(FinalCall.com) – As the world mourned the passing of Nelson Mandela, the great freedom fighter, remembrances poured in from all sides.
Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, writing for the Jewish Daily Forward, gave a nod to those tributes. “But there is another side to Nelson Mandela–and many of his closest comrades–that is troubling to many Jews, including myself,” he wrote in a piece published Dec. 8 on forward.com.
When Mr. Mandela took the first step “to retiring from politics two years hence in 1999–he almost immediately gave a fiery, five hour speech on December 16, 1997, in Mafikeng that was perceived by many as being uncharacteristically radical, overtly hostile in tone and menacing in imagery. Many Jews in particular, fearful because of understandable historical reasons, found his rhetoric completely inexplicable, even frightening,” wrote the rabbi.
“American journalist Richard Stengel writes that when they heard excerpts from the speech, many White South Africans felt betrayed. In the speech, Mandela attacked Whites for clinging to apartheid privileges, criticized the ‘White dominated’ media, and described a White ‘counter revolutionary network’ whose goal was to undermine South African democracy,” wrote rabbi Kaplan. He went on to cite Jewish dissatisfaction with Mr. Mandela’s embrace of anti-apartheid supporter Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who “was regarded by most Jews around the world as a totally unreconstituted terrorist.”
“Although Mandela is viewed almost universally as a saint, actions like these aggravated many White South Africans, in particular South African Jews. In fact, when they were able to speak frankly, many Jews told me they were less than pleased with the Mandela government’s priorities,” wrote rabbi Kaplan.
“Yvonne Lewin, one of my congregants in Cape Town, wrote me in November 1997, ‘The country continues to deteriorate into a Third World nation in so many ways … . Mandela is not interested in the slightest in helping to bring crime and violence under control–he’s far too busy poking his nose into every other country’s affairs and cozying up to the likes of Gadaffi and Castro. And now he wants to get involved with Iraq. And for this we are all supposed to get down on our knees and worship him?’ ”
Rabbi Kaplan’s piece doesn’t reflect the two-faces of Madiba but two-faced Jewish involvement in the affairs of Blacks whether in South Africa or America. In South Africa, the problem was the “leanings” and “friends” of Mr. Mandela and in America, the Jewish problem has been with the stalwart efforts of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to move Black people forward and away from Jewish control.
Zionists, who sided with the murderous White minority government as obtained Israel nuclear capacity from South Africa, didn’t want Mr. Mandela to have relationships or views they did not approve. It was classic Jewish paternalism.
Mr. Mandela could not have a relationship with leaders Arafat, Gadhafi and Castro–all of whom had a problem with Jews–but it was fine to have a relationship with the United States, England and Western nations who backed a regime that killed, oppressed Blacks and targeted and killed freedom fighters and children.
The Jewish position isn’t surprising, they feared any change in Mr. Mandela would usher in a bloodbath and loss of their economic power and other influence. They were always ready to oppose him. They have opposed just about every freedom fighter, in particular Black freedom fighters, after coming into countries acquiring land, accumulating wealth and exploiting the poor.
The same people who worried about their “friend,” Mr. Mandela harbored hatred for him yesterday and they hate Minister Farrakhan today for exposing they hidden hand and inordinate role in and control of Black affairs.
The morphing of Mr. Mandela from terrorist to icon is tied to their control of media and ability to tarnish or polish an image. So Zionists continue to attack and slander Min. Farrakhan even as they laud his brother in struggle. Sheer hypocrisy.
But if our people can marvel at the works and the life of Mr. Mandela–who deserves to be lauded–can they not recognize their own champion who has been in a prison of false images and media lies? Black leaders who were scared to death to have the Minister appear at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington pay homage to this brave man in South Africa. These same Black leaders have not responded to Min. Farrakhan’s plea for a meeting to plot a course for Black people suffering and dying in the streets. They will celebrate brotherhood and reconciliation between Ebony and Ivory, but are afraid to show brotherhood to a man who has defended almost every single one of them and embraced them when everyone walked away–whether their crisis was legal, financial, political or moral. Min. Farrakhan has exhibited the same principled stance as the man these leaders claim to respect.
Anyone who stands in the way of Jewish control is branded an anti-Semite and a hater. When Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe waited patiently for decades on England and America to honor promises to buy back White land stolen from Blacks in his nation, he was a great leader. After years of Western do-nothing, Mr. Mugabe became a “pariah” when he took land that belonged to his people and returned it to his people. South Africa faces the same land problem.
According to the “Proudly Jewish South African” website myshtetl.co.za, 24 Jews were among the Top 100 richest South Africans in 2012 based on a list compiled by The Sunday Times newspaper. The number was down from 35 in the Top 100 in 2011, but the only woman listed in the group was Jewish, and Jewish entrepreneurs and financial sector gurus led the way, said the website. DeBeers diamonds chair Nicky Oppenheimer, retail mogul Christo Wiese, the Ackerman Family Trust (which holds a stake in Pick N Pay Holding), CEO Adrian Gore and Barry Swartzberg were among rich Jews praised by the website. The actual facts were “still incredible seeing that SA Jewry represents 0.08 percent of the SA population. Ten percent of the Top-50 corporate earners were Jewish too,” reported myshtetl.co.za.
Once again, our Jewish friends live in luxury while we wallow in poverty. They exert power and influence while we “control” politics. Such action is not the activity of a friend, these are the actions of enemies. The real enemy manifests when you start talking about justice. So long as you stay away from justice they will call you friend. We need true friendship today and have a friend in Min. Farrakhan and Almighty God Allah and His Christ. It’s time that Black people and Black leaders forcefully back a man pressing for their good. Let’s take a lesson from the Jewish community–they operate based on their interests, their agendas, their definitions and their terms. It’s time we show the courage and sense to do the same.
(Final Call editor-in-chief Richard B. Muhammad can be reached at editor@ finalcall.com. You can also follow him on Facebook and @RMfinalcall on Twitter.)
