​​The SAJBD condemns the planned protest against the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) condemns the planned protest against the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre (JHGC) by a coalition of organisations, including South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP), Africa4Palestine, the Palestine Solidarity Alliance, and BDS South Africa.

These groups represent a broader campaign of anti-Jewish activity in South Africa, which continues to disguise its agenda under a pro-Palestinian guise. Through coordinated campaigns of harassment and intimidation, they have repeatedly targeted Jewish institutions, businesses, and individuals, attempting to silence or coerce those who do not conform to their worldview.

The use of SAJFP in this effort does not make this a matter of internal disagreement within the Jewish community. Rather, it is a strategic front used to shield and legitimise the actions of external organisations and actors, whose hostility toward the Jewish community is longstanding and well documented.

The JHGC is an institution dedicated to ensuring that the lessons of genocide, intolerance and hate are never forgotten. To target such an institution under any pretext is deeply anti-Jewish and fundamentally contrary to South Africa’s democratic values.

To attempt to coerce the JHGC or participating academics into aligning with the political slogans of a single lobby is not activism. It is intimidation.

The SAJBD is also deeply concerned by the deliberate manipulation of remarks allegedly made by JHGC Director Tali Nates regarding genocide, which she has categorically denied. The Jewish community of South Africa is diverse and principled. It includes individuals who hold a range of political views, both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, yet who remain united in their shared belief in peace and the long-standing two-state solution. What unites us further is the rejection of hate, intimidation, and the distortion of Jewish institutions and memory for political gain.