Anti Semitism In South Africa Today

Author: Jocelyn Hellig
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Size: 50.99 MB
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Antisemitism in South Africa began in the late 19th century with the wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, and in the 20th century it conspicuously permeated the ideology of the Nationalist Party. Antisemitism was economically motivated, and the Zionist orientation of South African Jewry led to an accusation of lack of loyalty to the country. From 1967 on, Jewish relations with white South Africans improved, whereas relations with non-whites deteriorated. In post-apartheid South Africa, antisemitism of the white sector emerges from the right. Blacks, who suffer from economic inequality, are more antisemitic; their political leadership, however, attacks Zionism but condemns antisemitism. Muslim antisemitism, which emerged after the revolution in Iran in 1979, is an intractable problem for South African Jewry; Muslim "anti-Zionist" rhetoric has some influence on Blacks. However, in any case, the Jews are a secondary issue for the new South African leadership, and its approach to the country's Jews and to relations with Israel is rather pragmatic.