Watch: Concern as man screams abuse at Jews at OR Tambo airport [video]
What is going on with all this hate?
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) has publically commented after an apparent upsurge in anti-semitic abuse towards South African Jewish people. The latest incident took place at OR Tambo international airport.
While some of the hateful encounters have been on social media, people landing in South Africa from Israel were screamed at by South African man.
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The man was caught on camera screaming that Jews were “wicked people” while he made reference to the situation in Palestine.
Watch: Man hurls abuse at jews landing from Israel at OR Tambo
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According to the SAJBD, the past 24 hours have seen “a flurry of viciously antisemitic and threatening attacks” against SA Jews.
The attacks have caused “great anxiety and anger” in the Jewish community.
SAJBD Chairman Shaun Zagnoev noted that this new content seems to have taken an even more aggressive and inflammatory form.
“The posts show how easily radical anti-Israel sentiment can spill over into hateful slurs and threats against Jewish people in general. We are being told that we are ‘scum’, ‘rats’, ‘bastards’, ‘pigs’, ‘swine’ and ‘fat-nosed f***ks. We are further being warned that ‘our time is coming’ and that ‘the Holocaust will be a picnic after we are done with you’.”
Also on Thursday morning, a mural with a German flag with a swastika on it, appeared in Hamilton Street, Coronationville in Johannesburg.
The board believes that it is “no coincidence” that these comments are coming after the “public humiliation” of Shashi Naidoo. Naidoo posted comments that were pro-Israel and referred to Gaza as a “shit-hole”.
“It would appear that those who support Israel are now “legitimate” targets for attacks.”
The vast majority of South African Jews are overwhelming and proudly South African, proudly Jewish, and proudly Zionist,” the SAJBD said in a statement.
The identity of the man shouting the abuse at the airport is currently not known.
