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The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) deplores the ejection of Israel’s duly invited representative from the recent African Union (AU) summit.
The aim of the AU is to provide a forum for African nations to discuss issues of common concern, such as economic development, partnership building. Part of the AU’s mandate is conflict resolution and it has lost an opportunity to do this. The AU represents all those who live on the continent, including those of the Jewish faith. For the South African Jewish community, it was therefore deeply distressing to witness the world’s sole Jewish nation state being excluded in so hostile and overtly discriminatory a manner.
We are further extremely disappointing that rather than condemning this incident, the ANC chose instead to crow over the supposed ‘victory’ that it represented. In reality, this was a ‘victory’ only for pressure groups seeking to subvert the purpose of the AU by using it as an anti-Israel propaganda platform.
