The Jerusalem Post reports:
CAPE TOWN – Reaching out to Christian supporters of Israel in Africa, a group of conservative Israeli thinkers and the interim head of the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus will take part in the first Jerusalem Summit Africa in Cape Town on Monday, in an effort to garner support for Israel at a time of increasing Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Israel sentiment in the continent.
The meeting is being organised by Bridges for Peace and the International Christian Embassy, two prominent Israel-based Christian Zionist outfits. The executive director of the Jerusalem Summit explains the rationale:
“South Africa is a crucial state for the entire continent and is similar to a swing-state in the US because whatever direction South Africa takes will be taken by the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa as well,” said Dmitry Radyshevsky…
He noted that South African anti-Zionism was not rooted in nationalism and religion but was a remnant of the Soviet era, and the country’s long ties with the Soviet-era bloc.
This is doubtless a reference to Ronnie Kasrils, the prominent Communist South African politician and Jewish anti-Zionist. Of course, best not mention Israel’s ties with apartheid-era South Africa – which saw the Nazi sympathiser John Vorster being feted by Menachim Begin, Israeli officers acting as consultants during the South African invasion in Angola, and armoured cars for police use in the townships being manufacured on a kibbutz, among much else.
…”South Africans need to be informed that the story of the blacks and the story of the Palestinians are totally different, and that the accusations against Israel of racism, colonialism, and apartheid are a big fraud, and are outrageous lies which are reminiscent of Nazi-era propaganda,” he said.
So: if you have critical thoughts about Israel, it’s because you’re either a Communist or a Nazi.
Jerusalem Summit has been featured on this blog before, where I noted its neo-con character. Its first session was in 2003, and featured “Richard Perle, Senator Sam Brownback, Congressman Eliot Engel, Prof. Daniel Pipes, Amb. Alan Keyes, Cal Thomas, Benjamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau.” It believes that “the entire Palestinian narrative must be discredited and de-legitimized as a historical hoax”, and it wants to organise financial inducements to persuade Palestinians to relocate to other countries. Radyshevsky is a former head of the Michael Cherney Foundation, and Cherney is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Jerusalem Summit (Cherney has been accused of links with the Russian mafia, which his supporters strenuously deny). Radyshevsky is also on the advisory board of the American Center for Democracy, alongside Richard Pearle.
(Hat tip: Christianity Today Weblog)
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