It’s hard to know where to begin after reading former South African ambassador to Israel, Ismail Coovadia’s vicious diatribe against Israel in the Pretoria News print edition of July 22. Considering he lived in Israel during his diplomatic posting, one wonders whether he actually bothered to get to know the country properly or if he took his lead from the Palestinian Authority or even Hamas.

Coovadia’s piece is a laundry list of outrageous accusations and smears including advocating for BDS and even thinly disguised support for terrorism against Israelis.

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Most international relations are governed by interests, be they economic, diplomatic or military. Israel has historically suffered in international fora such as the UN. Entire geographical blocs have voted en masse against it, sometimes influenced by relationships with Arab states and the oil they supply.

That Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to Africa was meant to restore good relations with member states of that continent and with it the possibility of overturning years of hostile voting patterns at the UN was no secret. African nations also stand to gain from relations with Israel. Only Ismail Coovadia, however, believes that there is something sinister behind all of this:

During the much-acclaimed recent African tour of four countries, Netanyahu sought essentially to be supported at the UN in exchange for the military build-up of the four countries. The so-called developmental support from Israel will be nothing more than a case of open bribery for votes at the UN fora.

As Netanyahu himself outlined at the African summit in Uganda, Israel will not only be sharing security expertise with African nations facing up to their own terrorism problems, but also sharing expertise in water management, agriculture and technology. This is no more sinister than the foreign relations of most other states.

Coovadia goes on to describe Netanyahu as “no more and no less than a supporter of state terrorism” against Palestinians and “Israeli Palestinians of all faiths.”

Incredibly he then trains his attack on Israel for its treatment of the Ethiopian Jewish community, claiming that they are:

either dumped in isolated, segregated areas and or separated from their families. Treatment of black Israelis, in general, runs counter to the principles of the UN Charter as evidenced by international personalities such as Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu and internationally respected journalists.

The absorption of Ethiopian Jewry has been an incredibly difficult undertaking and there is much that Israel can improve. However, Coovadia’s charges have no basis in reality. Ethiopian Jews have not been dumped nor separated from their families and despite the enormous problems and issues involved, nowhere can it be claimed that Israel’s treatment of its Ethiopian Jews is somehow counter to the principles of the UN Charter.

Coovadia is now on a roll. He accuses Israel of violating the Oslo Accords (no mention of blatant Palestinian violations including rampant terrorism) and violating “UN principles and the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty).”

Does Israel not have an undeclared programme of continually developing and upgrading its nuclear arsenal? Israel’s navy recently successfully tested long range missiles to be used. For what purpose?

For what purpose? The missiles referred to by Coovadia were Harpoon anti-ship missiles tested to ensure that Israel’s navy can intercept enemy vessels at sea. They are not nuclear armed and therefore have no connection to Israel’s alleged possession of a nuclear deterrent that Coovadia alludes to.

He then blames American money for:

Israel’s policy of Palestinian dispossession, state terrorism, apartheid-style annexation and breaking of “international humanitarian law.”

Coovadia goes on to express his support for BDS, asking:

Do these African countries not see the continued success of the International Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign to force the State of Israel to alter its policies towards Palestine and Israelis of Palestinian origin?

Considering the fundamental lack of impact BDS has had on Israeli policies, it’s unlikely that any African countries have seen what Coovadia appears to imagine.

But perhaps most disturbingly, Coovadia goes beyond support for BDS when he writes:

The international community, coupled with resistance operations must continue to apply pressure – political, economic, social, cultural and sporting on the government of Israel to alter its course towards humanity.

HR Managing Editor Simon Plosker asks:

What exactly is Coovadia referring to when he expresses support for “resistance operations?” This is a well-known code for armed terrorism against Israeli civilians. We can only conclude that Ismail Coovadia is no diplomat but is, instead, a sympathizer of terrorism. Pretoria News should be ashamed to publish such a hate-ridden article and the South African government should be ashamed that a man with such views could have been appointed a diplomat.