SAJBD Leadership has appealed to President Jacob Zuma to investigate and take action following the posting of a message on an ANC Youth League Twitter site calling for the killing of Jews. Over the weekend, a message reading “Keep calm and kill Jews”, to which had been added the words “and we know what to do with you Jewish moles” appeared on @ANCYLVote2014. It was also tweeted separately to members of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD). The post was removed shortly afterwards, but by then screenshots of the original had been widely circulated. Last night, SAJBD Chairman Mary Kluk and President Zev Krengel sent a communication to President Zuma regarding the post. The letter stressed that racist incitement of this nature was diametrically opposed not just to the democratic, anti-racist ethos of the country, but to the fundamental values of the ANC itself: That any political organisation in this country should call for the indiscriminate killing of members of a particular sector of the population is shocking enough. What makes it even more so is that in this case it would seem, at least on the face of it, to have emanated from one of the constituent branches of the ANC, a movement that has always prided itself on its commitment to the values of inclusiveness, and its abhorrence for all forms of prejudice, racial or otherwise. Indeed, it is for this that it is held in such high esteem the world over”. Krengel further commented that said that the propagation of such appalling hate speech was deeply distressing not only to the Jewish community, but to all those who regarded the ANC as a standard bearer for the values of tolerance, non-racism and fundamental human rights. The SAJBD letter recorded that the incident was just one of numerous instances of hate speech and threats against the South African Jewish community that had occurred over the past several weeks. With some of the cases, the Board had formally lodged complaints with the SA Human Rights Commission and with the SA Police Services.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 08:35:01 +0000
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