We all know of someone affected by Hamas attacks in Israel, says SA Jewish Board of Deputies

The recent attacks by Hamas militia in Israel which have worsened the conflict in the region has shaken SA’s Jewish community.

This is according to the SA Jewish community which has announced that there will be prayer sessions, solidarity events and actions in support of Israel over the coming days. 

Prof Karen Milner, national chairperson of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies said: “Although it seems like a conflict happening very far away, I think everybody needs to understand how small the Jewish community globally is, and how strongly connected the Jewish community around the world is to Israel, including the Jewish community in South Africa.

“The Jewish community in South Africa has religious, historical and cultural and most importantly in this context very close family connections to Jews in Israel, and what happened ... the barbarism, the extent of the attack has shaken our community to its core.”

The SA Jewish Board of Deputies and SA Zionist Federation held a joint press briefing on Monday to express “prayers, sympathies and condolences” following the attacks in Israel which claimed more than 800 lives with hundreds missing.

Milner said every South African Jew knows at least someone affected by the attacks.

“If you think of the number of people who are affected by these attacks in the context of the entire Israeli community and global Jewish community, you realise that the numbers are a significant proportion of Jews in Israel.

“Everyone of us knows someone or knows of someone who has been killed or is missing in Israel ... there’s two people I know personally. The one is a friend of my daughters, he’s 21 years old and he was at the concert,” she said. 

Milner said this was a “tremendous trauma to our community that we feel very deeply”.

Rowan Polovin, national chairperson of the SA Zionist Federation, said South Africa has unfortunately removed itself from the ongoing “broader peace initiative” happening between Israel and other nations in the Middle East and Africa.

“South Africa has the ability to be a mediator, to play a mediatory role but that requires some sympathy for the Israeli side ... but [SA] takes the anti-Israel line,” Polovin said.

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