The SA Jewish Board of Deputies expresses its revulsion at the introduction of a call to exterminate Jews from their Homeland by President Ramaphosa at the ANC  final Siyaquoba election rally on Saturday. 

The President of the ruling ANC party and the Head of State of a democratic country has called for the elimination of the only Jewish State in the culmination of

 the ANC President’s election speech made to thousands of ANC members and on National television.

He uses the populist slogan, `From the river to the sea, Palestine will be Free’, which is widely regarded as a call to genocide of the Jewish people. The call

 to remove all Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea equates to removing all Jews from Israel.  The slogan and its call for the destruction of the Jewish State has its origin in the Hamas Charter, with its goal to see Israel as `Judenfrei’ or Jew free.

The chanting of this slogan by a Head of State of a government that recurrently tries to express their commitment to a `Two State Solution’ as their policy on Israel

 and Palestine is hypocritical to the full.  How does a sitting president reject his own government and own party’s international relations policy?

This reconfirms our understanding that President Ramaphosa and his government are not looking for a peaceful solution to the tragic conflict, but rather to cause

 discord among fellow South African against its Jewish community. The President’s contempt for SA Jewry is evident in this unscripted outburst at the rally which amounts to nothing more than Jew hatred.

The SAJBD is reviewing its options for holding the President accountable for these hateful words.

Issued by Wendy Kahn, SAJBD, 27 May 2024