaric actions were evident. We met survivors who told us about the horror they experienced that day. I saw with my own eyes the destruction Hamas had caused. I have never witnessed such brutality, and the terror they witnessed has stayed with me. I took as many photos as I could, so I could show them to my thousands of followers on social media.
When you consider the scale of the atrocity that Israelis experienced on October 7, the response by our government is particularly disturbing. Our government blamed Israel, saying: “The new conflagration has arisen from the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian land, continued settlement expansion, desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque and Christian holy sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.” I found this deeply troubling. What was wrong with simply condemning Hamas?
The ICJ Case Is a Blunder
Two months after Hamas’ massacre, our government decided to accuse Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), just as Israel began retaliating in Gaza against Hamas and fighting to rescue its kidnapped citizens. So here’s the logic of the South African government: Hamas invades Israel and massacres Jews, Israel retaliates, therefore Israel is committing genocide. Doesn’t make sense, does it?
The ICJ case is senseless, and I’ve argued it’s South Africa’s biggest foreign policy blunder since democracy began in 1994. In my view, Israel is not committing genocide. It does all it can to avoid Palestinian civilian deaths while fighting Hamas, sending warnings well before military operations and helping relocate Palestinians wherever possible. What else can Israel do when Hamas embeds itself in civilian areas and launches rockets from there?
I believe the ICJ case is motivated by anti-Israel politics. Nothing else explains it. No government would sit back and do nothing when its own citizens are massacred and kidnapped. One would hope that, if our citizens were killed or kidnapped by terrorists, President Cyril Ramaphosa would act. The Israeli government acted responsibly by ensuring that this would never happen to their citizens again.
No country can conduct a war perfectly without any casualties. Hamas knew there would be Palestinian casualties when Israel retaliated, but it didn’t care, because it sacrifices its own people. It is Hamas that committed genocide against Jews on October 7, slaughtering civilians.
In my opinion, Israel has conducted the war well, not only in Gaza, but in its precise, efficient campaign against Iran and its proxies, showing courage throughout, while trying to avoid Palestinian civilian deaths.
The past three years have shown, yet again, that Israel is the dominant military power in the Middle East. That’s impressive, given it’s a country of just 10 million people.
South Africa’s Government Lacks a Smart Strategy
South Africa has chosen to side with the Palestinians instead of playing a mediator role. It should have taken the middle ground and aimed for peace between Israel and Palestine. The ICJ case and the demonisation of Israel don’t advance that cause.
Our government lacks a smart strategic approach to foreign policy, simply because the African National Congress (ANC) remains stuck in a past era. Arab nations are strengthening ties with Israel, and for good reason. South Africa should do the same. Powered by a high-tech industry, Israel remains one of the strongest economies in the world, and South Africa would benefit a lot from stronger economic ties, especially since South Africa’s economy is underperforming its peers in the emerging markets, with dismal economic growth.
That’s not to say South Africa shouldn’t care about Palestinians: it can, and it should, as we all should. But it should aim to play a constructive role in the peace process.
