Why Israel Supported South

Africa's Apartheid Regime

Our ties with that regime are a good example of the Zionist utopia's slide toward
tragedy, which was in this case not entirely our own fault.

Avi Shilon Dec 11, 2013 4:27 AM

The cancellation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon

Peres participation in Nelson Mandelas funeral adds to the queasy feeling that
surrounds the stain Israel bears for its relationship with the white regime in South
Africa.
However, describing Israel as a friend of the apartheid regime is flawed and
simplistic. In fact, the story of Israels relations with South Africa is a good
example of the Zionist utopia's slide toward tragedy, which was in the case of
Africa not entirely our own fault.
During a 1982 debate in the Knesset on the first Lebanon war, Menachem Begin
extolled the Zionist enterprise, claiming that its goals included assisting the
black people of Africa in their struggle. What sounded to his listeners as typical
Begin bombast was actually an echo of Herzl who talked, in his book
Altneuland," of the identification between Zionists and the black people of
Africa. The one who put the ideals of this identity shared by Jews and blacks into
practice was David Ben-Gurion. During the pre-1948 Yishuv days he proclaimed
that Zionism is a standard bearer in the fight against colonialism, not only in
Palestine but in Asia and Africa. As part of its policies, starting in the 1950s,
Israel developed close ties with African states. Michael Harari of the Mossad was
sent there to establish connections. Foreign Minister Golda Meir took a central
role in this endeavor. In her autobiography My Life she devotes several
chapters to African and other friends." She swore never to visit South Africa until
apartheid was abolished.
One should qualify these statements by pointing out that the attitudes of Israeli
leaders towards Africa were tinged with Orientalism," nowadays conforming to
post-colonial discourse. Ben-Gurion saw these countries as backward and
capable only of learning from Israel. Golda described her meetings in the black
continent in exotic terms. Generally, it can be said that the Israeli approach to
Africa was that of the enlightened white man coming to liberate the black man in
the name of Western values.
As a state, Israel supported the struggle of weaker African states for freedom and
prosperity, and avoided establishing ties with South Africa at a time when other
Western countries had good relations with Pretoria. Israel did not hesitate to
support the sanctions that were imposed on South Africa in 1961, and it was one
of the few states to recognize Biafra when it pulled away from Nigeria. The
unfolding tragedy there touched Israeli hearts to such an extent that the term
Biafra was still in slang usage here until the 1980s, albeit as a pejorative term.

The best evidence for the mutual respect between the two liberation movements
can be found in Mandelas own memoirs. He relates that during his struggles he
studied Begins book The Revolt," which described the liberation campaign of
the [pre-state underground militia] Irgun (Etzel) against the British.
How did Israel, starting in the 1970s, become a friend of the apartheid regime,
to such an extent that by 1986 it was the only Western nation that did not take
part in sanctions imposed on South Africa? Its tempting to point to the Six-Day
War as the turning point. But in this complex story the occupation of the West
Bank was not the cause of this change. Among the many reasons was the 1973
war, in which Israel refrained from firing the opening shot that led most African
countries to break off their ties with Israel, yielding to Arab pressure and the
embargo on oil, whose price skyrocketed right after the war.
Isolated, and possibly due to its nuclear requirements, Israel was cornered into
seeking relations with South Africa. This obviously does not remove the moral
stain. The historic truth, however, is that Israel never willingly supported the
apartheid regime, and is far from being the villain in this complex saga.

Avi Shilon
Haaretz Contributor

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