In a disturbing turn of events, a senior Jewish woman was violently assaulted last Friday, 27 September, by an aggressive group of pro-Palestinian protesters right outside South Africa's Parliament.
For safety reasons, the identity of the Jewish woman remains undisclosed.
The incident unfolded in the morning as the Jewish woman arrived to join her Christian Zionist friends who, for the past 25 years, have gathered every Friday to sing songs and pray for peace in the Middle East.
Carrying her Israeli flag as a symbol of solidarity, she quickly became the target of the enraged pro-Palestinian group.
Eyewitnesses relayed that the group aggressively attacked the woman, grabbing her flag and injuring her hands in the process. The flag was forcibly taken from her and destroyed. As tensions escalated, the protesters began to verbally assault her with vile anti-Semitic slurs, including a reprehensible remark: "Jews must go away, Jews must all die, pity that they didn’t finish Jews off in Europe."
Despite the onslaught, the Jewish woman remained composed, repeatedly asserting, "You can wave your flag and I can wave my flag." However, the aggression did not cease as the group followed her, jabbing at her with their flagsticks. They snatched another Israeli flag from her, setting it ablaze.
Fortunately, a member of the Parliament precinct intervened, halting the assault and recovering the burnt remains of the flag. The Jewish woman sustained lacerations to her hands and bruising to her face. A case of assault has been filed with the South African Police Service (SAPS).
This attack is not an isolated incident. The previous week, the same aggressive group targeted an elderly Christian man in a similar manner, seizing his Israeli flag, slapping him in the face, and kicking him in the stomach. He also plans to file a case with SAPS, with video evidence corroborating the incident.
The Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) has strongly condemned the violent actions.
Adrienne Jacobson, Chairperson of the Cape SAJBD, stated, "We condemn in the strongest terms, a deviation from a South African ethos of peaceful protest into a physical and verbal assault by certain pro-Palestinian groups. Freedom of expression is a constitutionally enshrined right of every South African and for these groups to deny individuals these rights and compound this by committing criminal acts, is unacceptable."
The Cape SAJBD has engaged with both SAPS and the City of Cape Town to ensure that these violent acts do not recur and called upon government leaders, including the ANC, to condemn such violence against their fellow citizens.
Jacobson emphasized, "We may have differing opinions about the war in the Middle East; however, it does not validate or justify the use of hate speech and violence."
* Adrienne Jacobson, Chairperson, Cape SAJBD.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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