ADAM CHARNAS: Response to Malaika Mahlatsi | Half-truths, omissions and gaslighting - a weaponisation of ignorance

At the start, please allow me to thank Malaika Mahlatsi for her defining for us what antisemitism is, and why we shouldn’t "weaponise" it. However, I must object to her asserting that weaponised antisemitism is a "danger to us all". In actual fact, it is historical, factual and contextual ignorance that poses the greatest threat to us all.

MISREPRESENTATION OF THE ICJ CASE

Mahlatsi’s understanding of the findings of the ICJ case lack a very important contextual fact - the court was not tasked with proving whether a genocide, or any other crime against humanity is occurring. Its role was far narrower: to decide if there is a plausible case that Palestinians have a right to protection from genocide and whether South Africa had standing to bring its claims before the court.

For clarity - the court certainly did not decide that the claim of genocide is "plausible". 

I suggest that Mahlatsi familiarise herself with ICJ president Joan Donoghue’s subsequent clarification of what the term "plausibility" meant in the context of the court’s judgment. The issues being referred to were, as one would expect, a great deal more complex and nuanced than those rushing to find Israel guilty as charged would have it and, as Judge Donaghue explicitly stated, the choice of that particular word did not mean that the court considered it "plausible" that genocide was taking place.

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On 26 January 2024, the court declined to order Israel to suspend its military operations in Gaza. Instead, it instructed Israel to "limit harm to Palestinians, preserve evidence, and submit a report within a month on measures taken in response to the court’s order". This demonstrates a lack of evidence supporting South Africa's assertions. Furthermore, on 28 March, the ICJ again rejected South Africa's requests to halt Israel's operations and to call on third-party states to cease supporting Israel militarily. Had the court truly believed that genocide was taking place, it would undoubtedly have ruled differently.

This sequence of events underscores that South Africa's claims are neither substantiated nor upheld in court. Repeating a falsehood does not transform it into truth; it merely amplifies a lie. The repeated use of terms like "genocide" and accusations of war crimes without solid evidence represents a deliberate campaign of defamation — a weaponisation of ignorance aimed at demonising and delegitimising Israel.

SELECTIVE OUTRAGE AND FALSE EQUIVALENCES

Mahlatsi perpetuates a dangerous false equivalency in her assertion that city-wide mob violence is somehow acceptable because "Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had gone around Amsterdam pulling down Palestinian flags from buildings while shouting hateful slogans and went on to use their belts to attack a taxi driver". 

She further intuits that the presence of racist elements within the Maccabi fanbase means that it is absolutely understandable that these fans should be subjected to violence. Her supposed expertise in ranking the "racist nature" of Israeli football fanbases adds a bizarre touch. 

Put together, Mahlatsi's argument is a deliberate minimising of the violence faced by Jews in Amsterdam and an endorsement of collective punishment.

On the night of the incident, games were played throughout Europe that involved known violent and racist fanbases (Slavia Praha; Fenerbahce; PAOK; Ferencvaros). Why then, in a sport synonymous with fan violence, racism, and entrenched political affiliations, did a city-wide attack only target the fans of one club? Why, also, were most of those involved in the attacks not rival football fans, as is almost always the case when it comes to soccer hooliganism, but members of the general public? The answer is obvious - Maccabi fans were targeted because of their links to Israel and because they were Jews. 

This premeditated mob violence, documented on social media and identified by Israeli intelligence, was antisemitic in nature. The king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, acknowledged as much when he remarked that his country had failed its Jewish community in this instance. To overlook or excuse this reality reflects a dangerous double standard.

ZIONISM AND THE JEWISH IDENTITY

Finally, again we thank Mahlatsi for educating the Jewish community on the etymology of the terms Jewish and Zionist, and for explaining that some Jews are not Zionists. It is so refreshing that someone who is neither Jewish nor Zionist could so clearly understand both identities. As UK Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has stated so eloquently, claims separating Judaism from Zionism are a "wilful distortion of a noble and integral part of Judaism". Zionism represents the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in a land central to Jewish identity for over 3,000 years. It is inseparable from the broader Jewish experience.

Given the centrality of Israel to the Jewish world, and the fact that the highest concentration of Jews in the world reside in Israel, it is disingenuous and misleading to portray world Jewry as an entirely separate entity from the modern Jewish State. Prejudice against the one has a direct and negative impact on the other. Additionally, the intimidation that Jewish people are subjected to for their support and affirmation of a core tenet of their belief and identity, can easily be described as a form of antisemitism. Likewise, the allegation that Jews fabricate antisemitism as a means to divert criticism of Israel, is in itself a bigoted and maligning accusation.

Mahlatsi’s reductionist interpretation of Zionism serves only to delegitimise Jewish identity and the broader history of Jewish self-determination. Her uninformed assertions about a people she does not belong to or understand, amount to a deliberate weaponisation of ignorance for hateful and bigoted grandstanding.

Adam Charnas is an analyst for the SA Jewish Board of Deputies.