South Africa’s decades-long solidarity with Palestine on display at ICJ

Israel close ties to apartheid South Africa

The relationship was further shaped by Israel's own close ties to the Apartheid government. In the 1970s, Israel forged close relations with Pretoria, seeing them as a fellow bulwark against Communism in the Cold War and facing similar threats in the form of the PLO and ANC.

As other Western states started to turn on the Apartheid regime, Israel continued to supply weaponry and military advisers. It was even reported that Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons during this period, although Israeli officials have denied this.

Israel was one of the last Western states to join sanctions against Pretoria, though it eventually did so, under pressure from the US, in 1987 and publicly welcomed the transition to democracy in the 1990s.

Mandela stated his willingness to see past Israel's closeness with the Apartheid government, despite being "deeply unhappy" about it, and was keen to use his own experience of reconciliation to aid Israelis and Palestinians in resolving their own conflict.

However, with the struggle still far from resolved and seemingly getting worse, these apartheid-era links have once again cast a shadow over Israeli-South African ties.

Contemporary condemnation

Given this historical context, it is therefore unsurprising that South Africa was highly vocal in its support for the Palestinians when the Gaza war broke out.

Rather like Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa has been harsh in his public criticism of Israel, calling the Gaza assault "a holocaust" and "a war crime."

But South Africa has gone beyond mere condemnation and openly engaged with Israel's nemesis, Hamas. The Economist reported that a Hamas delegation was welcomed in Pretoria in December and went on to join Mandela's grandson and a government minister in laying a wreath at Mandela's statute on the tenth anniversary of his death.

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas' assault on Israel in October, even before Israel began its reprisals, South Africa's foreign minister spoke with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which the Palestinian group claimed was a show of solidarity, something Pretoria denies.

The foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, then visited Iran almost immediately afterwards, something that again suggested an instinctively anti-Israel approach.   

But this has not just been the ANC elite projecting their Apartheid-era politics; there appears to be genuine widespread solidarity for Gaza among the South African public. Pro-Palestinian marches have regularly drawn crowds of up to 200,000, while the Palestinian flag has been daubed over apartment blocks.

The Economist reported that in Johannesburg, even homeless people hold 'Free Gaza' placards, while 'Genocide IsREAL' billboard posters have been placed on the side of highways.

This strength of public feeling has increased pressure on the government to do more. Lobby groups such as 'Africa4Palestine' have demanded Pretoria cut ties with Israel, while in November parliament adopted a motion introduced by the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) calling for the closure of Israel's embassy.

In response, the ANC government agreed to suspend, but not break, ties until the conflict was over. Both states had already withdrawn their ambassadors.

Complexity and ambiguity

This somewhat mixed response by the ANC government to parliament's demand to close the embassy reflects a further complexity to Pretoria's views of Israel. While Ramaphosa has publicly condemned the assault on Gaza, ties with Israel are more nuanced than often characterised.

Firstly, there's the question of trade.

In 2021, Israel's trade with South Africa was worth $285mn, a third of all of Israel's trade with Sub-Saharan Africa. The mining industry is particularly important to both states and despite civil society pressure, Pretoria has refused all calls to cut economic ties.

Secondly, there's South Africa's Jewish community.

Though relatively small, between 50-75,000 in a country of 60 million, South Africa's Jews remain an essential link between the post-Apartheid state and Israel.

Israel boasts a small South African Jewish community that emigrated there during the instability of the 1970s and 80s, and key social and business ties remain. Indeed, many South African Jews serve in the Israeli military, something Pretoria sensitively turns a blind eye to despite it theoretically being against South African law. 

Despite Israel's closeness to the Apartheid regime, historically, many South African Jews opposed segregation, with the ANC boasting famous Jewish leaders like Denis Rosenburg.

Today, though, according to Rawoot, the majority of the Jewish community is supportive of Israel and has hosted its own pro-Israel demonstrations since the war broke out.

While the ANC is unlikely to completely alter its approach to Israel based on the views of such a small community, it is conscious of South Africa's 'Rainbow nation' heritage and will be wary of pursuing approaches that might be perceived to threaten Jewish citizens.

Domestic and international dimensions

This was the context for South Africa's decision to make a case against Israel at the ICJ, and there are clear domestic motivations for the move.

It allows Pretoria to show pro-Palestinian activists it is acting decisively while avoiding moves that could potentially damage the South African economy, like cutting trade ties, or be perceived as a threat by the Jewish community, like severing all relations with Israel.

There are wider domestic issues at play as well. A general election is scheduled later in 2024, and the ANC are doing badly in the polls. Having won over 50% of the vote in all elections since the fall of Apartheid, many expect them to drop below this number for the first time.

Before the Gaza war broke out, Ramaphosa's approval was at an all-time low of 40%. The economy is underperforming, infrastructure is crumbling – as seen by regular blackouts - and corruption within the ANC remains a major issue.

Some have argued that the ANC have, therefore, whipped up pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel feelings to distract the electorate. At the same time, the ICJ case is an attempt to achieve a foreign policy 'win' before the polls. 

Others have argued the case is aimed at the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who represent a serious electoral threat to the ANC. Pro-Palestinian actions could, on the one hand, be an attempt to outmanoeuvre the EFF and win back voters swayed by the left-wingers' anti-Israel rhetoric.

Alternatively, it might be a move to soften the ground for a potential parliamentary coalition with the EFF after the election should the ANC perform badly.

International factors are also at play, some of which overlap with domestic concerns. South Africa appears to want to be both a positive moral force in the world and a voice for the global south.

It had ambitions to help mediate between Israel and the Palestinians and hopes in the future still to do so but believes Israel's actions are currently making this dream an impossibility.

It is very consciously using the ICJ case not only to make a point about Israel's behaviour in Gaza but also to criticise Western leaders for doing too little to stop the conflict.

As a former victim of colonialism, it is trying to use its platform to support those currently suffering from what it sees as colonial aggression and calling out Western hypocrisy. As discussed, this stance also goes down well at home.

But simultaneously, South Africa is a state actor pursuing its own interests. Its claims to being a moral leader were somewhat undermined by a failure to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, something that provoked ire from its Western allies.

Pretoria's approval of Iran joining the BRICS groups in 2023 only added to this Western frustration. The ICJ case allows South Africa to turn the tables back on these Western critics and reclaim some of the moral high ground it fears it may have lost. 

An exceptional resonance

These international concerns, however, appear to be secondary benefits. There have been other opportunities for South Africa to reclaim moral international leadership, such as supporting The Gambia's reference of Myanmar to the ICJ in 2023, which Pretoria opted not to make much of.

But Israel and Palestine hold an exceptional resonance for both the South African public and its ANC leaders. The Palestinian cause continues to captivate the popular imagination, and large sections of society seemingly feel a deep sense of solidarity.

The Cold War era alliance between the ANC and PLO and the corresponding ties between Israel and the Apartheid regime have left deep bonds and scars, respectively.

Pretoria may recognise that, despite its strained relations with Israel, a complete severing of diplomatic and commercial ties is not in its interests, but there are also obvious domestic and international benefits in taking a harsh line over Gaza. 

Given their distance, it is somewhat peculiar that these peoples continue to have so much influence over one another, but their exceptional recent histories has seen them strangely drawn together in a complex relationship, that show no signs of fading anytime soon.