UPDATE: Hajaig has apologized:
The Jewish Board of Deputies is satisfied with deputy foreign minister Fatima Hajaig’s second apology, made after President Kgalema Motlanthe held “discussions” with her about them, it said on Thursday.
“To the extent that my statement may have caused hurt and pain, I offer an unequivocal apology for the pain it may have caused to the people of our country, and the Jewish community in particular,” said Hajaig in a statement.
She said she regretted the “inference” made by some people that she was “anti-Jewish”.
“I do not believe that the cause of the Palestinians is served by anti-Jewish racism.”
Hajaig today said that at a point in her talk, unrelated to the South African community, “I conflated Zionist pressure with Jewish influence.”
She said as a member of government and the African National Congress she subscribed to values and principles of non-racialism.
This followed a furore over anti-Semitic statements made by Hajaig at a rally in Lenasia last month.
“The SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) commends President Motlanthe and his Cabinet for ensuring that Deputy Foreign Minister Fatima Hajaig has now made an unequivocal apology for, and full retraction of the unacceptable anti-Semitic statements,” the board said in a statement.
“The SAJBD thanks President Motlanthe and his Cabinet for the decisive and forthright manner in which they have addressed this serious matter.”
The board rejected a previous apology made by the deputy minister as “she had very clearly avoided addressing, let alone repudiating, the blatantly anti-Semitic sentiments originally expressed by her”.
HERE IS THE ORIGINAL STORY
South Africa’s Jewish Board of Deputies has lodged a complaint of hate speech with the country’s Human Rights Commission against Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Fatima Hajaig of the ruling ANC.
“In fact, no matter which government comes into power whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush, the control of America, just like the control of most Western countries is in the hands of Jewish money, and if Jewish money controls their country, you cannot expect anything else,” Hajaig was recorded as saying, to thunderous applause. Continue reading →
